James Bamford reviews James Risen's 'State of War'

[Bozita]

Definitely worthwhile.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/books/09bamf.html

January 9, 2006
Books of the Times | 'State of War'

Where Spying Starts and Stops: Tracking an Embattled C.I.A. and a President at War
By JAMES BAMFORD

Shortly before Christmas, The New York Times disclosed an enormous domestic spying operation. More revelations followed almost daily, including reports of the National Security Agency's widespread eavesdropping on the phone calls and electronic messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands of American citizens. The justification given was that it was a time of war and that we were facing a ruthless enemy and that rules had to be broken. The public was outraged, and Congress vowed to begin an investigation.

That was three decades ago, in December 1974.

Then, in December 2005, Americans again woke to a New York Times headline about domestic spying. This time the article was written by Eric Lichtblau and James Risen. The operation is also covered in Mr. Risen's new book, "State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration," published Tuesday. "For the first time since the Watergate-era abuses, the N.S.A. is spying on Americans again, and on a large scale," Mr. Risen writes in his book. "The Bush administration has swept aside nearly 30 years of rules and regulations and has secretly brought the N.S.A. back into the business of domestic espionage."

While Mr. Risen's revelations about the N.S.A. take up only a chapter in "State of War," they are the dramatic high point in an illuminating and disturbing book focusing on the Bush administration's use - and perhaps misuse - of power over the past four years. It is a record, Mr. Risen says, that has even caused protests by Mr. Bush's father, former President George H. W. Bush. Mr. Risen writes of a conversation between the two in 2003 in which the current president "angrily hung up the telephone." "George Herbert Walker Bush," Mr. Risen writes, "was disturbed that his son was allowing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a cadre of neoconservative ideologues to exert broad influence over foreign policy, particularly concerning Iraq."

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[Monkey see Monkey Do]

1. Thanks for that - I'm gonna have to get this

I bet Bamford's a little pissed he never got the domestic spying story!

Another little bit of info in the book:

James Risen Gives Vital Background to Downing Street Memo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=86106&mesg_id=86106