Rating: 
Summary: A Convincing Portrayal of our Misleading Leader
Review: After reading The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, I was left baffled as to how the people in the most powerful country in the world could fall for such blatant lies. I found it very interesting how the Bush administration makes speeches leaving so much room for interpretation, to ultimately save themselves later when questioned. In the first section of this book called Bait and Switch, it describes how the Bush administration employed five key fake "facts" into the public's mind, so that when it came time to spend billions of dollars and risk thousands of lives, the public would support it. These five lies guides this book towards proving its point: Every major assertion that our government put forward to justify the conquest of Iraq has proved false. Christopher Scheer achieved his goal in convincing me of the ludicrousness of the situation in Iraq. His evidence was mostly primary sources, and therefore convincing. Speeches, quotes, and documents are utilized which make his argument very strong. The only times I got lost in this novel is when other liberally biased books are quoted without stated proof in this novel backing up their arguments. Still, this book places the war into the larger context of American Foreign Policy. It explains to the reader how President Bush radically shifted the rules of American military activity with the release of his national security strategy on September 17, 2002. This book also elaborates on how with this new security strategy Bush was able to bring an end to the doctrines of deterrence and containment that characterized United States foreign policy for more than half a century. Christopher Scheer along with the other authors state in this novel that, "One of the hallmarks of the long-running Iraq disinformation campaign led by the White House is to repeat things that aren't true until a great many people believe they are." (41). They drill this concept into the reader, until there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that this is factual. The first lie described is that Iraq had something to do with 9/11 and/or Al Qaeda. Bush was able to make the public believe this by repeatedly relating the tragedy of 9/11, terrorism, Iraq, and Saddam Hussein all in the same sentence as frequent as possible. I was blown away when this book quotes Colin Powell discussing an argument against the war with Iraq in 9/11 by saying they had nothing to do with it. He states, "Don't go with the Iraq option right away, or we'll lose the coalition we've been signing up. "They'll view it as bait and switch-it's not what they signed up to do.' If we weren't going after Iraq before September 11 why would we be going after then now when the current outrage is not directed at Iraq. Keep the Iraq options open if you get the linkages, maybe Syria, Iran, but I doubt you'll get the linkages." (41). It continues in proving how they never got the linkages and how instead of revealing the fakeness of their argument, they instead use words saying "this could be true," or an "educated guess." This book does an impeccable job explaining how the power of words can distort a country's belief and how a government can even create a false war. In another passage discussing this same thing, they quote Bush: "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists, Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." (October 7, 2002). Okay, Bush. This could happen, but is it likely? Instead of focusing on the countries that could be a more realistic threat (if there is any), he chose Iraq. After making many speeches discussing how Iraq, Hussain, 9/11, and terrorism are all related, on September 17, 2003 Bush admitted that there was no evidence linking Iraq to 9/11. This book reiterates that there were no Iraqi nuclear weapons, there was no fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles ready to spray the enemy with powerful chemicals, there was no continuing relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and no immediate danger from Weapons of Mass Destruction. This is an example of the proof emphasized in the book, both convincing and effective. The style of this book is also easy to read. While other persuasive novels can be overdone and overly repetitive, this novel is broken down into manageable chapters and possesses comprehensive diction. I recommend this book to everyone who is unsure about the false motives and lack of evidence in the Iraq war, and what Bush has done to our country and foreign policy since he became president. This book delivers a call for help for a change in administration and simultaneously sends a message of truth to all who read it.
Rating: 
Summary: CONservatives hate the truth
Review: After reading this book with its wealth of supporting data and reading the one star reviews of seemingly rational people, I must say that CONservatives hate the truth.
I think it has to do with them mistaking baby bush with America. America is our country and we must protect her from the zealots like baby bush and his supporters who started a war for no reason!
Buy the book and read how baby bush fooled the public. Then vote this fool out of office.
If there was justice, baby bush would be impeached.
