An interesting book. I've been reading about the Bush administration and its fateful decision to shift focus from Afghanistan to Iraq ever since it happened. Most recently, I finished Robert Drapers excellent, exhaustive "To Start A War" (possibly the best book about the Bush administration's foreign policy available).

In "Tough Sell", Basile offers a first-person account of communications and media relations in the early days of the occupation in Iraq. It's an important account, too, showing readers how decisions were (and are) made in "selling" a conflict and foreign policy.

Regardless of where you stand on America's invasion of Iraq, this book contains some interesting insight and information.

In Tough Sell, Basile promises to show the nitty-gritty of post-conflict communications and media relations of the Iraq War that is often times so bizarre that it seems implausible and wow, does he deliver!

As someone who remains far more pacifist than anything else no matter what political climate I find myself in, I think the observations and revelations that Basile makes in Tough Sell is extremely important. Society has to remain actively engaged at all times since the governments and media will constantly try to sell and sustain policy wherever they see a need to accomplish whatever goals they currently desire.

I find a lot of Basile's narrative to be full of propaganda and bias toward his own personal experiences but having a completely different perspective than him politically, I find this useful in challenging my own thought and belief structure.