Bush at War : Inside the Bush White House

Rating:
Summary: Stenographer to Power
Review: It will take years for historians -- the real guardians of truth -- to have the perspective for an honest recounting of this particular story. Unfortunately, Woodward seems to have traded independent analysis for access to the players -- never a good bargain. Could not help cringe as the self-serving comments were dutifully recorded. Is this really the same author who co-wrote "All the President's Men?"

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad- Has Moments of Great
Review: Bob Woodward's book is a fascinating blow by blow look into Oval Office in the wake of September 11.

The personalities are vividly portrayed. My perception of George W. Bush has been altered. In this portrayal, he appears to be an interested, conscientious participant and certainly not like he is being chaperoned by Dick Cheney. Bush Jr. is calling the shots. He is portrayed leading the cabinet taking in all information like a sponge.

Woodward, however, posses only limited information. Frequently his narrative seems choppy and incomplete, leaving interested readers wanting more. One great example is his dealing with the Northern Alliance. Readers are left wondering quite a bit about the U.S. relationship with the alliance and the role the group may have taken in any planning.

For me, the most informative insight of the book centers on the concept of power. The President of the United States is to powerful for his own good. Every cabinet member serves at his will. Their power and prestige are derived from his. In order to stay in power they give the president self serving advice designed to defend themselves or advance their agency's interests and interestingly this advice is always in agreement with the Chief. To disagree is to risk alienation and lose access to power.

Armed with all the intelligence and in the wake of the worst attack on America, Woodward masterfully portrays how different key players came to deal with the idea of preserving government continuity and living and working in a giant target, uncertain of the future.

Overall, this is a fascinating book that will be of interest to anyone who wishes they could be a fly on the wall in the cabinet in those terrible times.


Rating:
Summary: Political Red Meat for Cons and Libs (3 & 1/2 stars)
Review: Bob Woodward, who was a major player in breaking the Nixon Watergate scandal and also wrote the book-made-into-movie, "All the Presidents Men," writes his account of President George W. Bush's presidency during the first 100 days after the attacks on the two World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. Conscientiously fair, Woodward has put together a quite comprehensive behind-the-scenes documentary-style book that reveals a full-disclosure look at the Bush war cabinet, their meetings and interactions with one another, interviews with the President and much more.

Of interest to those who seek authenticity, this book will make you feel like a fly on the wall. According to Woodward, Bush at War includes: "contemporaneous notes taken during more than 50 National Security Council and other meeting where the most important decisions were discussed and made." Additionally, Woodward states that he "interviewed more than 100 people involved in the decision making and execution of the war [in Afghanistan], including President Bush" (4 hours of interviews), "key war cabinet members, the White House staff, and officials serving at various levels of the Defense and State Departments and the CIA." Needless to say, a great deal of investigative effort was put into this book, which can be said of all Mr. Woodward's books.

I read Bush at War about a year-and-a-half ago, and after much time and reflection, I am amazed at the amount of access to the Administration that Woodward was given. I found this to be rather astonishing, as it was almost certainly an unprecedented move by a world leader in terms of permitting the scope and freedom that Woodward enjoyed. At the time this book was originally published, Bush at War contained a good deal of secret information from the war effort in Afghanistan. No doubt the reason for such trust in Woodward comes from his reputation for fair and impartial reporting, his unmatched investigative skills, and his astute journalistic credentials.

But enough about Woodward.

From the beginning, we are familiarized with the key players involved in post-9/11 war planning subsequent to the terrorist attacks. Woodward begins the story of that sunny Tuesday on 9/11 by going through the events of that morning through then CIA director George Tenet's perspective, leading to the urgently ominous, "Mr. Director, there's a serious problem." From there, the previously untold story of how Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Tenet dealt with the worst attack on America unfolds before your very eyes.

As I've alluded in my opening statements, this book reads like a documentary to me. I can visualize much of the book as if I were reading a transcript from a hypothetical movie that could've been named "100 Days After." But one of the most interesting and even intriguing things about this book is not just the details of the book itself, but the perspective with which people have read it and reviewed it. There is such a contrast in what people have gotten from it, and the opinions that have been formed after reading it. It is a perfect example for me that the term "what you find depends mostly on what you look for" has a resounding ring of truth; especially when the subject matter involves political figures. But it's really a testament to Bob Woodward in this instance, because it shows to me just how impartial the book really is. Most, if not all the information that those who've read the book were looking for is provided; and most importantly, we are judiciously left to make our own informed decisions and judgments on how we feel about what took place in the Bush White House subsequent to the 9/11 attacks.

