Ron Suskind has written a revealing novel about the Bush Administration‘s attitude towards terrorism and American politics in The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism. Suskind won the Pulitzer for A Hope in the Unseen and sets a pretty level playing field for the Bush Administration’s War on Terrorism revealing new insight to the strategy used by Bush/Cheney to “secure” war against Iraq.
Suskind brings many issues of concern to the forefront regarding the Bush Administration’s actions in taking the country to war. I believe Suskind has clearly documented actions by Cheney as lessons learned from Nixon’s Watergate. Cheney served Nixon as White House Staff Assistant in 1971 and Deputy Assistant to the President from 1974–1975.
During Watergate Nixon’s inner circle kept the President “in the know” but as Vice President Cheney has acted to deliberately keep W. Bush out of the loop for political and potentially legal reasons. Suskind details the odd relationship developed by Bush in order to protect himself.
The 2% rule.
What does a sitting President do with a 2% approval rating with African American voters in a post-Katrina America? With midterm elections on the horizon Bush simply extended (a bit early) the voting rights act. That was the most strategic advice the GOP could offer? Did they want to hit….say 4%? This proves to be an excellent example of the political extremism underway in the Bush White House to show how the story and plans for war would be developed to further a political agenda.
Knifing the baby
Immediately following 9/11 Bush became accustomed to getting his political way with America, the mainstream media and government. History has shown this leads Presidents down dark paths. When British intelligence (MI5 & MI6) notified the US that a plan was underway by Al Qaeda to blow up airplanes over the Atlantic Bush asked British PM Tony Blair to give up the terrorists to American authorities. Blair refused saying British Intelligence had 2,000 operatives working this case for over a year. They were eavesdropping on their ring of terrorists and looked to grab higher players within 30 days.
