Name: 500 Days
ISBN: 9781451669381

Kurt Eichenwald

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and author of The Informant presents a compelling account of the first 500 days after September 11 that reveals previously undisclosed information about the terror wars, warrantless wiretapping and the anthrax attacks.

Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars

500 Days

Andrew Marti

The first 500 days after 9/11/2001 could have gone in multiple directions. We could have leveraged the tragedy to reconsider how we engage with the Arab world. We could have used 9/11 as an opportunity to re-evaluate how we monitor and take on threats. We could have used it as an opening to engage deeply into a mideast peace process.

This book is about the path that was was taken instead, a path that was very different from the options above. Instead, we invaded Iraq and instituted torture in interrogration practices. These two dark decisions become part of the lasting legacy of 9/11.

500 Days by Kurt Eichenwald describes how these misguided approaches came to fruition. Both with torture and with the Iraq invasion, government officials approach the new reality of 9/11 with preconceptions that didn't align to any current reality.

Regarding torture: FBI officials were participating in humane interrogations of detainees with CIA officers. The CIA officers had received approval to use torture, to the continued astonishment of the FBI. Again and again, the FBI team would gain valuable information by treating the detainees humanely and with respect. The CIA team would leverage torture to gain lies, or worthless information. 

In the CIA, and eventually in the Pentagon, officials were conviced that torture would work. They felt that a new type of enemy required a new type of technique. Decades of recognized interrogation techniques could be tossed. And amazingly, the CIA started believing that torture scenes from TV shows like 24 could be adopted in real practice. 

The result was a "toxic stew at Guantanomo: poorly trained interrogators, told to mistreat prisoners, with no limitations and no exposure to the law."

In the case of Iraq, Bush and Cheney were looking for any reason to invade Iraq. September 11 was an opportune event in that it gave them an excuse to move forward. Time and again, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld provide reasons that were false: linkages to al-Queada, WMD.

The team had a pre-conception that Iraq was an imminent threat, despite any evidence.

Unfortunately, no one in the government was able to objectively discern the situation and the facts. No one was able to put aside pre-conceptions and approach the problems with a fact-based approach.

The book is a challenge for the Obama administration to discern the world based on reality, not on preconceptions.

500 Days Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars

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