Rating: 
Summary: Can You Sleep at Night?
Review: This is a truly scholarly look at the Bush administration war cabinet. Mann does not take sides, delve into polemics, or engage in name calling. The book is copiously footnoted. After reading what can only be described as a fairminded examination to the crowd now in office, I expect most readers may find, as I have, that sleeping at night with these people at the helm is difficult. An exceptional book in every regard.
Rating: 
Summary: I Prefer "The Rise and Fall of The Vulcans".
Review: This is an excellent book. There have been a series of books about Bush and his cabinet to the point where there is book saturation - but this is a fascinating read. Rice, and Rumsfeld, and Powell and the others might be among the brightest minds in the US, but bright people do dumb things. This book like the recent O'Neill book reinforces the growing opinion that there are serious problems among the group of advisors around Bush. I thought that Bush would be a refreshing change from the preoccupied and scandal plagued Clinton administration that had a habit of letting problems slide. But anyone following the general pictures, and who uses at least some critical thinking, knows that after three years of the "Vulcans" most understand very clearly that the Bush administration is not executing any coherent or effective plan. I see nothing in the book to change my opinion. Even though the US is 6% of the world's population, the advisors think they can solve the world's problems with gunboat diplomacy, more military intervention, and with the fleet of nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The domestic programs, the border security, the budget and perhaps even the war on terror are in shambles. Invading Iraq has simply added fuel to the fire in the war on terrorism. Oil imports continue to surge and the dollar sinks. Conservation of fuel and global warming are basically taboo subjects or are not even on the radar screen. Now even working with allies to get a consensus is being downplayed unless the "allies" agree with us. If nobody agrees with us we call it necessary unilateral action. The "Vulcans" promote a continuation of the 44 years history of invading small countries like Cuba, Grenada, Vietnam, etc killing millions in the name of democracy. They have done some good things like Libya - no question. But they have frittered away international goodwill that took decades to build. Bush has wasted his own political goodwill that he built up with the voters concerning the way he handled 9-11. But now in 2004 Bush is weakened with a serious loss of credibility over WMD's and Iraq. This is an interesting book and further confirms many of our fears. It has some new tidbits and inside stories. But the book has lots of competition and frankly it is time for the "Vulcans" to go. We already knew that unless one was politically blind or in denial that this group has acted with arrogance and not in the long term interests of the USA or the world as a whole. They have worn out their welcome. I still like the book by Bob Woodward - his best-seller "Bush at War" which is now two years old and covers the same people. When I read that I still supported Bush. The present book confirms my concerns that have developed since 2002. Also I just finished reading the Hans Blix book "Disarming Iraq" and that book also confirms my fears that the UN and 1441 was mainly window dressing and the WMD's for all practical purposes were gone in 1992. There seems to be a parallel between the WMD's and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Both seem to have been PR shams. One book is one thing but when multiple books all point in the same direction there seems to be a ring of truth. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing new read
Review: This is the history of Bush's war cabinet, from Rice to Powell to Wolfowitz among others. But more then that it is a history of American political life from the 1960s to present and the development of the policies of various administrations. This is the wide ranging history of think tanks and policy wonks, of lobbying groups and obscure professors, of old ideas and new revolutionary concepts, and of a small breed of like minded individuals sometimes in power, sometimes out, who came to the pinnacle of their abilities under George W. Bush. These men and women of diverse backgrounds and from diverse places in the political landscape combined academic ideas and military sills along with policy know how to craft a revolutionary new American doctrine. This book also presents biographical sketches that provide a refreshing insight into people like the oft-maligned Cheney, who this book shows came from a solid middle class background, whereas many assume we was born into wealth. This is a wonderful read that takes the reader on a fast paced accessible tour of Washington politics. It would be helpful to go into this read with at least a perfunctory knowledge of who people like Jean Kirkpatrick, Henry Kissinger and Richard Pearl are. It would also be helpful to have at least a quintessential understanding of the various larger foreign policy issues of the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations, all of which were formative for the 'vulcans'. Nevertheless this book serves as both a primer and a textbook on these amazing characters, both a biography and a political book, this is a must read and a book you will not find easy to put down. Seth J. Frantzman
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