Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror

Very well written account of the 2003 state of the union infamous `sixteen words' from an Italian reporter's perspective. Nice to know that our intelligence agencies aren't the only bozos in the world

This is a book written by a couple of Italian investigative reporters and deals with the 'intelligence' operations related to the Iraq war. Even after reading the book (and some others) I'm not so sure that we really know what was going on. This book starts with a discussion with Hans Blix. Dr. Blix is reported to be very bitter and angry and has accused the U.S. and British governments of over dramatizing the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. On the other hand Kenneth Pollack, a member of Clinton's administration says in the Atlantic Monthly: 'Israel, Russia, Britain, China, and even France held positions similar to that of the United States' Dr. Particia Lewis, a Ph.D. physicist working for the UN says: 'It was not just the intelligence agencies of the UK and US that had misjudged the extent of the WMD programmes in Iraq in 2002-2003. Independent analysts all over the world had similar assumptions, including those in the United Nations.' Maybe we will find out what really happened in ten or twenty years, on the other hand it's been 40+ years and we still argue about the Kennedy assassination. There are a lot of things about the CIA and Italian intelligence agencies that make them look like something out of a Pink Panther movie. I hope they are better than that. The book says that there have been secret meetings between Iran and the US taking place in Milan. If so, I think that's good. Talking is certainly better than fighting. All in all, a fascinating book that brings up a lot of new points. I just don't know if I believe it or not.