For instance, there are conversations about Iraq that provide some insight into the President's feelings on the subject. These quotes are surprisingly candid and really provide more answers on his reasoning for deciding to liberate (or "liberate" for those who prefer the insinuation) Iraq. You will read just what Bush's vision for the world is, in his own words. What's priceless about it is that they're direct quotes that haven't been filtered by spinsters or the PC police. It's raw George W. Bush like you've never witnessed before; and that means that you will love him or hate him even more than you already do. For those that hate him, you will find more reasons to hate him. For those that love him, you will find more reasons to love him. It has plenty of "red meat" for everybody, regardless of political persuasion; and that's a good thing in my view. There's nothing worse than reporting that biased and intended to shape your opinions to the political right or left; because that's not really reporting, that's called propaganda. Bush at War is the real deal, un-salted and raw. It's up to you to spice it, cook it, chew it, digest it, and decide if it sits well with you or not.

For added entertainment, here are just a few notable quotes that stood out for me:

Bush on Iraq:

"Action was not for strategic purposes or defensive purposes, [Bush] said. ` You see...Condi didn't want me to talk about it (Iraq). We'll see whether this bears out, [but] clearly there will be a strategic implication to a regime change in Iraq, if we go forward. But there's something beneath that, as far as I'm concerned, and that is, there is immense suffering.' "

"As we think through Iraq, we may or may not attack. I have no idea yet. But it will be for the objective of making the world more peaceful."

Bush on North Korea's leader:

"...`I loathe Kim Jong Il!' Bush shouted, waving his finger in the air. `I've got a visceral reaction to this guy, because he is starving his people...' "

Bush on unilateralism: "I mean, you know, if you want to hear resentment, just listen to the word unilateralism. I mean, that's resentment. If somebody wants to try and to say something ugly about us, `Bush is a unilateralist, America is unilateral.' You know, which I find amusing. But I'm also-I've been to meetings where there a kind of `we must not act until we're all in agreement.' " He continues, "...well, we're never going to get people all in agreement about force and the use of force. But action--confident action that will yield positive results provides kind of a slipstream into which reluctant nations and leaders can get behind..."

Woodward on Cheney and Powell:

"Cheney and Powell went at each other in a blistering argument. It was Powell's internationalism versus Cheney's unilateralism."

Condi on Nukes:

"I've been in this business for a long time and people always underestimate the time, they rarely overestimate the time [it will take a country to become capable of building nuclear weapons]. If we're wrong and we had four or five or six years before he posed a nuclear threat, then we just went in early. If anyone willing to wait is wrong, then we wake up in two or three years, and Saddam has a nuclear weapon and is brandishing it in the most volatile region in the world. So which of these chances do you want to take? The lesson of September 11: Take care of threats early."

Bush on his role:

"I'm the commander--see, I don't need to explain--I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

Rating:
Summary: An In-Depth Analysis of the Months Following 9/11
Review: Bob Woodword gives a nearly day-by-day account of the three months following the terrorist attacks of September 11th. This format allows the reader to gain insight into the decision-making process regarding the war in Afghanistan (you must read Woodword's new book, Plan of Attack, to learn about the war in Iraq). Woodword had unprecedented access to President Bush as well as senior cabinet members, giving him a clear advantage over others in ability to objectively confer the events that led to the war in Afghanistan. Woodword allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the President and his administration, rather than filling the pages with his own opinions and analysis of the proceedings depicted. No matter your party affiliation, everyone would do right to read this book in order to have an informed opinion about the President, his administration, and the war in Afghanistan. No other work covers the events with as much detail and objectivity as Woodword does here.

Rating:
Summary: Be prepared for an indepth look
Review: Be prepared for an indepth look inside the National Security Council meetings and an unbiased perspective of how the major players in the Bush administration directed the attack of the Taliban and terrorist infastructure in Afghanistan. Also be prepared to be frustrated. While there is abundant information and quotes, it will fly at you fast and Woodward does not summarize or give his analysis (mostly because he wants to leave no footprint on the story only facts).