Rating:
Summary: Grab these words of truth while you're still allowed
Review: Every American should read two thin books about Iraq: "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" by Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry, and "Warrior King: the Case for Impeaching George W. Bush" by John Bonifaz with forward by Congressman John Conyers. The first book exposes the lies that President Bush and members of his Administration knowingly told during the build-up to the war on Iraq, including the lies that are keeping US troops in Iraq today. The second book addresses Bush's unconstitutional act of taking the US military to war without a declaration of war by Congress. A number of US soldiers and US Congress Members sued the President in a failed attempt to prevent this war, and this book lays out the case.
Rating:
Summary: Grab these words of truth while you're still allowed
Review: Every American should read two thin books about Iraq: "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" by Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry, and "Warrior King: the Case for Impeaching George W. Bush" by John Bonifaz with forward by Congressman John Conyers. The first book exposes the lies that President Bush and members of his Administration knowingly told during the build-up to the war on Iraq, including the lies that are keeping US troops in Iraq today. The second book addresses Bush's unconstitutional act of taking the US military to war without a declaration of war by Congress. A number of US soldiers and US Congress Members sued the President in a failed attempt to prevent this war, and this book lays out the case.
Rating:
Summary: Teachers Need This Book
Review: I am a teacher. I am committed to honesty and free speech and an even-handed discussion of controversy. I am committed to the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In short, I am committed to education. Unfortunately, in times of national crisis, teaching about current issues can be both difficult and uncomfortable. For teachers and students, for anyone engaged in an ongoing discussion of current American policies in Iraq, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq by Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry is an essential source. Despite the passage of more than two years, American educators teach under the growing shadow of 9/11, and in that shadow truth can be uncomfortable to tell. Repeatedly, this Administration, by having used transparently false justifications for war, has put all social studies teachers in a delicate situation. Over and over the truth of the matter stares us in the face daring us to tell it like it is. But, no matter how an individual teacher handles questions about Bush's reasons for war it is likely he or she will be challenged. So it is essential that we know what we are talking about. Certainly we have an obligation to read from a variety of sources, to investigate the facts, and to state them as clearly as we can. That is where this book can help. The authors, for example, write insightfully that, "one of the hallmarks of the long-running Iraq disinformation campaign led by the White House is to repeat things that aren't true until a great many people believe they are." And then in chapter after chapter they demonstrate how this technique was used over and over and over. As any good teacher knows, in the classroom, respect for evidence remains paramount, but the evidence, as made perfectly clear in this book, is overwhelmingly against this administration's pre-war justifications. Not sure that Hussein was deliberately linked, by Bush and company, to 9/11? You will be. Not sure that Bush wasn't just misled by "faulty intelligence?" You will be. Might you still be tempted to think that the Bush administration sincerely considered Iraq as the right place to establish a "democratic model" in the Middle East? Finish this book and you will abandon that bit of folklore too. On page after page the evidence is overwhelming. There were no Iraqi nukes, there was no fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles ready to spray the enemy with powerful chemicals, there was no continuing relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and, most importantly, there was no immediate danger from Weapons of Mass Destruction. In fact, usable Iraqi WMDs, by the time war began, simply did not exist. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator with a record of abuse that stretches back to his first day in office. Iraq, under Hussein, unquestionably had nuclear ambitions. Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons both before and after the first Gulf War and he repeatedly lied about this to anyone who would listen, especially to the various inspectors assigned to investigate. All of that is in this book, but, ultimately, Saddam's lies were unsuccessful and a great many of the banned weapons were discovered and destroyed during the pre-1998 inspections. That is in the book too. Importantly, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq places the war into the larger context of American Foreign Policy. You will understand how President Bush radically changed the rules of American military engagement with the release of his national security strategy on September 17, 2002. You will understand that with this new strategy Bush brought an end to the doctrines of deterrence and containment that had characterized United States foreign policy for more than half a century. Of course, there are other obstacles to effectively teaching about an ongoing war and there are other books to read, but this is a fine start. My only criticism is that there was not time or money to create an extensive index. But that is a minor complaint. In his carefully worded speech delivered on August 7, 2003 at New York University, former Vice President Al Gore clearly outlined the challenge we all face in the classroom: "...it is no longer possible to avoid the conclusion that what the country is dealing with in the Bush Presidency is...a systematic effort to manipulate facts in service to a totalistic ideology that is felt to be more important than the mandates of basic honesty." Buy more than one copy.
