This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The experience taught Rummy a
searing lesson he would internalize deeply: showing weakness strengthens one’s
opponent. He’d sharpened this
formulation over the years into one of his most frequently uttered sentences:
weakness is provocative.” – William Cooper, Chapter 5: September 22, 1975,
Page 45
“A few blocks from Cheney’s office, Paul O’Neill was
watching alone in his office in his luxurious Washington D.C. apartment. The room was hazy with smoke from his
cigar. A tall glass of gin rested in his
right hand. Bush had fired O’Neill
months earlier, on Cheney’s prodding. As
Cheney said to Rummy after he was canned, O’Neill’s brain only helped if he was
on board, if their interests were aligned.
“We don’t want our adversaries to be smart and energetic. We want them dumb and lazy.”” – William Cooper,
Chapter 25: February 5, 2006, Page 132
“Rummy paused. Again,
about half the Republicans stood and clapped.
Everyone else remained seated.
Rummy made a mental note to have Jenkins create a list of all
Republicans who weren’t standing during the ovations. There would be consequences. The Republicans needed to be unified behind
their president or they would get walloped at the polls. He knew there was disagreement within the
party about going into Iran, but these disagreements were for behind closed
doors. He focused on not letting his
face show his displeasure.” – William Cooper, Chapter 44: August 26, 2005, Page
180
Is This An Overview?
Intelligence and intention do not necessarily produce
quality decisions. Intelligence and
intention can also produce justifications for one’s own ideas, even to
contradictory evidence. This led Donald
H. Rumsfeld, known as Rummy, to withhold information that had dire
consequences. Rummy’s often expressed
view, is that weakness if provocative.
But the show of strength, creates antagonists. To overcome a weakness, to cover up for
weakness, decisions are made to compensate with a greater show of strength,
which further exacerbates the situation.
To defend America, Rummy needed America to go to war. To justify the war, information was
manipulated. War that cost innocents
their lives, while being told that that war is for the good of America. A war meant to provide stability and
democracy to the region attacked. As
opposition mounts, the international community learns that the war need not have
happened, and use the International Court to make the case. Rummy is put on trial. What is the outcome of the trial?
Caveats?
This book uses a mix of real references, real events, real
people, but with many fictional details and events. Meant to make prominent certain political
information, that can have dire consequences.
The difficulty is understanding what information is real, and which is
fiction. Some events are clearly identifiable,
but others require background information. The characters are based on real people, who
made decisions that are detrimental to the American people, but are not turned
into caricatures.
