Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib

by Seymour M. Hersh

Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his explosive stories in The New Yorker , including his headline-making pieces on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Now, Hersh brings together what he has learned, along with new reporting, to answer the critical question of the last four How did America get from the clear morning when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq? In Chain of Command , Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of the war on terror and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a critical chapter in America's recent history. In a new afterword, he critiques the government's failure to adequately investigate prisoner abuse -- at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere -- and punish those responsible. With an introduction by The New Yorker 's editor, David Remnick, Chain of Command is a devastating portrait of an administration blinded by ideology and of a president whose decisions have made the world a more dangerous place for America.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Middle East, War, Military Fiction, American History

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Seymour (Sy) Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters. He has also won two National Magazine Awards and is a "five-time Polk winner and recipient of the 2004 George Orwell Award."

He first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. His 2004 reports on the US military's mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison gained much attention.

Reviews

[Klaus Metzger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hershs Enthüllungen machen Schlagzeilen in aller Welt. In diesem Buch zeigt akribisch und mit Hilfe neuen Materials, wie es möglich war, dass die USA nach dem grauenvollen Terroranschlägen vom 11. September selbst einen Weg des Unrechts beschreiten konnten(sehr gute Buchkritik in DIE ZEIT Nr. 44 vom 21. Oktober 2004).
Ein sehr spannendes Buch - ich habe es verschlungen. Die Nachrichten der kürzlich vergangenen Zeit liess ich noch einmal aus einer anderen Sicht Revue passieren.