The book ' Worse than Watergate- the Secret Presidency of George W Bush' is an extremely pertinent read in the tide of present days when its easy to be washed away by the mantra of democracy.
It effectively puts a clamp on all those preaching this gospel truth, - the western press , the crusading western leaders eager to spread this "torch of enlightenment" and apologetic so-called Muslim intellectuals. John W Dean, a former counsel to the President, effectively reveals how hollow the claims of the so-called champions of ' freedom to the people and their right to chose' in a democracy are. For he shows just how far from truth reality really is, in the administration of the Bush government.
According to Dean, far from reflecting public opinion, the government rests solely on the whims and caprices and the hidden agendas of the President's cabal with the Congress and public deliberately deceived or kept in the dark.
The basic premise of the book is that democracy is under threat by this form of 'imperial presidency' gradually gathering strength. The object of this ' imperial presidency' is to invest itself with complete control, shearing away the powers of the Congress as well as the public to interfere or even inquire into its workings and decisions.
This throws into flux the concept of the balance of power where the role of the Congress is to maintain a check over and exercise restraint over the Executive. The latter, in turn, has been given carte blanche to decide the country's internal and external affairs as it pleases, with harmful consequences for the country as a whole. For the actions of the Bush administration are driven more by personal motives than patriotic.
This includes implementing laws that favour its special interest groups, the contributors who funded his election campaign, the oil companies, the automobile industry as well as the maritime concerns etc as well as their own concerns, all at the cost of American interests, in the form of lack of pollution control or safety standards and information, which affect the public and are undertaken without the consent of the public.
He traces how the entire foreign policy of the US has been manipulated to reflect their credo, which existed pre-9/11. Dean writes that 9/11, in fact, helped Bush to accomplish their broader goals, that of Wolfowiz's and Cheney's world domination philosophy', letting slip the dogs of war, which had been restlessly pacing since 1991.
The benefits from the war also chimed in with their deep- rooted interest in oil. (Both were professionally, financially involved in oil companies; Cheney in Halliburton and Bush in the oil-exploration company Harken. Cheney is also quoted as saying: " You have got to go where the oil is". Azerbaijan's President is a close friend, for the Caspian Sea oil reserves are believed to equal if not exceed the reserves of Saudi Arabia).
He hints at the fact that the whole affair of the 9/11 was too shady and well-timed, with too many questions left unanswered by the Bush administration.
Cheney has hence become the most powerful vice president for when he completes his assignment 'he can become even richer with part-time visits to corporate board rooms' and the fact 'that he is taking such good care of them as the god father of almost every industry providing services to the American military.'
This corporate favouritism, so evident to find mention in the Economist, cannot be acted against. An organization had revealed that some 70 American companies and individuals, who were substantial campaign contributors, were awarded billions of dollars of contracts in Iraq yet secrecy clauses prevented the companies from disclosing their profits, 'the White house has buried evidence by direct exclusive oversight over most of this activity.'
The Bush Administration through 'its policy of secrecy' surreptitiously invests itself with complete control is the underlying leitmotif of the book. From stone-walling personal information about the Presidents, including shady financial dealings to intimidation of the press and its own staff to prevent leakage of information.
Even government bodies and laws are overruled by the Executive Principle and Dean provides detailed examples of how organs of the government have been brow -beaten, including Congress functionaries, to protect their interests, ' as was the Government's Reform Committee of the Congress. When taken to court Bush has the support of the Judiciary, packed with his own picked conservative judges.
Public access to information has been made more difficult by the cumbersomely lengthy process of classification of documents, infringing on the open form of government vaunted in a democracy, in which the public has a right to access and scrutinize all aspects of the government's working and information.
The Patriotic Act also violates the citizen's right to privacy and opinion. While backhand tactics are used to deal with opponents as in the case of Valerie Plame Wilson, whose identity as a CIA agent was revealed . She is Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, who criticized the Bush's administration.
Dean details how, through secrecy, the Congress and the public were deceived into believing that Saddam Hussain was responsible for 9/11 and there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq .
The basic tenets of a democracy are being violated claims Dean, including the Bill of Rights in the treatment of prisoners at Guatanamo Bay and other prisons, as well as of foreign or Muslim emigrants to the US.
While the administration has embarked upon a dangerous new tradition of preventive war, which is against International law. Further, 'The Bush administration has initiated 200 major roll backs of American environmental laws, weakening the protection of the country's water public lands and wild life' and it has deceived the public about its intention to abort the country's important environmental laws, including the Kyoto treaty controlling carbon dioxide emissions, in transparent giveaways to corporate allies.
The book is an extremely demanding read, detailed and difficult to get a grip of the intricacies of laws and government but nevertheless eye-openingly interesting.