For several years, New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer has examined facets of the Bush administration’s war on terror in laser-like detail, from the CIA’s creation of secret “black site” prisons around the world, to its dramatic expansion of presidential powers.
Her new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, weaves together those plot lines and players into a single disturbing narrative.
The book has gotten rave reviews, not so much for its new revelations - although there are a number - but for Mayer’s ability to connect so many dots.
“If you intend to vote in November, and read only one book between now and then, this should be it,” Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times wrote in his review.
The war on terror, according to Mayer, was a “political battle cloaked in legal strategy, an ideological trench war,” waged by a group of ideologues whose expansive views of executive power she traces from the days of the Nixon administration, through the Reagan Administration’s Iran-contra scandal, to the fearful days immediately after 9/11.
She identifies the prime actors as Vice President Dick Cheney and his longtime legal counsel and now Chief of Staff David Addington, who after the terrorist attacks, moved to establish “a policy of deliberate cruelty that would’ve been unthinkable on Sept. 10.”
While conventional wisdom holds that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks changed everything, including the thinking of top administration officials, Mayer contends that Cheney and Addington had been laying the groundwork for the expansion of presidential powers for more than two decades. They believed the erosion of executive powers that had occurred after the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandals had been wrongheaded, and had weakened the president’s ability to pursue a robust foreign policy.
As the leader of a group of lawyers who formulated the administration’s legal strategy for the war on terror after 9/11, Addington stunned many of his own colleagues with his fervor about the need to expand presidential power - not to mention his ability to bully or bulldoze those who disagreed with him, Mayer writes.
As Cheney’s alter-ego, or “Cheney’s Cheney,” as some have called him, he was the principal author of the White House memo justifying torture of terrorism suspects and a prime advocate of arguments supporting that terrorism suspects be held without access to courts.
Mayer writes that after the New York Times broke the story of the administration’s warrantless wiretapping of Americans, Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, angrily singled out Addington to friends.
“It’s Addington,” Mayer quotes Powell. “He doesn’t care about the Constitution.”
Mayer writes that even Addington’s admirers remarked on his ruthlessness as a political warrior.
“Some engage in bureaucratic infighting using slaps,” she quotes Bradford Berenson, a former White House lawyer. “Some use knives. David falls into the latter category. You could make the argument that there are some costs. It introduces a little fear into the policymaking process. Views might be more candidly expressed without that fear. But David is like the Marines. No better friend – no worse enemy.”
A former high-ranking lawyer for the administration whom Mayer doesn’t identify by name, who worked closely with Addington and who shared his politics, told her: “Addington was more like Cheney’s agent than like a lawyer. A lawyer sometimes says no…Addington never said, ‘There is a line you can’t cross.’ “
The lawyer, who still supported the president, told Mayer he felt the administration had been led astray. “George W. Bush has been damaged by incredibly bad legal advice,” he said.
A graduate of Georgetown University and Duke Law School, Addington got his first job right out of school, in 1981, in the general counsel’s office of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he focused on curtailing the ability of Congress to interfere with intelligence gathering.
Later, he worked as a lawyer and GOP staffer on congressional committees on intelligence and the Iran-contra matter, before Cheney chose him, first as a special assistant, and later, as general counsel at the Pentagon, when Cheney became defense secretary under then-President George H.W. Bush.
If Cheney and Addington are among the villains in Mayer’s telling, the heroes are the government lawyers who tried to fight back, many of whom shared the administration’s conservative views.
There is a chapter on Alberto Mora, then the general counsel of the Navy, who in early 2003 mounted a challenge to the interrogation policy, which he feared might result in war crimes charges. Mora reportedly warned Donald Rumsfeld’s chief counsel, William J. Haynes, to “protect your client!” Haynes did that by getting another secret opinion from John C. Yoo, then in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which superceded Mora’s.
Mayer also recounts how a group of administration lawyers met in secret in June 2005 to formulate “the Big Bang,” a plan to shut down the covert prisons holding terror suspects around the world, and bring their interrogation into line with international law, by going straight to President Bush, whom they believed to be sympathetic.
Mayer is skeptical of that reading. Although the president finally announced in November, 2006 that all terror suspects held in the black sites had been moved to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, the announcement followed news stories revealing their existence by Dana Priest at The Washington Post.
“There is no record that Bush ever objected to the methods employed by the C.I.A. in its black sites or insisted on any outside review of the C.I.A.’s claims that their approach was working,” Mayer writes.
She argues that in fact, the approach did not work at all, and blames it for producing false and misleading intelligence, some of which was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
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4 Comments
#1. steve butler 08.09.2008
This book entitled “The Dark Side” should be required reading for every red blooded north american who believes our leaders are well intentioned. It is an overwhelming indictment of our so called democracy. When will the public wake up and smell the stink coming out of Washington and activly demand war tribunals for the war criminals currently in the Whitehouse and the Pentagon? Ms. Mayer should be applauded for getting the facts straight about our governments complicity in ordering the torture and kidnapping of countless suspects in the so called war against terror. What she reminds us that if we measure the so called war by whether we have won over the hearts and minds of young Muslims contemplating jihadism– we have certainly hurt our chances by continuing to torture. She interviewed the famous historian Arthur Schlessinger Jr. who admitted that the our government’s involvment and attempted coverup of torture is the worst offense in our governments history. Wake up before it is too late.
#2. F.Thaufeer al-Deen 10.13.2008
I just saw her interview with Kreissler of UCBerkley’s ‘Conversations with History’. The point I find also compelling is the underscript as relates to ‘courage’. In the face of are era Dan Rather describes as one in which “flaming tires could be placed around dissenters necks”, why did the ‘heroes (an that IS and over used discriptor) she chronicles say and do what they did to turn the the Cheney-Bush regime towards America’s (idealized/romanticised) core values?
In a country to which so many citizens of dictatrships flock, with their impressed/mandated worldview of conformity and timidity, this theme-of courage-is the more valuable in Mayer’s The Darkside, to me.
I’d love to contact her for an interview on my weekly (monday night)radio program Radioislam -www.radioislam.com).
#3. sharon 12.10.2008
I also saw the interview. I am struck by her statement that she had difficulty believing what she was hearing about the actions of Americans, especially the torture and its creators. I would remind her that the CIA long ago realized that the more outrageous something is…the more it can be done because people will tend not to believe it. Even defense lawyers did not believe their clients for awhile.
Cheney and others know that they can get away with outrageous programs and then when confronted can get away with saying “that is outrageous.” And most people will believe him. Then those who know the truth will be threatened if question the spin-story. They will lose their jobs or worse if they don’t fall in line.
Our country is being run by thugs. They are about enriching themselves and controlling all that is necessary. When will the vast majority of people finally realize that 9-11 was planned by these same people. It was never properly investigated;no one was held accountable (in our government) and the torture program was all about forcing men to “confess” to horrendous acts they didn’t do so that those who did plan and commit the acts would not be investigated. (Look over there, not here.)
I would like a response from Mayer about this. Since she now knows that the unbelievable is actually believable…….what really is behind 9-11 should fall in place in her mind. There have been many brave souls who have came forward with the truth about so many areas of criminal behavior in this administration but it’s as if they whisper… because of the lack of follow-up brings no one to court and prison.
#4. Roy Dahlin 05.21.2009
Ms Mayer fails to note that 9/11 was an inside job. The U.S. intelligence had known of the plan since 1995 when advised by Philippine Intelligence. Ms Mayer is positively correct that all this was preplanned far ahead of such events deemed by the insiders as “Pearl Harbors”. Do you not think that there is an, or likely more, organization behind the scenes controlling the events & political strategy for us the sheep? Otherwise, how would Cheney & Addington be so far ahead in planning and then hope to be implemented were it not for an inside behind the scenes elite organization, a crime organization? Ms Mayer is a little short in her estimation of where this usurpation started; she suggests in the Nixon admin. Will you try the beginning of the so-called American Revolutionary War? I know it is hard to swallow, but she wasn’t writing back then, however, there was and is such an organization in existence back then & before.
I don’t believe Colin Powell is any better than the rest of them. Without his collusion the plan would not have been so successful. They all violated the supreme law of the land, interalia, with knowledge which they respectively took a solemn oath to uphold.
