Gripping Tales, Unknown Sources

"I'm sitting with a man in a Washington restaurant," he writes. "He's an official, highly placed for some time in the American intelligence community. I've known him for a while, and we talk, as usual, about many things." For a brief few pages, Suskind coyly yet proudly describes "the way it is with sources if you do investigative work. You build relationships and those relationships matter."

Translation: Trust me.

News reports have focused, predictably, on some explosive revelations in "The Way of the World," including that Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush, told British intelligence before the 2003 invasion that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Suskind says the White House dismissed Habbush's information yet paid him $5 million and directed the CIA to concoct a fake letter from him tying Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If Bush ordered a CIA operation intended to deceive the American people, Suskind suggests, the president may have committed an impeachable offense.

Not surprisingly, the White House has denied the charge. Two former CIA officials quoted about the forged letter also have distanced themselves from the book, leading Suskind to release a partial transcript of one of their interviews.

I'm inclined to trust Suskind, at least for now. I recognize that most investigative reporters, including The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, rely on unidentified sources. Like many Washington reporters, I've had to use them myself. But there is a striking irony about "The Way of the World."

As Suskind tells it, Khosa was unnerved by the incident in front of the White House and nearly lost faith in America. But he was buoyed by, of all things, his memories of 9/11, when he feared that a group of his college classmates was going to attack him and they offered sympathy and concern instead. All the other protagonists (except Bush and Cheney) also conclude that "after difficult years of confusion and fear," Americans are coming to realize that the best way to win the "hearts and minds struggle" against extremism is to adhere to "established moral standards," such as compassion and honesty.

The moral of Suskind's story, in short, is that nothing succeeds like truthfulness. Yet the greatest damage to the book's credibility is inflicted by none other than the author, who chose an emotionally powerful, novelistic voice over candor with his readers.