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The Way of the World (book)
Encyclopedia
The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism is a 2008 non-fiction book by Ron Suskind
, a Pulitzer Prize
-winning author, describing various actions and policies of the George W. Bush administration
. Most notably, it alleges that the Bush administration ordered the forgery of the Habbush letter
to implicate Iraq
as having ties to al Qaeda and the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
. The book, published on August 5 2008 by Harper
, has met mixed critical reviews but inspired considerable media attention and controversy. Anticipation for the commercial success of the book was high, with The Wall Street Journal
reporting that it was the "biggest release" of a crop of late-summer "big titles".
(CIA) to forge or manufacture a false-pretense for the Iraq war through a backdated, handwritten document ― namely, the Habbush letter ― linking Saddam Hussein
and al-Qaeda
. The letter purported to be from General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
, the head of Iraqi Intelligence, to Saddam Hussein, detailing training which 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta
supposedly received in Iraq and mentioning receipt of a shipment from Niger. The D.C.-based author says the CIA forged this letter before the 2003 Iraqi invasion on an order from the White House. The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi Intelligence official, General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
, "that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion." Suskind further states that Vice-President Dick Cheney
implemented a set of procedures and processes designed to make the President less involved and less accountable for various controversial decisions and actions.
, on NBC's Today show.
He was interviewed on NPR
's Fresh Air
by Dave Davies, as well as on The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart
on August 11. On August 12, Suskind appeared live online at The Washington Post
s "Book World Live". On August 13 and 14, he appeared on Democracy Now. On August 15, Suskind appeared on Hannity & Colmes
and John Maguire
from the CIA and Nigel Inkster from the British foreign intelligence service, MI6.
John Maguire, who headed the CIA's Iraq Operations Group, issued a statement through Richer saying, "I never received any instruction from then Chief/NE Rob Richer or any other officer in my chain of command instructing me to fabricate such a letter."
Retired British intelligence official Nigel Inkster called Suskind's allegations "inaccurate and misleading", saying "Mr Suskind's characterisation of our meeting is more the stuff of creative fiction than serious reportage, and seeks to make more of it than the circumstances or the content warranted."
The White House also denied the allegation. Deputy press Secretary, Tony Fratto, said, "The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd." George Tenet, the former Director of Central Intelligence, said "There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort," adding "The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous."
, because, in terms of chain of command, Rob Richer is not actually on George’s chain of command, if you will. It goes around to Rob Richer."
Suskind also posted a partial transcript of his taped interview with Richer in which Richer says the White House ordered the fabrication. According to Suskind, Richer said, "I would probably stand on my, basically, my reputation and say [the order to fabricate the letter] came from the vice president." Richer states that the order was on White House stationery rather than Vice Presidential stationery, but asserts that it must have come from Cheney's office "cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president." Suskind claimed in an interview that the posting of the transcript had "frankly, quelled some of the clouds that were kicked up by this."
After Suskind posted his partial transcript, Richer issued a second statement, saying "Mr. Suskind has now released an edited transcript of an apparent conversation between us that he alleges supports one of the central themes in his book. It does not. I stand by my earlier statement and my absolute belief that the charges outlined in Mr. Suskind's book regarding Agency involvement in forging documents are not true." Suskind has also claimed that Richer came under pressure to release his statement; on an interview with National Public Radio, he stated:
Regarding Maguire's statement, Suskind noted "The book doesn’t allege anything that he’s stating there. The book shows clearly what happened. Maguire—as people read the book, they’re like, that statement doesn’t actually reflect what’s in the book. The book just shows him talking to Rob Richer—Maguire—about the letter, about its contents, about generally its origin. And at that point, Maguire was moving on to a new job, so I say in the book it’s passed to Maguire’s successor for execution. So there’s an example where Maguire, who had not read the book at that point, had it characterized wrongly by Richer, whomever Richer was working with, and then responded to something not in the book. You know, it’s interesting, because this is part of a kind of practice of careful sort of kick-up-the-dust deception, in terms of statements like this that experienced reporters have seen from time to time." On NBC TV's Today Show on August 6, 2008 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26050915/ Suskind said that Maguire would be reading the book "that day" and would see that it accurately reflected what he had said.
In another interview with Democracy Now!
, Suskind claims that he confirmed the claims of Richer and Maguire in several interviews: "the fact is, is it’s not a matter of a passing conversation. We had many conversations on this specific issue, on the Habbush matter, with all of the key sources. There was never any mystery about what it was, what the Habbush letter was, what the Habbush mission entailed, in terms of the setup with the Iraq intelligence chief. I mean, exhaustive, hour after hour. And the way I do it as an investigative reporter, is you go back again and again and again." And in the NPR interview, he claims that both Richer and Maguire had indicated a willingness to testify against the Administration about these allegations: "both of them, frankly, are big believers in the truth process. And I've talked to both of them about, `Hey, you're never going to feel heat quite like this.' And they said, both of them, Richer and Maguire, `I'm ready to go in front of Senate committees and House committees. I'm ready to have my moment.' They knew everything that was in the book. You know, once they get there and the moment arrives, sometimes their knees buckle. And then you kind of say, `All right, let's take a deep breath.' And you get them upright, and they tend to often then walk forward."
