We all know the drill: an administration official leaves and writes a book promising some "bombshell" revelations that he or she couldn't reveal while still on the inside, a few of these explosive revelations are leaked before publication to prime the PR pump, and then a book tour follows, with the author making the talk-show rounds.
Paul Bremer, former U.S. Administrator of Iraq and author of My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, was in the middle of this drill today as the lead guest of Meet the Press.
The problem is that (a) his revelations turn out to be not all that revelatory, and (b) on his book tour in general, and on Meet the Press in particular, he is running away even from these watered-down revelations.
The only utility of such books -- since it's clearly not the writing -- is to get closer to the truth about history as it's happening. But if you're just going to parrot the spin of the administration you are no longer part of, well, we can get that from the administration for free, thanks very much.
What made Bremer's appearance on Meet the Press today particularly unuseful is that although Russert challenged Bremer on a few points, he refused to acknowledge the big elephant in the room -- that Bremer's "memoir" is a complete sham. If he's not prepared to tell the truth, why is our time being wasted with more half-truths, and why is Tim acting as if this "insider's perspective" remotely passes the smell test? He might as well have James Frey on to discuss his "insider's account" of running Iraq. (And, actually, A Million Little Pieces would be a far better title for Bremer's book than My Year in Iraq.)
Here's how Simon & Schuster is selling the book (emphasis mine):
The only senior insider's perspective on the crucial period following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. In vivid, dramatic detail, Bremer reveals the previously hidden struggles among Iraqi politicians and America's leaders,We all know the drill: an administration official leaves and writes a book promising some "bombshell" revelations that he or she couldn't reveal while still on the inside, a few of these explosive revelations are leaked before publication to prime the PR pump, and then a book tour follows, with the author making the talk-show rounds.
Paul Bremer, former U.S. Administrator of Iraq and author of My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, was in the middle of this drill today as the lead guest of Meet the Press.
The problem is that (a) his revelations turn out to be not all that revelatory, and (b) on his book tour in general, and on Meet the Press in particular, he is running away even from these watered-down revelations.
The only utility of such books -- since it's clearly not the writing -- is to get closer to the truth about history as it's happening. But if you're just going to parrot the spin of the administration you are no longer part of, well, we can get that from the administration for free, thanks very much.
What made Bremer's appearance on Meet the Press today particularly unuseful is that although Russert challenged Bremer on a few points, he refused to acknowledge the big elephant in the room -- that Bremer's "memoir" is a complete sham. If he's not prepared to tell the truth, why is our time being wasted with more half-truths, and why is Tim acting as if this "insider's perspective" remotely passes the smell test? He might as well have James Frey on to discuss his "insider's account" of running Iraq. (And, actually, A Million Little Pieces would be a far better title for Bremer's book than My Year in Iraq.)
Here's how Simon & Schuster is selling the book (emphasis mine):
The only senior insider's perspective on the crucial period following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. In vivid, dramatic detail, Bremer reveals the previously hidden struggles among Iraqi politicians and America's leaders,His memoir carries the reader behind closed doors in Baghdad
He describes his private meetings with President Bush...
Turns out that Bremer's "insider's account" is remarkably similar to the account we've all witnessed from the outside.
For instance: One of Bremer's bombshell revelations is that he knew even before he arrived in Iraq that we needed more troops. Wow. What a bombshell. Thanks, Paul. So did everyone else in the world except Don Rumsfeld.
The other big juicy detail his buzz machine has been touting is that Rumsfeld ignored a memo Bremer sent him before heading to Iraq in which he drew the defense secretary's attention to a draft RAND report on postwar stability that suggested the need for 500,000 ground troops. And here is Bremer's attempt to back away even from this not particularly revelatory revelation:
BREMER: Well first of all, this was a report, as I said, that I saw before I went to Iraq, before I saw the situation on the ground. And as you -- your excerpt just showed what I did basically was send it forward to Secretary Rumsfeld and say "take a look at this." We didn't discuss that report specifically, we had a lot of discussions over the next 14 months that I was there about my concerns about maintaining combat capability along the lines I already explained.
RUSSERT: But Rumsfeld didn't respond to you.
BREMER: Well, he responded in the sense that we talked often -- very often, about this question of maintaining combat capability.
RUSSERT: But you make a point of saying, you're making a point of saying he didn't respond.
BREMER: Well, I'm making a point he didn't respond but I left for Iraq two days later, three days later.
Well that explains everything. Rumsfeld sent his reply UPS and Bremer had to be in Iraq from 12 to 4 on the day of the 3rd delivery attempt, so he never got it. Another lesson learned from the war: Mail Boxes, Etc.
But Tim left unasked the big questions like: "What the hell happened to $9 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction that the Coalition Provisional Authority you headed can't account for?"
And what about this week's true bombshell, the decision by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Iraq's most influential Shiite leader, to renege on his pledge to amend the new Constitution in a manner acceptable to Sunnis -- a decision bringing the country much closer to full-scale civil war?
Here is the delusional answer Tim let Bremer get away with: "They will have to make some modest changes in this constitution coming up and put together a government of national unity, and I think they'll do that."
