Pay Any Price

[Originally posted at OnEnsemble.org as "Recent book reviews – January 2015"]

Pay Any Price — Greed, Power, and Endless War
James Risen
pub. 2014, 285p
source: LAPL

This is a compendium of the many ways our “war on terror” is misguided, told by one of the key reporters involved in revealing the Bush and Obama administrations’ secrets. The book’s nine chapters cover topics like the Coalition Provisional Authority’s reckless use of stacks of US $100 bills in Iraq, the bloated and corrupt war services contractor, KBR, and the brave insiders who resisted the NSA’s domestic warrantless wiretapping program. For me, the wide scope was both a strength and a detriment to Pay Any Price. I appreciated the overview of the topics and now find myself better informed on current news about the NSA and Iraq. But there were moments when the theme of “war on terror” seemed a bit tenuous to hold the book together, perhaps compounded by Risen’s main gig as a short-form writer. In any case, I am glad I read it and feel better empowered to resist the overreach of our current administration.

Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. FDR authorized the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. Presidents Bush and Obama now must face their own reckoning.