It is well after 100 days in power, so it is now Hussein’s war. He & Holder are entirely complicit w/ the Bush perpetrators.
I believe Ms Mayer is correct in surmising that Bush was and is just the same war criminal as the worst of them. He signed off on all this and should have known as being warned by other less dominant aty’s. One, including the highest office(s), simply cannot choose which controlling law(s) they like and dislike.
I’d like to make further comment to address Steve Butler’s opinion about his mistaken belief and furtherance of propaganda from the propaganda ministry. That has to do with the bandied about & misleading term, “democracy”. I wish to correct this misnomer. I assume that Mr. Butler is not writing from D.C. but rather from within some state of the Union. Therefore, the form of gov’t for these individual & independent states & hence the Union is “republican” & not “democratic” as he erroneously guesses & mimics. Take a look at the Fed. Constitution at Art. IV, sec. 4. When anyone speaks of the so-called, “democracy” it is meant & rightfully belongs to the seat of gov’t. in Wash. D.C. This is 51% of the U.S. Congress voting for one side of an issue. Therefore, if you live or are from any one of the states, that is not your form of gov’t. I’d be happy to explain it for you should you ask. I agree however about the importance of this Mayer work.
By all means in order to put in the desired fix, there must be a full, unbiased & proper criminal investigation of the torture program; the lead-up & justification for the 2 aggressive wars; then a similar criminal investigation of the events surrounding 9/11. Of course, there must be a similar investigation of the banking/financial debacle w/ full subpoena powers & follow-up as in the aforesaid. One cannot expect any change or remedy without analyzing the causes of certain catastrophic events.
It is precisely the U.S.’ foreign & domestic policy that spawns terrorism in the world. The U.S.’ & its people’s failure to confront these war crimes serves to further the hatred towards the U.S. imperialists & its enabling people no different from the last Nazi era.
Unfortunately, it is too late, once enslaved the people cannot act to take back control of their gov’t. servants. They are too far out of control & rampant in their extensive infiltration of the entire Union. It would take a good 30% of the population rebelling in the streets & against gov’t officials everywhere in the Union. Can you envision 90 million patriots in the streets everyday protesting & causing a stir? At least 50% of the populace must withdraw their support from the gov’t officials, financially, morally, politically & physically. Can you imagine 150 million strong holding out on the so-called gov’t officials, both state and fed.? Will that ever happen, I don’t think so? Do you? Why isn’t there a mass march to throw the rascals in jail? Instead prestigious institutions hire these scumbags, Stanford U. (Yoo), UC Berkley (Rice), etc. The main stream media is in the pockets of the ruling elite. The too big to fail banks get welfare, the insurance corporations dominate the political scene and process. The health industry, including drug corp., gathers huge profits on the backs of the people.
Unfortunately, it’s too late to wake up, it would be better to remain as a slave thinking one is free & don’t expose oneself to being singled out and confined, but to stay asleep & avoid the hardships & misery for a short time.
In response to al-Deen, that flaming tire is called necklessing made famous during apartite. I too was looking for a contact to Ms Mayer when bouncing onto this site. Whether this will ever see the light of day is a question.
As to Sharon:
I was made aware only recently, 5/20/09 when Ms Mayer & Sands were both interviewed by Democracy Now! on FSTV. Yes, I have written to them a couple of times attempting to suggest that they change their program title. It is counter to the truth & advocates falsely that Wash., D.C. is dominant over the Union of states.
Sharon points out vividly how naive this writer is and only a reflection of those still asleep in the Union and around the world.
Hitler also had his views on boldness - the more audacious the act, the less believable hence the holocaust.
I absolutely must agree 100% w/ Ms Sharon that the District of Criminals (& by its tentacles to the states) is being run by thugs, no different from the Nazis who this Union fought against & defeated, supposedly, not too awful long ago. The lessons of History fail to teach a sleeping mass.
Ms Sharon you are an astute and fine young woman. Ms Sharon, God bless your soul & everything else, you certainly have been paying attention & at least half awake. I love you!
Agreed, unless the crime organization unlawfully in control is investigated, dismantled & its leaders & perpetrators are imprisoned there can be no positive change, that is in the interest of the people.
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