Responding to Tenet, Suskind challenged his credibility as a source on the issue, stating that "George is the last man you want to call on something like this." Suskind stated, "Tenet has talked often to reporters, even folks in Congress, that he doesn't remember anything, you know. He's got a memory issue, obviously. And the people just shrug. Is it convenient? Is it something else? In any event, you know, I think Tenet is, you know, with the White House because I think both of them are a bit in the same leaky rowboat on this one." In an interview with Hannity & Colmes, Suskind admitted that he had not spoken to Tenet about the allegation.
Suskind responded to the White House's claim that he "has chosen to dwell in the netherworld of bizarre conspiracy theories" by stating that they were "all but obligated to deny this".
Joe Conason of Salon.com also published circumstantial evidence that supports Suskind's claims; Conason found that Ayad Allawi, who originally made the forged letter available to the Daily Telegraph, was "a longtime asset of the Central Intelligence Agency." Just before the Telegraph published information about the Habbush letter, Allawi was at CIA headquarters in Langley; after the forged letter hit the international media, Allawi "suddenly returned to favor in Baghdad and eclipsed Chalabi, at least for a while. Five months later, in May 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council elected Allawi as his country's interim prime minister, reportedly under pressure from the American authorities." Conason suggests these facts establish "a strong circumstantial case ... in support of Suskind's story."
The Boston Globes Claude R. Marx wrote that "Suskind's sources seem pretty solid, and the denials from the White House and former CIA director George Tenet were what you would expect of policymakers trying to salvage their reputation; they didn't try to disparage Suskind or threaten legal action."
Dan Froomkin of The Washington Post elaborated: "The allegation in Ron Suskind's new book that the White House ordered the CIA to forge evidence of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda is so incredibly grave that it demands a serious response from the government. If what Suskind writes is true -- or even partially true -- someone at the highest levels of the White House engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deceive the American public. . . . But so far, we've gotten mostly hyperbole, innuendo and narrowly constructed denials." He goes on:
has called it "the most critical investigation of the entire Bush administration."
Conyers' office issued letters directing some of the principals allegedly involved in the forgery to appear before the Committee for questioning. These included Rob Richer, Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs John P. Hannah
, and former Chief of Staff to the Vice President Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for his involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal, as well as George Tenet
, John Maguire, and A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard (the number three man at the CIA, who Suskind says also confirmed the allegations).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7569000/7569767.stm on August 19, 2008. BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera followed the interview by reading a statement from former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove in which Dearlove said:
After reading the statement, Corera emphasized that the sources he spoke with "were careful not to deny that a meeting did take place with the Iraqi intelligence chief on the eve of war in which this man Habbush denied Saddam had any weapons. But I think the key question is whether he was meeting MI6 as a spy providing secret intelligence on Saddam, in which case his information might have been taken very seriously, or whether, in fact, this was a back channel that Saddam Hussein himself had authorized, and that therefore this Iraqi intelligence chief Habbush was simply saying what other Iraqi intelligence officials were already saying."
was detained under suspicion of being a terrorist and questioned in an "interrogation room" under the building. According to conservative journalist Ronald Kessler
, the Secret Service
has disputed Suskind's account, saying "We have no record of the incident or the [Pakistani] individual referenced." A Secret Service spokesman went on to add, "Bringing an individual inside the White House for questioning defies standard security and protocols and safety procedures. We would not bring a suspicious person, potential prisoner, prisoner, or any person who has not been properly vetted onto the White House grounds." Kessler also quotes Suskind as saying that when he contacted the Secret Service in the course of researching his book, a spokeswoman told him that the individual in question was not on file but that "it is not uncommon if the individual was 'in and out that we don't find a permanent record.'" Suskind also told Kessler that he spoke to "witnesses" who backed up the story.
. This technique was praised by many in reviewing Way of the World. In his assessment for the Literary Review
, Michael Burleigh noted the linked vignettes that formed the bedrock of the narrative. “Using a series of interwoven stories, some hopeful, others disturbing, Suskind explores whether the United States and the Muslim world will ever be able to find mutual respect and understanding. . . . This is a hugely important field that has never been so well examined.” Similar encomium was used in analyzing Suskind’s capabilities as a storyteller. The Sunday Times declared “Suskind is never unsympathetic to his characters, who he appears to have debriefed intensively. He is a romantic, a writer who clearly believes that his country has betrayed its past, its values and its moral compass by failing to tell the truth about the war." Perhaps the most substantial testament to Suskind’s return to a narrative style came from the New York Observer. “Moving. . . . Mr. Suskind is a prodigiously talented craftsman. . . . It’s all here: a cast of characters that sprawls across class and circumstance to represent the totality of a historical moment. . . . These hard times, Mr. Suskind’s book suggests, call for a nonfiction Dickens.”
