Decision points

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Decision Points is the title of the memoir published on November 9, 2010 by former US President George W. Bush . They appeared with an initial circulation of 1.5 million copies. Christopher Michel , referred to in the press as a ghostwriter , sees himself only as an employee of this work.

By May 2011, the publisher had sold around three million copies.

content

Decision Points consists of 14 chapters. The first two chapters deal mainly with the time before his election as US president , especially with his previous alcohol problem and his work as Texas governor.

According to him, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were the trigger for protecting the United States and wanting to preserve the freedom of the nation. He defends the Iraq war and other decisions made by his presidency. He describes his appearance on the USS Abraham Lincoln as a mistake when he prematurely announced the end of the Iraq war, and the reaction to Hurricane Katrina . He also declares that he was furious when no weapons of mass destruction - the presumed existence of which was the basis for the decision in favor of the Iraq war - were found in Iraq.

The announcement of an offer to resign from Vice President Dick Cheney prior to the 2004 presidential election is known as the disclosure . But after a period of reflection, Bush turned down this offer.

His successor Barack Obama is rarely mentioned in the book, but then mentioned positively.

Bush writes that he ordered waterboarding himself and defends the decision on the basis of the information obtained from it. Specifically, it is about the alleged mastermind of the attacks on September 11, 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , who was then subjected to the procedure 183 times by the CIA . Bush describes waterboarding as an "effective method" that would have brought a lot of information. He also writes that it was approved by his legal advisor.

The statement of the then Federal Justice Minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin , who compared him to Adolf Hitler in 2002 , shocked and angry Bush.

reception

Former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder describes the statement that he had promised Bush support for the Iraq war in advance, but later withdrew it, as incorrect. Schröder's presentation is supported by the ambassador to the USA at the time, Wolfgang Ischinger , the former head of the foreign policy department in the Chancellery Dieter Kastrup and the former government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye .

Amnesty International requested a public prosecutor's investigation in response to the testimony about the torture methods.

output

George W. Bush: Decision Points. New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-307-59061-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Matthias Rüb : No critical word about the successor. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b Bernd Pickert: A cry for love. In: The daily newspaper . November 9, 2010.
  3. ↑ Christopher Michel - President Bush Memoirs Collaborator and Speechwriter, Dublin High School and Yale Alumni. In: OneDublin.org. July 8, 2010 (English).
  4. ^ Matthias Rüb: The abstinent. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. May 9, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b Amnesty wants to investigate Bush. In: The daily newspaper. November 10, 2010.
  6. ↑ a b Schröder: "Bush does not tell the truth". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 10, 2010.