Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Army War College journal: Cheney lost it

In the new issue of Parameters, the journal of the Army War College, a review of Jane Mayer’s essential book, The Dark Side, concludes that after 9/11, VP Cheney was “unnerved.” The reviewer, Jeffrey Record, a professor at the Air War College, writes that, “Having underestimated the al Qaeda threat before 9/11, Cheney overcompensated; in ...

585785_090515_51j8eEExoiL._SS500_2.jpg
585785_090515_51j8eEExoiL._SS500_2.jpg

In the new issue of Parameters, the journal of the Army War College, a review of Jane Mayer's essential book, The Dark Side, concludes that after 9/11, VP Cheney was "unnerved." The reviewer, Jeffrey Record, a professor at the Air War College, writes that, "Having underestimated the al Qaeda threat before 9/11, Cheney overcompensated; in the weeks following the at­tacks he traveled with a doctor as well as a duffel bag containing a gas mask and a biochemical survival suit.," he writes.

In the new issue of Parameters, the journal of the Army War College, a review of Jane Mayer’s essential book, The Dark Side, concludes that after 9/11, VP Cheney was “unnerved.” The reviewer, Jeffrey Record, a professor at the Air War College, writes that, “Having underestimated the al Qaeda threat before 9/11, Cheney overcompensated; in the weeks following the at­tacks he traveled with a doctor as well as a duffel bag containing a gas mask and a biochemical survival suit.,” he writes.

Record likes the book: “The Dark Side is a gripping, meticulously researched, and deeply disturbing book that vindicates the observation of the great Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that ‘the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.'”

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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