Book Review: Decision Points by George Bush

Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Amazon.com

America's 43rd President George W Bush might not be the brightest of presidents, but he is certainly the closest any president can be to honest. In more than 480 pages, and in a delightful and entertaining style, W recounts his experience leading the United States.

You might not agree with Bush's thinking, but the book illustrates how he thinks, and how he took many of his decisions. Just beware that at times, W does not say all what he knows, even though what he tries to hold back has become common knowledge.

For instance, David Sanger of the New York Times reported, and later published in a book, that Israeli officials showed up in Washington with satellite pictures of a Syrian nuclear reactor. In the book, Bush wrote: "In the spring of 2007, I received a highly classified report from a foreign intelligence partner. We pored over photographs of a suspicious, well hidden building in the eastern desert of Syria."

Bush argues that since US intelligence could not verify that the reactor was part of a Syrian weapons program, he told former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that America's air force would not take out the facility. Bush reported that Olmert said his country considered the Syrian reactor an "existential threat." On September 6, 2007, the facility was destroyed.

Needless to say, it is publically known that the Israelis supplied the intel, while their fighter jets - publically - took out the Syrian reactor. The fact that this book leaves out such details is annoying, even if it was a matter of style only.

The Syrian reactor account might make some readers think: If W was leaving out details, how much detail was he leaving out exactly? And would such details change our perception of some stories if they were told differently?

At any rate, Bush's narration makes readers - even his opponents amongst them - like him again. The book is certainly a legitimate PR stint that aims at correcting Bush's image.

But whether readers will love the book or hate it, it is certainly a primary source from a man who presided over America during its darkest of days. I am happy to have a copy in my library.