technicat@bookwyrm.social reviewed Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner
This should be titled America Owes the World an Apology, or The Kennedys Don't Look Great Here Either
I sort of knew this stuff about the CIA but not how much, like I knew about the coups and election interference (so, karma) but not how pervasive it was and just how many politicians around the world were in their pocket. If there's a real surprise, it's the consistent incompetence - according to this book, even their role in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran that backfired to the situation today was negligible, the coup that actually took place instead of the ineffectual one they sponsored was a surprise to the CIA. So you could say E for effect and evil, but the US is unfairly blamed for that one, but there's plenty of other stuff up until the stuff fresher in our memory like Saddam's non-existent weapons of mass destruction and we are now a nation that officially tortures. That's where the book stops since it was …
I sort of knew this stuff about the CIA but not how much, like I knew about the coups and election interference (so, karma) but not how pervasive it was and just how many politicians around the world were in their pocket. If there's a real surprise, it's the consistent incompetence - according to this book, even their role in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran that backfired to the situation today was negligible, the coup that actually took place instead of the ineffectual one they sponsored was a surprise to the CIA. So you could say E for effect and evil, but the US is unfairly blamed for that one, but there's plenty of other stuff up until the stuff fresher in our memory like Saddam's non-existent weapons of mass destruction and we are now a nation that officially tortures. That's where the book stops since it was published in 2008, but that's plenty - I read a chapter a day but just finished before my final library renewal expired.