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The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq | 
| Authors: Christopher Scheer, Lakshmi Chaudhry, Robert Scheer
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $9.95
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Rating:  20 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 178
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.9 x 0.4
ISBN: 1583226443
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443
EAN: 9781583226445
ASIN: 1583226443
Publication Date: January 1, 2003
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Product Description
A Copublication of Seven Stories Press and Akashic Books The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq is the first book to hold the president and his team accountable for the government's campaign of disinformation leading up to the war in Iraq. The administration repeatedly attested that Saddam Hussein had developed weapons of mass destruction and was close to using them; downplayed the cost and risk of the proposed invasion and occupation; shamelessly evoked the atrocious abuse of power of Hussein and his family while brooking no commitment to rebuild the country after the terrifying "shock and awe" campaign, or to do anything to improve the lot of the Iraqi people; and, most outrageously, provided substanceless theory linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks of September 11, thereby cynically manipulating the anger and sorrow of the American citizenry. The charade has culminated in the slow bloodletting of U.S. forces still stationed in Iraq, held there because it would not be politically expedient to admit the failure of "democratization." While Bush II appears intent on conducting an unending global war against "evildoers," little public debate has gone into assessing the aims and strategies of such a broad campaign. In The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, coauthors Christopher and Robert Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry of the influential web magazine AlterNet.org have aggregated the hard questions that the purported leadership of the U.S. must answer. Christopher Scheer is managing editor of AlterNet.org, the popular news and commentary website. Scheer has written screenplays for Oliver Stone and previously worked for the San Francisco Examiner. Robert Scheer is the author of six books, the host of NPR affiliate KCRW's "Left, Right, and Center," and a contributing editor to both the Los Angeles Times and The Nation. Lakshmi Chaudhry is an editor at Alternet.org.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Informative Read May 11, 2007
Peter (Melbourne Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found the book to be informative. Being able to read it 4 years after it was published adds a strong current of correctness to the book as some of the things that the authors write about have come true - billions of dollars spent, US lives lost, Iraq still a mess etc.
This book is valuable reading and should create some important questions about the Iraq situation. It is a worthy complement to Bob Woodward's trilogy on the Bush Administration.
 Very Interesting March 9, 2007
MD (New York, NY)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an interesting book. Anyone who is interested in an alternative to the right wing talk radio and tv news should seriously consider checking out the Thom Hartmann radio show opposite Rush Limbaugh weekdays at: thomhartmann dot com / showlisten.shtml
Whether democrat, republican, or indepedent, so many of the facts out there are completely ignored by the mainstream media and talk shows. This show is one strong example of an examination of the facts regardless of your political affiliation. I am not affiliated with the show in any way, just struck by the facts so many seem to ignore.
 The BushLegend Continues October 25, 2006
Mr D. (Cave Creek, Az United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
The Five Biggest Lies was not the first book I've read on George W. Bush and or his misadventure and it probably won't be the last. Obviously, from the title, one can deduct that this is not a book that praises the forty-third president. The book is well written and planned and is generally about what the title describes - the five major fallacies that were given as the rationale for the unprovoked aggression of Iraq. It is basically set forth in an outline style, starting with an introduction, then a chapter on the reasoning and methodology behind the deception. The deceptions themselves follow, with a chapter allocated to each lie, followed by the conclusion.
The chapters outlining the five lies are titled by the lies:
1. Al Qaeda's ties to Iraq.
2. Iraq's Chemical and Biological Weapons
3. Iraq's Nuclear Weapons
4. The War Will Be a `Cakewalk'
5. Iraq as a Democratic Model
6. Conclusion
Al Qaeda's ties to Iraq
The authors methodically expose this deceit pointing to the fact that all of the prewar suppositions regarding an alleged tie between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein had previously been discredited. Yet, as in the pattern of other falsehoods, these lies mysteriously found their way back into the conversations and speeches of administration officials.
Iraq's Chemical and Biological Weapons
Another stretch by the administration that had been debunked previously, even as the administration members continued to talk about Chemical and Biological WMD. They shamelessly continued to use this discounted intelligence as a pretext for invasion. Even though the United States and the UN had Hussein in a box, in control of only a third of his country and was unable to reconstitute chemical and biological programs; the administration pointed to this phantom program as a grave world threat.
Iraq's Nuclear Weapons
This may have been the largest and most damaging of the fabrications. Everything that the administration put forward to justify their mushroom cloud scenario had already been discredited numerous times and in many ways, yet the people in Rumsfeld's personal intelligence gatherers, whose only purpose was to dig up intelligence that would support the administration position, wouldn't let it die. This despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was no evidence of any kind of WMD in Iraq and weapon inspectors had come up empty. Vice President Cheney in no uncertain terms said they were "Flat wrong." Well, the head of IAEA ended up with a Nobel Peace Prize and we ended up with a quagmire.
The War Will be a `Cakewalk'
Here again the administration's leading Hawk, VP Cheney was head cheerleader for invasion by going on TV and saying the war would be a "cakewalk." Others treated the invasion in a cavalier manner as well. The administration planned on reducing troop levels to 30,000 troops within three months.
The authors point out that this may be the only inadvertent lie, with administration officials truly believing their own hyperbole in this case.
Iraq as a Democratic Model
This is, of course, the back up rationale for the invasion of Iraq, but it was the primary policy on a position of expansion and policing, which authors put forth in the conclusion.
The authors don't disagree with the idea of a model democracy in the Middle East but it is generally conceived that if such an event were to occur it would have to be nurtured, not imposed from the end of a gun.
Conclusion
The authors postulate that the invasion of Iraq was the first salvo in a new grandiose, radical foreign policy of deterrence by aggression. In doing this the administration made numerous assumptions, all of which turned out to be fallacious. Instead the results of the invasion had the opposite effect, bogging us down in Iraq, helpless to confront other developing mischief in the globe, ie. Iran and North Korea.
My Thoughts
This book only deals with the lead up to the war and the very beginnings, having being published in October, 2003, yet the authors seem quite prescient, having correctly predicting the present situation in Iraq.
Like the other similar books I have devoured, it is meant to be informative and factual. It is probably directed at the average Bush supporter who seem to shun being confused with facts and therefore would not be caught within a mile of such `dreck.'
Therefore this book and others like it serve as kindling, inflaming the passions of those of us that believe Dubya is, at best, a study in mediocrity. It reinforces our incredulity that this man was re-elected. I don't know about others, but it makes be mad at the voters that voted, with whatever stupid reason in mind, for Bush. I can truthfully say, not a day goes by that I haven't marveled at the fact that this man is our President.
not a bush basher November 30, 2005
J. jones (Anderson,IN)
14 out of 23 found this review helpful
I am not a Bush fan, neither am I a Bush basher. I was with him
until Iraq happened.This book is different from other Bush-bashing books I've read, because it focuses only on one thing:
Iraq. And it only gives 5 reasons why the author feels Bush lied. The most intriguing thing about the book, is that 4 of the 5 reasons the Bush administration gave for invading Iraq, have come to be considered false or weak reasons, by everyone from weapons inspectors, politicians on both sides, and the general public, to our foreign allies covering most of the globe.
The book is indeed correct - Iraq is a SUPERMESS now ! June 16, 2005
mxpayn65 (Virginia Beach, VA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
Even Republicans are now worried and even the famous "Mr. Freedom Fries" Congressman is jumping on board to withdraw troops from Iraq as it's now clear that like LBJ made a mess with Vietnam, Bush made a mess with Iraq by he and his cronies brainwashing the public with lies. This book isn't a bad start for opening up the dirty rotten truth about the Iraq war. The only people who hate this book appear to be the neocons !
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