The transcript of my long-but-still-far-too-short interview with former Undersecretary of War for Policy Douglas Feith about his new book is here.
Feith is an accomplished public servant of the old school --selfless, honest, and extraordinarily smart. His memoir is a fascinating and extremely well-written contribution to the record of the war against the jihadists. There are Feith-haters out there, just as there were haters of those who opposed appeasement in the mid-30s. The book is the first about the war that I am certain serious historians will be consulting a century down the road.
Anyone who actually reads the book will know that it is a fair and true record of events, and they will be much better informed about the first four years of the war as a result. Feith wasn't in many of the meetings or debates, but those in which he participated are recounted in the sort of detail that demands a close reading.
War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism.