The Price of Loyalty
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The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, a 2004 book, described the Bush administration during Paul O'Neill's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. Written by former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind, the book says Bush's economic policies were irresponsible, Bush was unquestioning and uncurious, and the war in Iraq was planned from the first National Security Council meeting, soon after the administration took office.
The book was based on extensive interviews with O'Neill and numerous documents O'Neill received during his job as Treasury Secretary.
O'Neill harshly criticizes the President, blasting his economic policies and alleged "detachment" from the cabinet process. He described Bush's behavior at cabinet meetings as being like "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernable connection."
O'Neill was frustrated about what he perceived to be a lack of vigorous debate between administration officials and the formation of sound, coherent policy on the important issues. He longed for the return of the "Brandeis briefs" that were used in the Nixon and Ford administrations in which he had previously worked.
The book also claims that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was not a reaction to the attacks of September 11, but was instead a campaign in the planning stages ever since Bush took office, with potential oil spoils charted in early documents.
Rather than denying his allegations, Bush officials attacked O'Neil's credibility, while answering that regime change in Iraq had been official U.S. policy since 1998, three years before Bush took office. However, O'Neill's claims called into question the relationship of the Iraq occupation to the post-9/11 War on Terrorism. Meanwhile, the Department of the Treasury announced it would launch an investigation into how allegedly classified documents ended up on 60 Minutes. O'Neill in reply to the announcement of the investigation denied taking any secret documents saying the documents were given to him by the Treasury Department's chief legal officer through a formal request.