500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars by Kurt Eichenwald (Touchstone, $30.00, 611 pages)
“Amazing. Bush believed that he could establish a new legal system, and then declared his order exempt from judicial review? Had anyone in the White House even read the Constitution?”
This is a stunningly good, and often sad and depressing, account of the first 500 days of the Bush administration’s response to 9/11. As detailed in this book, a number of innocent persons were labeled as dangerous terrorists and were either tortured or lost their lives. However, author Eichenwald seems to be both sympathetic to, and critical of, the people who worked in the White House and in the U.S. intelligence system.
“My God, they’re arguing that the president can do whatever he wants.”
The Bush White House was guided, during these 500 days, by a Berkeley law professor who incredibly advised that, “…we do have the right to violate international law.” John Woo, a Republican lawyer in the Office of Legal Counsel, asserted that the executive’s power was virtually unbounded; a latter-day acceptance of Richard Nixon’s version of an imperial presidency beyond the review of the courts and Congress. Fortunately for this country, a number of other government lawyers were fully prepared to take on Woo. And they did. One noted of Woo’s position: “Adopting these standards would invite enemies to torture American soldiers.”
“The call ended without a resolution of their conundrum and with both men befuddled by the difficulty of nailing down Arar’s terrorist leanings. Neither considered the obvious explanation – the evidence didn’t exist because Arar was an innocent man.”
These were days when fear and hatred led to a trampling of individual human rights; a national tragedy was exploited by extremists. Let’s hope this account prevents us from repeating such a misguided and unfortunate chapter in our nation’s history.
Highly recommended.
Joseph Arellano
A review copy was provided by the publisher. “A page turner… Jaw-dropping… It crackles.” The Washington Post
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