Rating: 
Summary: WASTE OF TIME
Review: I watched Scheer debate at the LA Times book festival and felt compelled to read his book due to his passion for the subject matter. I borrowed the book from a client and I am sorry to say that it was a waste of my time. Spend your time doing something productive. This book isn't baffling and surely not impeccable. This book was written at a time to make some money off Bush bashers . . . nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: Stop judging the book on the politcal view.
Review: If you are a strong supporter of President Bush, don't comment on what you feel about the issues with no relevance to the book. The reviews are here because people want to know how other people who have the same interests perceived this book. This is not a place for a political rant.
Rating:
Summary: how the left lies
Review: It is unfortunate that the authors failed to read David Kay's report where it was documented that there was ongoing WMD programs but that would conflict with with the political views of the authors who are committed leftists. An al queda link was was never used by Bush as justification for the war but was used by the clinton administration to justify the bombing of an "asprin" factory during the Monica scandal. Who said there was a link of Iraqi WMD and terrorist, none other than Richard Clarke (clinton terrorism expert) and national security adviser Sandy Berger. (See Newsweek and Time) The authors did get something right, we have not found stockpiles of WMDs. If you follow the authors twisted thinking that means Bush lied. A more reasonable conclusion is that the British, French, German and American inteligence was incorrect. Read Bob Woodward's new book wherein CIA Director Tenet (clinton appointee) told Bush WMD's were a "slamdunk". It appears that this book (like so many others) calling Bush a lier is in retaliation for clinton perjuring himself and getting impeached. If Bush was so devious that he knew there were no WMDs would he not have planted them to be "found". This book starts out with a false premise, and then twists facts to make something false appear true. I think thats called lying. Its obvious why scheer writes sceenplays for oliver stone, this book is about as accurate a portaiture of history as stones' movies JFK and Nixon.
Rating:
Summary: It Only Lacks the Sixth Lie
Review: It merely requires time and a little patience to see how a book like this one is prescient. What the authors have identified as Bush's lies justifying the USA invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has now acknowledged as "mistakes":
1. Al Qaeda had terrorist links to Iraq
2. Iraq had chemical and biological weapons
3. Iraq had nuclear weapons
4. The war and the occupation would be easy
5. Iraq is primed to become a model of democracy in the Middle East
Of course, the administration still holds out official hope for the fifth lie, but it is also the kind of hope the USA could have for 20 years even as it continually battles an ever-renewing insurgency of Iraqi patriots who hate the USA. Still, it is evident to the objective observer and from what we now know from the Iraqi people themselves: whatever the Iraqi people want for their government, it is not what the USA offers.
The Bush administration floated a sixth lie when the mendacious nature of the first five became evident. It is now claimed that the USA invaded Iraq for purely humanitarian reasons. Yet Human Rights Watch (HRW) accurately pointed out that though Saddam was no angel, the widespread nature of his abuses ended by the early 1990s, most of them occurring during the 80s when the USA considered him an ally. In fact, HRW argued that Saddam's abuses had declined so much that a persuasive case could not be made for militarily intervening in Iraq for humanitarian reasons. Add to that the fact that approximately 100,000 Iraqi noncombatants have died since the USA invasion, and malnutrition has increased in Iraq since the invasion (at levels in excess of those while Saddam was in power), then it becomes clear that the USA invasion and occupation has been a humanitarian disaster and the USA has lied about this as well.
If the authors decide to print another addition of this work, I urge them to include an analysis of this sixth lie as well. This needs to be settled: the USA has exhausted its excuses for it monstrous acts of barbarity in Iraq.
Rating:
Summary: Spinmeister Scheer.....
Review: Many pundits sling jargon or make blithely irrational arguments. Some, however, seem to specialize in twisting the facts to fit their ideology, continually making assertions that are at best unsupported and at worst blatantly false until they--and presumably their readers--come to accept these false tropes as truth. Robert Scheer, a nationally syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times, has established himself as the leader of this breed, with some of his worst spin coming since the September 11 attack. Sadly, this is only the latest iteration of a trend that can be seen in Scheer's columns throughout the year.
Read it all....
http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20011008.html
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