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  • A Pretext for War

  • 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies
  • By: James Bamford
  • Narrated by: Robertson Dean
  • Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)
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A Pretext for War cover art

A Pretext for War

By: James Bamford
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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Summary

This book says outright what many have merely hinted at: that President George W. Bush knowingly misused the findings of the erroneous and incompetent U.S. intelligence community to provide a pretext for war with Iraq. The author hones in on the systematic weaknesses of the intelligence agencies that caused them to ignore the crucial signs leading up to the attacks of 9/11. Incompetence, deception, and misinformation from these agencies simply left the door open for President Bush and his cronies, who were less interested in the capture of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of his terror network than in following a dubious agenda in Iraq. The missing "weapons of mass destruction" are merely the latest by-product of Bush's co-optation of intelligence for political ends.
Want to learn more about the author and A Pretext for War? Listen to James Bramford on the June 8, 2004, edition of Fresh Air.
©2004 James Bamford (P)2004 Books on Tape
Espionage Military Freedom & Security Politics & Government Political Science War & Crisis United States
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Critic reviews

"Much of the information and many of the theories in Mr. Bamford's book will be familiar to readers from earlier magazine and newspaper articles, and other books....But Mr. Bamford unearths new details about everything from the identity of one of the disclosed locations used by Vice President Dick Cheney after 9/11...to the failures of a special CIA unit charged with tracking Osama bin Laden, and he connects the many dots, both old and new, to create a vivid, unsettling narrative." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about A Pretext for War

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revealing and interesting

brilliant from start to finish.

Worth listening to if you want the truth behind the secret state.

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An important contribution to the history of 9/11

This is an excellent telling of the lead-up to the Iraq war - it shows how far apart lie the fiction and the reality surrounding America's intelligence services.

It also tells the truth about the real duplicity of the US President and his allies (especially UK Prime Minister) in their push for regime change.

One thing about the reader, who is generally very good and deals well with many difficult names - I did laugh out loud when he talked about the infamous 'doggy dossier' (it should be prodnounced 'dodgy' - dɒdʒi/ or 'dod-gi').

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