Doug Feith's Work of Fiction

[SWJED]

Tom Ricks and Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post have the scoop on Feith's soon to be released book - having read a copy of the nearly 900-page manuscript - midway through the editing process - that was obtained by The Post.

In the first insider account of Pentagon decision-making on Iraq, one of the key architects of the war blasts former secretary of state Colin Powell, the CIA, retired Gen. Tommy R. Franks and former Iraq occupation chief L. Paul Bremer for mishandling the run-up to the invasion and the subsequent occupation of the country.

Douglas J. Feith, in a massive score-settling work, portrays an intelligence community and a State Department that repeatedly undermined plans he developed as undersecretary of defense for policy and conspired to undercut President Bush's policies.

Among the disclosures made by Feith in "War and Decision," scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush's declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that "war is inevitable." The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Feith, who says he took notes at the meeting, registered it as a "momentous comment."...

Some blamed deserve the blame, Feith deserves more than most...

[Tom Odom]

Others have criticized Feith's plan as relying too heavily on Iraqi exile politicians, including Ahmed Chalabi. Feith says that he considered Chalabi one of the most astute and democratically minded Iraqis but that he had no special brief for him. Instead, he charges that the State Department, the CIA and the military's Central Command were pathologically opposed to the exiles and to Chalabi in particular.

And if you wanted Feith to say, "Yes I am an egocentric idiot," his comments on Chalabi serve quite well.

Stalinist solutions for incompetence are sometimes very appealing...

[John T. Fishel]

worked in ISA (subset of USD-P) when Feith was USD. He said that Feith could not get through his paperwork to make a decision. Another friend, responding to my comment that Tommy Franks had called Feith the dumbest *&^% on earth noted that Franks knows dumb!

Cheers

JohnT

[J Wolfsberger]

"Feith depicts former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld with almost complete admiration, questioning only his rough handling of subordinates."

That tells me everything I need to know about Feith.

This will be a good book to avoid.

[Tom Odom]

That tells me everything I need to know about Feith.

This will be a good book to avoid.

Just go to Wikipedia on Douglas J. Feith

[marct]

Just go to Wikipedia on Douglas J. Feith

All I can say is "Would you buy a used policy from this man?"


There is just something - a small voice in the back of my mind - that keeps whispering "But it WAS a good thing!". Luckily, I have a per spirit that drives away used car salesmen.