, Mark Danner
writes:
's Alan Cooperman writes:
's Simon Jenkins reviewed the book, finding that "Suskind is never unsympathetic to his characters, who he appears to have debriefed intensively. He is a romantic, a writer who clearly believes that his country has betrayed its past, its values and its moral compass by failing to tell the truth about the war. My reservation lies in his “new realism” style of reporting." After taking some issue with the style of the narrative, he concludes:
, Claude R. Marx comments that "There have already been enough books about the Bush administration's war on terror to fill several shelves in a library. Most are either strongly pro or con with not enough dispassionate analysis. Ron Suskind's "The Way of the World" is something of a hybrid. Rather than looking at the subject from 10,000 feet above ground, it tells us about it through the stories of government operatives, a defense lawyer, and two citizens of Muslim countries living in the United States. It is critical of President Bush and his policies but makes its points by example rather than by taking cheap shots." Marx goes on to critique the book for failing "to acknowledge the successes of the country's post-9/11 strategy," but also notes that while "the political sections of the book will get the most attention . . . readers who skip over or read too hastily the sections dealing with the effects of the Bush administration's policies on average citizens are doing themselves a disservice. . . . The Way of the World doesn't break a great deal of ground, [but] its intriguing profiles and elegant writing make the book worth reading."
, saying of the transcript posted on Suskind's website: "It not only supports Suskind's account as written, but shows he took a conservative approach toward his material."
's Louis Bayard characterized the book as "alternately incisive and gauzy", praising the book for its reporting while critiquing its language as at-times sentimental and its outlook as more optimistic than the facts warrant. Bayard writes:
found the charges in The Way of the World "grave and shocking" and the stuff of a "a Watergate-sized scandal." Crook wrote that "Congress ought to look into it urgently, with witnesses on oath," adding that the "picture of blundering malfeasance that emerges from this book is deeply depressing." He criticized the book's structure, writing that "the tale meanders hither and yon, in its bloated 'multilayered' fashion."
Another review of the book in the Financial Times
, this one by the paper's international affairs editor, Quentin Peel, begins by discussing the book's vantage:
Peel continues, writing that The Way of the Worlds "sensational claims are almost an afterthought at the very end of Suskind's book. The author, a distinguished former Wall Street Journal reporter, has already exposed the dysfunctional White House regime in two previous works, The One Percent Doctrine
and The Price of Loyalty
. This time he has written a morality tale, an attempt to define how America can recover its moral authority after the global backlash against the disastrous Bush presidency." Peel concludes that "It is a brave attempt, but it fails."
, Timothy R. Homan writes, "The Way of the World is really two books in one. The first, of course, is an investigation into the way the administration under President George W. Bush
has crafted its post-9/11 doctrine. The second, somewhat incompatible book describes the experiences of foreigners, from an Afghan high school exchange student to a young Pakistani professional, living in 21st-century America. These stories read like a modern-day, political Canterbury Tales." Homan expresses mixed feelings about the book's structure and form: "While the melding of investigative reporting with personal narratives showcases the range of Suskind's writing skills, the staccato format ultimately proves jarring and incoherent."
When asked why the CIA had made an exception to its general practice of not commenting on books, a spokesman wrote that it was because "the allegations were so egregious—including the suggestion that the agency broke the law—that we felt a response was both necessary and appropriate.”
Tenet followed the CIA release with a new statement of his own saying that it was "ridiculous to think that the White House would give (him) such and order and even more ridiculous to think that (he) would carry it out." He added that as the head of the CIA he had "consistently fought with some Administration officials to prevent them from overstating the case for Iraqi involvement in international terrorism."
The Washington Post reports that "Suskind, whose claims are now the subject of two congressional investigations, yesterday continued to stand by his book and accused the CIA and White House of orchestrating a smear campaign. 'It's the same old stuff,' said Suskind, who said his findings are supported by hours of interviews, some of them taped. 'There's not a shred of doubt about any of it.'"
Mark Danner noted in the New York Times that "Despite White House and C.I.A. denials, Mr. Suskind’s case, if not definitive, seems strong; and had Hussein not been captured the very day the article appeared in The Telegraph, the C.I.A.’s handiwork might have had a significant political effect."
Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and best-selling author. He was the senior national affairs writer for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000 and has published the books A Hope in the Unseen, The Price of Loyalty, The One Percent Doctrine, The Way of the World and...
, a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their...
-winning author, describing various actions and policies of the George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
. Most notably, it alleges that the Bush administration ordered the forgery of the Habbush letter
Habbush letter
The Habbush letter, or Habbush memo, is a handwritten message dated July 1, 2001, which appeared to show a link between al Qaeda and Iraq's government...
to implicate Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
as having ties to al Qaeda and the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda. The hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker with four "muscle hijackers", who were trained to help subdue the pilots, passengers, and crew.The first hijackers to arrive in the...
