Andrew Anthony, in his review of the book for "The Guardian", acknowledged the US goverment's "long and inglorious history of attempting to bury the facts" but found Hersh's theories "forceful but unconvincing". Zach Dorfman, in the "Los Angeles Times", called Hersh's judgment about the varacity of his sources "mixed, at best" while acknowledging "the danger of a regime of excessive secrecy in international affairs [...] of which Hersh is rightly and acutely aware". (Rashid, Anthony, and Dorfman were also skeptical of another theory expounded in Hersh's book—that the Ghouta chemical attack that killed hundreds of Syrian civilians were instigated not by the Syrian government, but by rebels aided by Turkey working as agents provocateurs, blaming the Syrian government in hopes of forcing the Obama administration to enter the war against the government.)