Rating:
Summary: accurate, but scary...
Review: The most unsettling aspect of this book is that, even though it is not 'anti' (or even really 'pro') Bush, reading it certainly lowered my estimation of him. He leads the country like he is reading from a John Wayne script, and refuses to let things like reason or facts or analysis get in the way. His decisions are based on strong principles. Operating this way is good only when it is after a lot of analysis. George Bush simply does not put in the thought necessary for his office. He is an ideologue.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Companion to "Where the Right When Wrong"
Review: First of all I found this historical account of the daily response, thinking, and activities of the Bush cabinet from the morning of 9/11 to the height of the Afganistan campaign, an exciting and excellent account of this historical period. I later read Pat Buchanan's "Where the Right Went Wrong" and found this book corraberated many of his assertions. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat unpolished collection of facts
Review: Bob Woodward, one of the two most famous journalists in America, has recently been doing some of his most important work since the reporting that first made his reputation decades ago. (The same sentence could have been written about Seymour Hersh.) As such, I've finally sat down to read his last book to be released in easily carried paperback, Bush at War.

The book opens with George Tenet, breakfasting with his old patron David Boren, telling him how al Qaeda was his biggest fear--and then being interrupted with the news that planes had hit the WTC. In the strong early character sketches, Woodward manages the unlikely feat of evoking pathos in describing both Rumsfeld and Cheney: Rumsfeld as a would-be Republican JFK who never rose quite to the top, Cheney as an impotent (!) VP who ends up as a minister without portfolio. Surely the most memorable character of the book, though, is Cofer Black, an antiterrorism official at the CIA. When George Tenet wants to evacuate Black's men from Langley on 9/11, fearing they could die if Langley too were hit by a plane, Black cheerfully responds, "Sir, then they're just going to have to die." Later, when a CIA paramilitary team is sent to Afghanistan, Black tells them, "You have one mission. Go find the al Qaeda and kill them.... Get bin Laden, find him. I want his head in a box.... I want to take it down and show the president." The box, as the reader knows, remains empty.

Probably the biggest single headline for me was that when Colin Powell famously considered running for president in '96, and his wife Alma was famously against it, she threatened to leave him if he ran. "If you run, I'm gone."

Woodward really is a great getter of facts and quotes, like everyone says, just not a very elegant writer. There are many low-level annoyances, such as when he tells us repeatedly the population of Mazar-e-Sharif. Worse, though, the book gets bogged down two thirds through with an interminable sequence meetings about 1) the mystery of why Afghanistan is going badly and 2) the more pressing problem of how to break it too the president. NSC meeting after NSC meeting is consumed by these two topics. Finally, the clouds clear, and we win the war, with no explanation. Full stop. (Bush is quoted expressing surprise at how quickly things turned around, but Woodward has no ex post facto explanation. One thing Woodward does make clear is that the success that eventually came was not just what the administration had expected all along, as Rumsfeld let on at the time.) We then jump to a weird, 50-page epilogue, in which Woodward visits an oracular Bush. "Look hard at what you've got, he seemed to be saying. It was all there if it was pieced together--what he had learned, how he had settled into the presidency..." This sounds like a puzzle to be unlocked in a fantasy novel, but it's not: the Iraq war, as we all now no, was nothing like the Afghanistan war.

Some more editing and a bit more care in designing the book's structure would have helped a great deal. It reads like a rushed job. For the hidden White House tape recorder-eye's view of these events, though, the book is still worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Infighting at the White House
Review: A great book by Woodward on the in fighting that occurred within the white house as to how to respond to the 9/11 attack.
Cheney and Wolfowitz wanted to attack Iraq.
The rest wanted to go after bin laden, who all knew was responsible for the attack.
CIA teams were inserted by Sept 26. Teams were already working in there with the Northern Alliance.
SF teams could not be brought in until air bases were obtained in Uzebestan. The first Special Forces team did not arrive in country until Nov 6. In 53 days, the CIA, about 100 people, and Special Forces teams, about 316 people, eliminated the Taliban from Afghanistan. In spite of that, newspapers were calling the battle a quagmire.
When shown the plan for use of CIA and Special Forces teams working together with Navy air and the Air Force, only Bush thought it would work. Facinating story.

Rating:
Summary: imperialism story of white house
Review: this is a dirty fact what George will saying about his imperialist aims to the journalist like Woodward, Woodward believed him and wrotes this book.

if you love him and Woodward, you will be pleased why he started the war with one of the poorest country in the world. And everyone who are saying that he is a great president, they must be also sick like him!!! I'm very curious for the next election in Novemeber 2004. I don't think that he will be voted again.