I am finishing Bob Woodward’s new book, Peril. Like his previous books, it has been very insightful and provided details I was unaware of. However, it also reminded me there is no such thing as a completely factual book in context, as it is currently being portrayed in the mainstream media.
If you read the book in September before Defense Secretary Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley, and the head of US Central Command General McKenzie testified to Congress, you would have believed they were entirely on board for a complete withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan.
However, if you read the same passage of the book after they testified, you would have realized that was not true, and Woodward’s book has its share of spin and factual errors.
According to NBC, “Top military leaders said…they had recommended to President Joe Biden that the U.S. keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan even after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, contradicting the President’s assertion last month that his advisers did not tell him to leave a small military presence in the country. Gen. Frank McKenzie, who oversaw the withdrawal as head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in testimony before Congress that they had communicated that advice to the President.”
The point is, whatever you read on almost every topic in today’s media, needs to be read with a jaundiced eye. Politics has always been about spinning the truth and was placed on steroids by our last President, to the nation’s detriment. But too many people believe this administration is the polar opposite, and therefore automatically believe without scrutiny that what it says is accurate.
If you want to know the truth and the facts in context, assume everything thrown your way is spin and seen through a political lens. It is not just the politicians, but this includes the media who openly side with one political side. Be a sophisticated reader and do your due diligence to try to decipher fiction from facts.