A Tragic Legacy

Zusatztext This is the best book about the worst president. Glenn Greenwald is to this administration as they've been to the country: devastating. This is more than a book: It's an act of patriotism." Alan Colmes! Hannity & Colmes ! Fox News Glenn Greenwald's excoriating analysis of the Bush presidency goes much deeper than mere polemics. His layered interpretation of the Manichean mentality that defines the Bush White House describes a disastrously inappropriate mindset for a modern power in a time of global turmoil. This early portrait of the Bush presidency and the right wingers who cheered it on will be read and appreciated for many years to come. Scott McConnell! editor of The American Conservative In the bare-knuckle cacophony of the blogosphere Glenn Greenwald has been a beacon of clarity chronicling President Bush's unfolding war on the rule of law. No one is better placed to explain how the president's embrace of extremism in the battle against extremism has put the country's most sacred ideals! even the country itself! under the gravest threat. Josh Marshall! editor of Talking Points Memo Glenn Greenwald has emerged as one of the nation's most incisive and articulate exponents of the critique of the Bush Administration. In admirably clear prose and with the ferocity of a former litigator! he is day in and day out building a powerful case against an undeniably consequential and radical presidency. Dan Froomkin! WashingtonPost.com White House Watch columnist A compelling examination of how moral beliefs can drive political decisions! with disastrous consequences. Booklist In A Tragic Legacy ! [Greenwald] wrestles with much more significant and amorphous material as he attempts to trace the dangerous! stark philosophy underlying the most pernicious policies of the current administration and to tease out their implications for the character of this nation. To say that he succeeds is a massive understatement. From every aspectwriting! clarity of thought and most importantly! structure of the book (often neglected in similar works)he pounds his argument home about the utter bankruptcy of thought behind the president's words and actions: This is extremism. This is immoral. This is! ultimately! un-American at its core. Daily Kos "[Greenwald] has constructed an impressive argument about the basic template of the Bush Administration! and how it has tried to permanently alter America and our relationship to the world. Anyone who wants to successfully challenge and change that legacy owes it to themselves to read this book as an indispensable guide to how to proceed." Paul Rosenberg! AltWeeklies.com "Greenwald has crafted for us and the world a moving! cathartic! and insightful book that hopefully will give the non-blogging public a new level of comprehension as to the dangers we face under an unbridled chief executive whose view of the world is not much more nuanced nor a great deal less fanatical than that of! say! Mahmoud Ahmadinejad! who also just so happens to believe that he's on a personal 'Mission from God'. Ignore this book at your peril." FireDogLake.com Informationen zum Autor GLENN GREENWALD is a contributing writer at Salon.com and the author of the political blog Unclaimed Territory. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs, and his first book, How Would a Patriot Act?, was an instant bestseller. Klappentext The first true character study of a lost president and his disastrous legacy In this fascinating, timely book, Glenn Greenwald examines the Bush presidency and its long-term effect on the nation, charting the rise and steep fall of the current administration, dissecting the rhetoric, and revealing the faulty ideals upon which George W. Bush built his policies. Enlightening and eye-opening, this is a powerful look at the man...

Auteur
GLENN GREENWALD is a contributing writer at Salon.com and the author of the political blog Unclaimed Territory. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs, and his first book, How Would a Patriot Act?, was an instant bestseller.

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The first true character study of a lost president and his disastrous legacy

In this fascinating, timely book, Glenn Greenwald examines the Bush presidency and its long-term effect on the nation, charting the rise and steep fall of the current administration, dissecting the rhetoric, and revealing the faulty ideals upon which George W. Bush built his policies. Enlightening and eye-opening, this is a powerful look at the man whose incapability and cowboy logic have left America at risk.

Échantillon de lecture
chapter one
Bush Agonistes
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Those numbers designate the percentages of Americans who approved of George W. Bush’s performance as president in late 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. This data, from Washington Post–ABC News polls, demonstrate that every year George Bush has remained in office, fewer and fewer Americans have approved of the job he has done, and more and more Americans have become dissatisfied with his presidency.
And it is not merely the quantity but also the intensity of the disapproval that has steadily increased. The percentages of Americans who “strongly disapprove” have risen dramatically from the end of 2001 to the end of 2006: 6, 20, 29, 38, 47, 53. And the group consisting of the president’s most enthusiastic supporters—those who “strongly approve” of his performance—has shrunk year after year: 64, 45, 39, 27, 20, 18.

The dramatic shift in the public’s perceptions of George Bush is unsurprising in light of what a consequential presidency this has been. Among admirers and opponents of George Bush, there are exceedingly few grounds for agreement. But few Americans, regardless of their political leanings, would dispute that the impact of the Bush presidency on America will be both profound and long lasting.

During Bush’s tenure, the United States suffered the first major foreign terrorist attack on its soil. The U.S. invaded two sovereign nations—one which had an integral connection to that attack and one which had none—followed by a violent and protracted occupation of both countries with no end in sight. Beyond Iraq, the Bush administration has been directing increasingly threatening rhetoric toward yet more countries, particularly Iran, the most powerful Middle Eastern nation other than Israel. Yet by the end of 2006, all of the demands on America’s armed forces had resulted in a military that was stretched so thin that new missions were and remain all but unthinkable. Prominent politicians in both parties were calling for a significant expansion of the U.S. military based on the expectation that far more missions lie ahead.

Subsequent to 9/11, the Bush administration constructed a super–maximum security prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which it declared beyond the reach of any law, and the image of its orange-clad, bowed, and shackled prisoners became a symbol of anti-American resentment around the world. The president’s lawyers engaged in a series of legal battles to defend unprecedented theories of virtually limitless presidential power, which the president applied not only to foreign nationals but also to American citizens, including those on U.S. soil. Immediately prior to being voted out of office, the Republicans who controlled Congress enacted a law vesting in the president sweeping new powers of indefinite detention and coercive interrogation.

Throughout the Bush tenure, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies sent terrorist suspects to secret prisons, so-called black sites, throughout Eastern Europe. They abducted citizens off the streets of other nations—including those of America&rsquo…