Reading Angler is kind of painful. It’s the story of two master-manipulators [Cheney and Addington] with a few lackeys [Yoo and Bybee] taking advantage of a lightweight leader [Bush] and outmaneuvering anybody remotely right-thinking [Rice and Powell]. If it were a summer spy novel, one might be tempted to admire their cunning and sleight of hand, but knowing it’sa real story takes all the fun out of it, and turns it into a tragedy.
Gellman is a fine writer. He tells nuclear pieces of the story, and makes the meaning of the events crystal clear. The story of the day of 9/11 is an example. Cheney got called in the Bunker with the news that another high-jacked plane was on the way towards Washington [flight 93]. Should they shoot it down? He said "yes." It wasn’t for him to say. Later, the President backed him up from Air Force One. But he and Bush both said that the President had been contacted and told him to give the order. They each told a variety of versions of how that happened. But the fact is, Bush couldn’t have okayed it beforehand – there’s overwhelming evidence that Cheney made the decision on his own.
Of course nobody cares. It was a crazy time, and good for Cheney for acting – whether he had the authority or not. But Gellman’s point is that both Bush and Cheney lied, saying the proper protocol had been followed – and stuck to their stories. Gellman points out that this was the "template" for everything that followed. Trying to make what they did look okay, by the book, when it was, in fact, anything but that. It was the megalomaniacal smoke and mirrors of two painfully flawed men.
I’m in total agreement about the book “Angler”. I might add that “The Dark Side” is the best book on torture and rendition. A close second to that book is “The Torture Team”.