. The book, published on August 5 2008 by Harper
Harper (publisher)
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
, has met mixed critical reviews but inspired considerable media attention and controversy. Anticipation for the commercial success of the book was high, with The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
reporting that it was the "biggest release" of a crop of late-summer "big titles".
Contents
In the book, Suskind details and describes a variety of actions, policies, and procedure of the Bush Administration. The most widely publicized allegation in the book is that high-ranking White House officials ordered the Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) to forge or manufacture a false-pretense for the Iraq war through a backdated, handwritten document ― namely, the Habbush letter ― linking Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. The letter purported to be from General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
Tahir Jalil Habbush al Takriti is a former Iraqi intelligence official who served under the regime of Saddam Hussein. He is currently a fugitive.-Forged 2003 Habbush letter:...
, the head of Iraqi Intelligence, to Saddam Hussein, detailing training which 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
supposedly received in Iraq and mentioning receipt of a shipment from Niger. The D.C.-based author says the CIA forged this letter before the 2003 Iraqi invasion on an order from the White House. The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi Intelligence official, General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti
Tahir Jalil Habbush al Takriti is a former Iraqi intelligence official who served under the regime of Saddam Hussein. He is currently a fugitive.-Forged 2003 Habbush letter:...
, "that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion." Suskind further states that Vice-President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
implemented a set of procedures and processes designed to make the President less involved and less accountable for various controversial decisions and actions.
Reception
The book is receiving considerable media attention. Suskind was twice interviewed the week of the book's release by Meredith VieiraMeredith Vieira
Meredith Louise Vieira is an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She is best known for her roles as the original moderator of the ABC talk program The View and co-host of the long-running NBC News morning news program, Today...
, on NBC's Today show.
He was interviewed on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Fresh Air
Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
by Dave Davies, as well as on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
with Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
on August 11. On August 12, Suskind appeared live online at The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
s "Book World Live". On August 13 and 14, he appeared on Democracy Now. On August 15, Suskind appeared on Hannity & Colmes
Habbush forgery
One of the most controversial claims in the book is that the White House directed the CIA to forge a letter from an Iraqi intelligence official. This claim rests on Suskind's interviews with multiple sources, including three former intelligence officials who spoke on the record: Robert RicherRobert Richer
Robert Richer was the associate deputy director of operations of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the number two in command of the Operations Directorate, the part of the Agency responsible for human operations overseas, where he served under Jose Rodriguez.He took early retirement in...
and John Maguire
John Maguire
John Maguire is the name of:*John Maguire , English Mixed Martial Artist*John Maguire , coadjutor archbishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York*John Maguire , Australian cricketer...
from the CIA and Nigel Inkster from the British foreign intelligence service, MI6.
Critical Statements
All three men have issued public statements responding to the controversy. Robert Richer, the CIA's former deputy director of clandestine operations, said "I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document ... as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book" Richer also says that he reviewed the book before it was published, and told Suskind he had got it wrong. Richer stated that he is considering legal action against Suskind.John Maguire, who headed the CIA's Iraq Operations Group, issued a statement through Richer saying, "I never received any instruction from then Chief/NE Rob Richer or any other officer in my chain of command instructing me to fabricate such a letter."
Retired British intelligence official Nigel Inkster called Suskind's allegations "inaccurate and misleading", saying "Mr Suskind's characterisation of our meeting is more the stuff of creative fiction than serious reportage, and seeks to make more of it than the circumstances or the content warranted."
The White House also denied the allegation. Deputy press Secretary, Tony Fratto, said, "The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd." George Tenet, the former Director of Central Intelligence, said "There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort," adding "The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous."
Suskind's Response to His Critics
Suskind responded in an interview to Richer's statement, saying "You know, that’s a very narrow legalistic response of—lawyers in Washington have called, saying that’s actually a non-denial denialNon-denial denial
Non-denial denial is a statement that seems direct, clearcut and unambiguous at first hearing, but when carefully parsed is revealed not to be a denial at all, and is thus not untruthful. It is a case in which words that are literally true are used to convey a false impression; analysis of whether...
, because, in terms of chain of command, Rob Richer is not actually on George’s chain of command, if you will. It goes around to Rob Richer."
Suskind also posted a partial transcript of his taped interview with Richer in which Richer says the White House ordered the fabrication. According to Suskind, Richer said, "I would probably stand on my, basically, my reputation and say [the order to fabricate the letter] came from the vice president." Richer states that the order was on White House stationery rather than Vice Presidential stationery, but asserts that it must have come from Cheney's office "cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president." Suskind claimed in an interview that the posting of the transcript had "frankly, quelled some of the clouds that were kicked up by this."
