Is America safer? - Pulitzer Prize-winning author examines

[dArKeR]

It’s been three years since the Sept. 11 attacks, and Americans observed the anniversary with memorials, prayers and debate. Is the country any safer today from the threat of terrorism than it was then? Did President Bush do the right thing in launching a war against Iraq, and was it worth the price? Author Seymour Hersh doesn't think so. He believes that somewhere over the past three years the Bush administration took a very wrong turn. In his new book, "Chain of Command," he tells the story of a top secret intelligence unit that he says answers directly to the highest levels of the Pentagon and how its early successes led to shameful excesses that dealt a serious blow to America's war on terror. Read an excerpt below:

In May 2004, at the height of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, a senior political Republican Party operative was given the reassuring word that Vice President Dick Cheney had taken charge, with his usual directness. The operative learned that Cheney had telephoned Donald Rumsfeld with a simple message: No resignations. We’re going to hunker down and tough it out.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5961797/