Great thanks, Paul. There you have it. An insider bringing all his wisdom to bear on a thorny problem! All that's left is to fax over to the warring factions Bremer's instructions about putting together a government of national unity, and I guess that will be that.
Here is a sampling of some of the cliches Russert let Bremer get away with:
"[Iraqi forces] are stepping up"; "coalition forces, not just American forces"; "shouldn't be a timetable"; "I don't think [troop withdrawal] should be driven by anything other than conditions on the ground"
If that's really representative of the book, Simon & Schuster should follow Random House's example with James Frey and offer refunds to anybody who thought they were buying a book of nonfiction.
But just because Bremer writes a book full of spin and half-truths, and Simon & Schuster tries to sell it, doesn't mean the mainstream media, like Meet the Press, have to so willingly accept their role in the book promotion's dog and pony show.
So here's Bremer, a disastrous mediocrity who royally screwed up during the crucial year he was in charge in Iraq, being rewarded with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and then proceeding to write a defensive, cliche-driven justification of the war and his role in it, and have it touted as a truth-telling memoir.
The second segment was about "the state of Black America." That's because Monday is Martin Luther King day -- the day when the media feel obligated to discuss issues of race, although in fairness they also discuss issues of race every time a category-five hurricane hits a largely African American city.
The guests were authors Taylor Branch and John McWhorter and Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman. Tim dutifully asked questions of each of them and allowed them to get their talking points out, but did so with a sense of resignation not unlike a mayor who has to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade every year.
It was sad to see such a soulless segment dedicated to the man who had brought so much soul into American politics.
His memoir carries the reader behind closed doors in Baghdad
Turns out that Bremer's "insider's account" is remarkably similar to the account we've all witnessed from the outside.
For instance: One of Bremer's bombshell revelations is that he knew even before he arrived in Iraq that we needed more troops. Wow. What a bombshell. Thanks, Paul. So did everyone else in the world except Don Rumsfeld.
The other big juicy detail his buzz machine has been touting is that Rumsfeld ignored a memo Bremer sent him before heading to Iraq in which he drew the defense secretary's attention to a draft RAND report on postwar stability that suggested the need for 500,000 ground troops. And here is Bremer's attempt to back away even from this not particularly revelatory revelation:
BREMER: Well first of all, this was a report, as I said, that I saw before I went to Iraq, before I saw the situation on the ground. And as you -- your excerpt just showed what I did basically was send it forward to Secretary Rumsfeld and say "take a look at this." We didn't discuss that report specifically, we had a lot of discussions over the next 14 months that I was there about my concerns about maintaining combat capability along the lines I already explained.
RUSSERT: But Rumsfeld didn't respond to you.
BREMER: Well, he responded in the sense that we talked often -- very often, about this question of maintaining combat capability.
RUSSERT: But you make a point of saying, you're making a point of saying he didn't respond.
BREMER: Well, I'm making a point he didn't respond but I left for Iraq two days later, three days later.
Well that explains everything. Rumsfeld sent his reply UPS and Bremer had to be in Iraq from 12 to 4 on the day of the 3rd delivery attempt, so he never got it. Another lesson learned from the war: Mail Boxes, Etc.
But Tim left unasked the big questions like: "What the hell happened to $9 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction that the Coalition Provisional Authority you headed can't account for?"
And what about this week's true bombshell, the decision by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Iraq's most influential Shiite leader, to renege on his pledge to amend the new Constitution in a manner acceptable to Sunnis -- a decision bringing the country much closer to full-scale civil war?
Here is the delusional answer Tim let Bremer get away with: "They will have to make some modest changes in this constitution coming up and put together a government of national unity, and I think they'll do that."
Great thanks, Paul. There you have it. An insider bringing all his wisdom to bear on a thorny problem! All that's left is to fax over to the warring factions Bremer's instructions about putting together a government of national unity, and I guess that will be that.
Here is a sampling of some of the cliches Russert let Bremer get away with:
"[Iraqi forces] are stepping up"; "coalition forces, not just American forces"; "shouldn't be a timetable"; "I don't think [troop withdrawal] should be driven by anything other than conditions on the ground"
If that's really representative of the book, Simon & Schuster should follow Random House's example with James Frey and offer refunds to anybody who thought they were buying a book of nonfiction.
But just because Bremer writes a book full of spin and half-truths, and Simon & Schuster tries to sell it, doesn't mean the mainstream media, like Meet the Press, have to so willingly accept their role in the book promotion's dog and pony show.
So here's Bremer, a disastrous mediocrity who royally screwed up during the crucial year he was in charge in Iraq, being rewarded with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and then proceeding to write a defensive, cliche-driven justification of the war and his role in it, and have it touted as a truth-telling memoir.
The second segment was about "the state of Black America." That's because Monday is Martin Luther King day -- the day when the media feel obligated to discuss issues of race, although in fairness they also discuss issues of race every time a category-five hurricane hits a largely African American city.
The guests were authors Taylor Branch and John McWhorter and Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman. Tim dutifully asked questions of each of them and allowed them to get their talking points out, but did so with a sense of resignation not unlike a mayor who has to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade every year.
It was sad to see such a soulless segment dedicated to the man who had brought so much soul into American politics.