After Suskind posted his partial transcript, Richer issued a second statement, saying "Mr. Suskind has now released an edited transcript of an apparent conversation between us that he alleges supports one of the central themes in his book. It does not. I stand by my earlier statement and my absolute belief that the charges outlined in Mr. Suskind's book regarding Agency involvement in forging documents are not true." Suskind has also claimed that Richer came under pressure to release his statement; on an interview with National Public Radio, he stated:
Regarding Maguire's statement, Suskind noted "The book doesn’t allege anything that he’s stating there. The book shows clearly what happened. Maguire—as people read the book, they’re like, that statement doesn’t actually reflect what’s in the book. The book just shows him talking to Rob Richer—Maguire—about the letter, about its contents, about generally its origin. And at that point, Maguire was moving on to a new job, so I say in the book it’s passed to Maguire’s successor for execution. So there’s an example where Maguire, who had not read the book at that point, had it characterized wrongly by Richer, whomever Richer was working with, and then responded to something not in the book. You know, it’s interesting, because this is part of a kind of practice of careful sort of kick-up-the-dust deception, in terms of statements like this that experienced reporters have seen from time to time." On NBC TV's Today Show on August 6, 2008 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26050915/ Suskind said that Maguire would be reading the book "that day" and would see that it accurately reflected what he had said.
In another interview with Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
, Suskind claims that he confirmed the claims of Richer and Maguire in several interviews: "the fact is, is it’s not a matter of a passing conversation. We had many conversations on this specific issue, on the Habbush matter, with all of the key sources. There was never any mystery about what it was, what the Habbush letter was, what the Habbush mission entailed, in terms of the setup with the Iraq intelligence chief. I mean, exhaustive, hour after hour. And the way I do it as an investigative reporter, is you go back again and again and again." And in the NPR interview, he claims that both Richer and Maguire had indicated a willingness to testify against the Administration about these allegations: "both of them, frankly, are big believers in the truth process. And I've talked to both of them about, `Hey, you're never going to feel heat quite like this.' And they said, both of them, Richer and Maguire, `I'm ready to go in front of Senate committees and House committees. I'm ready to have my moment.' They knew everything that was in the book. You know, once they get there and the moment arrives, sometimes their knees buckle. And then you kind of say, `All right, let's take a deep breath.' And you get them upright, and they tend to often then walk forward."
Responding to Tenet, Suskind challenged his credibility as a source on the issue, stating that "George is the last man you want to call on something like this." Suskind stated, "Tenet has talked often to reporters, even folks in Congress, that he doesn't remember anything, you know. He's got a memory issue, obviously. And the people just shrug. Is it convenient? Is it something else? In any event, you know, I think Tenet is, you know, with the White House because I think both of them are a bit in the same leaky rowboat on this one." In an interview with Hannity & Colmes, Suskind admitted that he had not spoken to Tenet about the allegation.
Suskind responded to the White House's claim that he "has chosen to dwell in the netherworld of bizarre conspiracy theories" by stating that they were "all but obligated to deny this".
Joe Conason of Salon.com also published circumstantial evidence that supports Suskind's claims; Conason found that Ayad Allawi, who originally made the forged letter available to the Daily Telegraph, was "a longtime asset of the Central Intelligence Agency." Just before the Telegraph published information about the Habbush letter, Allawi was at CIA headquarters in Langley; after the forged letter hit the international media, Allawi "suddenly returned to favor in Baghdad and eclipsed Chalabi, at least for a while. Five months later, in May 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council elected Allawi as his country's interim prime minister, reportedly under pressure from the American authorities." Conason suggests these facts establish "a strong circumstantial case ... in support of Suskind's story."
The Boston Globes Claude R. Marx wrote that "Suskind's sources seem pretty solid, and the denials from the White House and former CIA director George Tenet were what you would expect of policymakers trying to salvage their reputation; they didn't try to disparage Suskind or threaten legal action."
Dan Froomkin of The Washington Post elaborated: "The allegation in Ron Suskind's new book that the White House ordered the CIA to forge evidence of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda is so incredibly grave that it demands a serious response from the government. If what Suskind writes is true -- or even partially true -- someone at the highest levels of the White House engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deceive the American public. . . . But so far, we've gotten mostly hyperbole, innuendo and narrowly constructed denials." He goes on:
Congressional investigation
The House Judiciary Committee announced plans to investigate the allegations. Committee Chairman John ConyersJohn Conyers
John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
has called it "the most critical investigation of the entire Bush administration."
Conyers' office issued letters directing some of the principals allegedly involved in the forgery to appear before the Committee for questioning. These included Rob Richer, Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs John P. Hannah
John P. Hannah
John Peter Hannah , is a senior fellow at the Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, DC think tank which was founded in 1985, with backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,. He is a former national security adviser to U.S...
, and former Chief of Staff to the Vice President Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for his involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal, as well as George Tenet
George Tenet
George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....
, John Maguire, and A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard (the number three man at the CIA, who Suskind says also confirmed the allegations).
WMD distortions
Another controversial claim in the book is that former Iraqi Intelligence Chief Habbush had told American and British intelligence that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; this claim was controversial because the British and U.S. governments had been insisting at the time that such weapons did exist, and went to war in Iraq in part on the strength of the evidence of the existence of such weapons programs. Suskind's claim would suggest that the US and UK may have known all along that there were no such weapons in Iraq. Suskind was interviewed on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7569000/7569767.stm on August 19, 2008. BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera followed the interview by reading a statement from former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove in which Dearlove said:
"Suskind's book is misleading. His conclusions and most of his central facts, as far as they refer to issues which I know about,are quite simply wrong. His imaginative use of his meeting with me to substantiate his own thesis I find unacceptable."
After reading the statement, Corera emphasized that the sources he spoke with "were careful not to deny that a meeting did take place with the Iraqi intelligence chief on the eve of war in which this man Habbush denied Saddam had any weapons. But I think the key question is whether he was meeting MI6 as a spy providing secret intelligence on Saddam, in which case his information might have been taken very seriously, or whether, in fact, this was a back channel that Saddam Hussein himself had authorized, and that therefore this Iraqi intelligence chief Habbush was simply saying what other Iraqi intelligence officials were already saying."
Detention of a Pakistani national inside the White House
Suskind alleges that, on July 27, 2006, a Pakistani national walking past the White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
was detained under suspicion of being a terrorist and questioned in an "interrogation room" under the building. According to conservative journalist Ronald Kessler
Ronald Kessler
Ronald Borek Kessler is an American journalist and author of 19 non-fiction books. He is chief Washington, D.C. correspondent of the conservative news and commentary website Newsmax.com.-Personal life:Kessler was born in New York City in 1943...
, the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
has disputed Suskind's account, saying "We have no record of the incident or the [Pakistani] individual referenced." A Secret Service spokesman went on to add, "Bringing an individual inside the White House for questioning defies standard security and protocols and safety procedures. We would not bring a suspicious person, potential prisoner, prisoner, or any person who has not been properly vetted onto the White House grounds." Kessler also quotes Suskind as saying that when he contacted the Secret Service in the course of researching his book, a spokeswoman told him that the individual in question was not on file but that "it is not uncommon if the individual was 'in and out that we don't find a permanent record.'" Suskind also told Kessler that he spoke to "witnesses" who backed up the story.
Book reviews
The Way of the World marked the fullest return of the investigative narrative form that shaped Suskind’s first book, A Hope in the UnseenA Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen is the first book by author and journalist Ron Suskind, published in 1998. The book is a biographical novel about the life of Cedric Jennings through his last years in high school and first years in college...
. This technique was praised by many in reviewing Way of the World. In his assessment for the Literary Review
Literary Review
Literary Review is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at Edinburgh University. Its offices are currently on Lexington Street in Soho, London, and it has a circulation of 44,750. Britain's principal literary monthly, the magazine was...
, Michael Burleigh noted the linked vignettes that formed the bedrock of the narrative. “Using a series of interwoven stories, some hopeful, others disturbing, Suskind explores whether the United States and the Muslim world will ever be able to find mutual respect and understanding. . . . This is a hugely important field that has never been so well examined.” Similar encomium was used in analyzing Suskind’s capabilities as a storyteller. The Sunday Times declared “Suskind is never unsympathetic to his characters, who he appears to have debriefed intensively. He is a romantic, a writer who clearly believes that his country has betrayed its past, its values and its moral compass by failing to tell the truth about the war." Perhaps the most substantial testament to Suskind’s return to a narrative style came from the New York Observer. “Moving. . . . Mr. Suskind is a prodigiously talented craftsman. . . . It’s all here: a cast of characters that sprawls across class and circumstance to represent the totality of a historical moment. . . . These hard times, Mr. Suskind’s book suggests, call for a nonfiction Dickens.”
The New York Times
Reviewing the book for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Mark Danner
Mark Danner
Mark David Danner is a prominent American writer, journalist, and educator. He is a former staff writer for The New Yorker and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Danner specializes in U.S. foreign affairs, war and politics, and has written extensively on Haiti, Central America,...
writes:
"In a crowded, highly talented field, Mr. Suskind bids fair to claim the crown as the most perceptive, incisive, dogged chronicler of the inner workings of the Bush administration. . . . Behind the highly promoted scandals in The Way of the World lies a complex web of intersecting stories, the plotlines of a varied traveling company of actors whose doings Mr. Suskind chronicles with meticulous care. . . . These narratives and others perform, in Mr. Suskind’s hands, an intricate arabesque and manage, to a rather remarkable degree, to show us, in this age of terror, 'the true way of the world.' Amid the intense and vivid storytelling here, Mr. Suskind takes many risks and not all succeed; the book will be criticized for sentimentality and a kind of wide-eyed, communal optimism that are easy to ridicule. Still, the reporting is solid and often sublime."
The Washington Post
The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
's Alan Cooperman writes:
"Let's put aside, for a moment, the question of whether investigative reporter Ron Suskind's new book is properly considered nonfiction (as he and his publisher assert) or fiction (as the Bush administration and various critics contend). It's unquestionably a narrative: a humorous, indignant, touching story whose "characters" - as Suskind revealingly calls them - learn that America's most effective defense against international terrorism is not torture or wiretapping but the "moral energy" that flows from truthfulness, generosity, integrity and optimism."
The Sunday Times (London)
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
's Simon Jenkins reviewed the book, finding that "Suskind is never unsympathetic to his characters, who he appears to have debriefed intensively. He is a romantic, a writer who clearly believes that his country has betrayed its past, its values and its moral compass by failing to tell the truth about the war. My reservation lies in his “new realism” style of reporting." After taking some issue with the style of the narrative, he concludes:
"Suskind [does not] question the main premise he shares with his White House culprits, that America is right in its grand mission to export its culture to the world. He never asks whether it is this, rather than the mendacity of the Iraq war, that has turned America from the land of miracles to that of hubris. These complaints do not diminish what is a vivid snapshot of a year, 2006-2007, in the life of a nation whose leaders have betrayed its high moral purpose. One of Suskind's Washington players cries into the darkness, 'Can the great beast self-correct?' Can America, Suskind asks, recover its missionary rectitude? He clearly thinks it can."
The Boston Globe
Writing in The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, Claude R. Marx comments that "There have already been enough books about the Bush administration's war on terror to fill several shelves in a library. Most are either strongly pro or con with not enough dispassionate analysis. Ron Suskind's "The Way of the World" is something of a hybrid. Rather than looking at the subject from 10,000 feet above ground, it tells us about it through the stories of government operatives, a defense lawyer, and two citizens of Muslim countries living in the United States. It is critical of President Bush and his policies but makes its points by example rather than by taking cheap shots." Marx goes on to critique the book for failing "to acknowledge the successes of the country's post-9/11 strategy," but also notes that while "the political sections of the book will get the most attention . . . readers who skip over or read too hastily the sections dealing with the effects of the Bush administration's policies on average citizens are doing themselves a disservice. . . . The Way of the World doesn't break a great deal of ground, [but] its intriguing profiles and elegant writing make the book worth reading."
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times's Tim Rutten was critical of The Way of the World, calling it "structurally a mess" and as "a work of literary nonfiction . . . an irritating example of overreaching." Speaking to the book's conception, Rutten muses that "Suskind, mindful that the Bush/Cheney administration is staggering to inglorious conclusion, intended this book to look to the future as well as back to the recent past - to suggest, in some fashion, a way forward." Rutten credits Suskind, too, writing that "Suskind's reporting continues to make him an indispensable chronicler of the Bush/Cheney debacle"; and he weighs in in support of Suskind on the controversy surrounding the Habbush letterHabbush letter
The Habbush letter, or Habbush memo, is a handwritten message dated July 1, 2001, which appeared to show a link between al Qaeda and Iraq's government...
, saying of the transcript posted on Suskind's website: "It not only supports Suskind's account as written, but shows he took a conservative approach toward his material."
Salon
SalonSalon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
's Louis Bayard characterized the book as "alternately incisive and gauzy", praising the book for its reporting while critiquing its language as at-times sentimental and its outlook as more optimistic than the facts warrant. Bayard writes:
"We can admire Suskind for wanting to do more than catechize political abuses while still acknowledging that utopianism is not his true idiom. His normally rigorous language grows increasingly soggy as he talks about 'vast heartbeat migrations' and people who 'bend toward the sunlight, like all living things' and who come 'to the shores of a vast, challenging place, discovering their truest potential, and re-creating, over and over, a new world.' . . . Bending toward the sunlight is all well and good, but we equally need people to find the places where the sunlight doesn't reach, and no journalist has more ably explored the dark crevices of the Bush administration's foreign policy. In "The One Percent Doctrine" and, more fitfully, here, Suskind has shown that faith -- the wrong kind of faith, anyway -- can produce disaster. That Suskind should want to replace the old faiths with new ones is understandable. But we still need him to explore faith's limits."
The New York Observer
Reviewing the book for The New York Observer, Jonathan Liu writes:
"With little warning and less explanation, Ron Suskind has written the year’s most brazenly experimental novel. It’s not entirely successful, but then the boldest experiments are often inconclusive. Mr. Suskind summons deceased aesthetic forms as an intervention on the now—but he’s not indulging in ironical pastiche. Moving, manipulative, maudlin, The Way of the World reanimates the conventions and contrivances of 19th-century realism with a seriousness too deadly to be a matter of mere style.
"It’s all here: a cast of characters that sprawls across class and circumstance to represent the totality of a historical moment; central moral truths restated so often as to be less repetition than incantation; an all-seeing narrator who intrudes at regular intervals to tell the reader what it all means. And yet the cutting edge is sharper than simple retrograde Victorianism: These hard times, Mr. Suskind’s book suggests, call for a nonfiction Dickens."
Financial Times
Clive Crook of the Financial TimesFinancial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
found the charges in The Way of the World "grave and shocking" and the stuff of a "a Watergate-sized scandal." Crook wrote that "Congress ought to look into it urgently, with witnesses on oath," adding that the "picture of blundering malfeasance that emerges from this book is deeply depressing." He criticized the book's structure, writing that "the tale meanders hither and yon, in its bloated 'multilayered' fashion."
Another review of the book in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, this one by the paper's international affairs editor, Quentin Peel, begins by discussing the book's vantage:
"During the cold war, [intelligence] agencies spent most of their time spying on each other, in an elaborate but well-choreographed drama. Since 9/11, they have been scrambling to acquire the skills needed to make sense of a new world disorder.
"Before they were remotely ready, they were thrust into the front line of political decision-making in places of power such as the White House and Downing Street. Raw intelligence was used and abused by both George W. Bush and Tony Blair to justify going to war in Iraq.
"That is the world that Ron Suskind seeks to expose and deconstruct in The Way of the World. It is a grey place where the borderline between fact and fiction is notoriously difficult to define."
Peel continues, writing that The Way of the Worlds "sensational claims are almost an afterthought at the very end of Suskind's book. The author, a distinguished former Wall Street Journal reporter, has already exposed the dysfunctional White House regime in two previous works, The One Percent Doctrine
The One Percent Doctrine
The One Percent Doctrine is a nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ron Suskind about America's hunt for terrorists since September 11th.On July 24th 2006, it reached number 3 on the New York Times Best Seller list....
and The Price of Loyalty
The Price of Loyalty
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, is a 2004 book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind. The book was the first to provide critical insight into the events that led up to the Iraq War...
. This time he has written a morality tale, an attempt to define how America can recover its moral authority after the global backlash against the disastrous Bush presidency." Peel concludes that "It is a brave attempt, but it fails."
Bloomberg
Reviewing the book for BloombergBloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
, Timothy R. Homan writes, "The Way of the World is really two books in one. The first, of course, is an investigation into the way the administration under President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
has crafted its post-9/11 doctrine. The second, somewhat incompatible book describes the experiences of foreigners, from an Afghan high school exchange student to a young Pakistani professional, living in 21st-century America. These stories read like a modern-day, political Canterbury Tales." Homan expresses mixed feelings about the book's structure and form: "While the melding of investigative reporting with personal narratives showcases the range of Suskind's writing skills, the staccato format ultimately proves jarring and incoherent."
CIA statement
On August 22, 2008, the CIA released a statement on its website regarding the allegations in Suskind's book:- "In his book, 'The Way of the World,' author Ron Suskind makes some serious charges about the CIA and Iraq. As Agency officers current and former have made clear, those charges are false. More than that, they are not in keeping with the way CIA works. In fact, they are profoundly offensive to the men and women who serve here, as they should be to all Americans.
- Suskind claims that, in September 2003, the White House ordered then-Director George Tenet to fabricate a letter describing a level of cooperation between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa’ida that simply did not exist. The White House has denied making that request, and Director Tenet has denied receiving it. The former Agency officers Suskind cites in his narrative have, for their part, publicly denied being asked to carry out such a mission.
- Those denials are powerful in and of themselves. But they are also backed by a thorough, time-consuming records search within CIA and by interviews with other officers—senior and junior alike—who were directly involved in Iraq operations. To assert, as Suskind does, that the White House would request such a document, and that the Agency would accept such a task, says something about him and nothing about us. It did not happen.
- Two former senior British intelligence officers have also released statements taking issue with Suskind. They each describe his work as 'misleading.' CIA has made its own inquiries overseas and no one—no individual and no intelligence service—has substantiated Suskind’s account of Habbush or the bogus letter. At this point, the origins of the forgery, like the whereabouts of Habbush himself, remain unclear. But this much is certain: Suskind is off the mark."
When asked why the CIA had made an exception to its general practice of not commenting on books, a spokesman wrote that it was because "the allegations were so egregious—including the suggestion that the agency broke the law—that we felt a response was both necessary and appropriate.”
Tenet followed the CIA release with a new statement of his own saying that it was "ridiculous to think that the White House would give (him) such and order and even more ridiculous to think that (he) would carry it out." He added that as the head of the CIA he had "consistently fought with some Administration officials to prevent them from overstating the case for Iraqi involvement in international terrorism."
The Washington Post reports that "Suskind, whose claims are now the subject of two congressional investigations, yesterday continued to stand by his book and accused the CIA and White House of orchestrating a smear campaign. 'It's the same old stuff,' said Suskind, who said his findings are supported by hours of interviews, some of them taped. 'There's not a shred of doubt about any of it.'"
Mark Danner noted in the New York Times that "Despite White House and C.I.A. denials, Mr. Suskind’s case, if not definitive, seems strong; and had Hussein not been captured the very day the article appeared in The Telegraph, the C.I.A.’s handiwork might have had a significant political effect."
External links
- Official site
- Excerpt, hosted with permission by msnbc.com
- Book says White House ordered forgery - Mike Allen - Politico.com
- Book Claims White House Forged War Intelligense - Retrieved August 5, 2008