Rating: Summary: On Balance A Nice Job. Review: For myself there are two main issues, i.e.: is it a good book and does it tell me anything new about Bush.The book like most of Woodward's others is just excellent. The book has a hurried feel like he is trying to get the book written quickly and out to the publisher, but otherwise it is good. It flows nicely and is easy to read. With regards to Bush, this book gives a clear, close up, and detailed account of the actions and thoughts after 9-11. Of course the book is not 100% complete nor can one writer be perfect, but this is probably as close as one can get with an active president. My opinion of Bush goes up considerably with this book. Nice Job. Four Stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating: Summary: "Terrorism against this nation will not stand" Review: This book shows that rather than being a weak leader, that he is made of the same stuff as were other great presidents such as Jonh F. Kennedy and Harry S. Truman. Bush has been true to his word and if you really want to know what kind of a leader he is and how he understands what is expected of the President,I strongly suggest this book.Woodward does not give his side of the story;he tells verbatium what really happened.
Rating: Summary: A Very interesting novel Review: Bush At War depicts the inside view of the Bush Administration after 9/11, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the beginning of the plans of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This novel is outright good, it brings the pure emotion of President Bush, Dick Cheny, Secretary Of State Colin Powell, Natonal Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, SecofDef Donald Rumsfield, and DCI (director of Intelliegence) George Tenet. It kind of starts out slow, but if you read some Tom Clancy novels like Executive Orders, then everything you read in this novel, then everything you read in his novels are true, even to the Navy cooks. This novel is interesting, and if you are looking into the deep inside of the people in the news. Rather interesting.
Rating: Summary: Essential Reading for Perspective on Bush and Iraq Review: This invaluable and non-tendentious portrait of Bush and his key advisers' strategizing following 9/11 and the run-up to initiating war in Afghanistan is even more fascinating against the backdrop of the current war in Iraq, the launching of which postdated this book. I was amazed and heartened to read of the facility with which the president and his team were able to recover from the stunning blow of 9/11 and pull off the extraordinary logistical feat of mobilizing against an almost invisible enemy hiding half a world away -- in weeks (contrasted with the first raids on Tokyo fully 4 months after Pearl Harbor). I was brought up short by the backdrop of constant threats of more 9/11's against which Bush and his advisors anxiously operated in those first weeks. Bush comes off as an extraordinary leader -- probing and provoking his advisors to get all the proper planning done before going to war, but insistant on fast and sweeping actions to fashion a new world order in which terrorists are themselves terrorized by the US's relentless pursuit of them. Great to have here in the record, too, are the pathetic whinings of the press, led by a New York Times piece --a bare 3 weeks into the Afghanistan campaign -- ghoulishly asking "Could Afghanistan become another Vietnam?" Reading this book should have Americans feeling much more sanguine that our present leadership is brilliant and thorough in its approach to dealing with the terrorists who menace our country.
Rating: Summary: Fantastic Look at the Bush White House at War Review: Woodward has written the ultimate work on the various events that transpired within the Bush Administration at the beginning and opening months of the continuing war on terrorism. Beginning with September 11, and continuing through the first campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan, Woodward presents a look at just how the early stages of the war developed, from the points of view of many of the major participants in the White House. What is so excellent about this book is that you get a clear picture of just how intelligent and put together the Bush team is, and how each member brings their own expertise to the war's management. President Bush is also shown to not be the bumbling figure head he is portrayed as on Saturday Night Live. Instead, he is shown to be the true leader of the situation who often asks questions and comes up with ideas that no one had even thought of before. In fact, the CIA had to get used to well thought out questions from the President when presenting their daily intelligence briefings to the President. Bush's committment to the war is also shown, and the precursors to the later campaign in Iraq are clearly shown as part of the Bush White House's strategy to not only go after terrorist groups, but also states that support and sponsor terrorism. The humanitarian campaign in Afghanistan was also Bush's brain child, as he was the first to bring it up as a major issue at the various war cabinet meetings. "Bush at War" is a must read for all Americans, because it is a necessity to understanding the beginnings of the continuing war on terrorism.
Rating: Summary: Looking back at events .... Review: This book is a detailed account of what was said by Bush and his inner circle. There is no real attempt to form an opinion or show happenings in any light other than that of Mr. Bush and his group. I'd give it a 4 or 5 for accuracy, but due to the lack of insight into what Mr. Bush's course of action would cause long-term, this has to go down. I wouldn't advise this book to anyone who actually wants to _understand_ the events of 9/11, Afghanistan, or now Iraq. To Bob: 4 for being a faithful tape recorder and zero for analysis. You get a 2, and I'm going to offload the book on the used market.
Rating: Summary: George W. Bush's administration launched on its own petard. Review: Woodward presents the facts with a minimum of editorial comment and value judgements. This is good journalism, and perhaps it is also the price he must pay for exceptional access to the main players in the Bush government. What an extraordinary story he is able to tell! Woodward transmits a compelling portrait of a leader unprepared to deal with America's great challenges, but wishing to be as strong and as decisive as the great Teddy Roosevelt he admires so much. In the end, George W. Bush comes across as an insecure boss, driven by a risky combination of under-informed intuition and fierce determination. Reading this very interesting book about the internal workings of US policy and decision-makers in a time of crisis has reinforced my impression that this president very unfortunately is not in the same category as TR, who was not just a firm promoter of America's defense and power but also an experienced, independent statesman of brilliant intellect, integrity, phenomenal energy and courage and superlative powers of communication.
Rating: Summary: I cannot rate this book (but I have had to pass! ) Review: Sorry I cannot rate this book because I dont know if it's better to join CSA (Central Stupidity Agency) and give 5 star or risk exposing my contrasts that could be also more stupids. Joining CSA I can say it's a really well informed book and a journalist good piece,it explain what happened during those confused days by the inside ! On the other side,to expose my doubts I have to say that I think things always get worst when problems are not deeply understanded and this books shows they aren't , nor by Bush nor by his staff nor by the journalist himself, but we are all involved the same to their solution. Bush is not making a war : killers are deads,so they are with their God now, Bush is strongly but blind fighting! I come from a crusaders family and I love this ,and I like to say that I think there are two only coupled moves that can give a solution ,to this kamikazers fighting , First the bad one: remembrance flights of US planes (with UN allowance) over all involved countries(particolarly all Arabic villages where any killers where born ,Medina and Mecca that had to Stop them and did not) of the massacre at low quote of H armed planes to teach those peoples the importance and factibility of self control,every 11 september till blood debt is payed out,I call this to speaks to their God. Second to hire any arabian and Iraqen body (they are good pilots and can go to mars tomorrow with no return flight)disposed to give their life for their people,and all umanity are their people, to flight Space Challenger and any other risky vehicle that can go explore space, to let them pride pay their blood debt caused by the overrating of their earth defence, when it is already clear that infinite earths are waiting an unified umanity and this single old one have probably no more than 100 years going this way. I see,USA is disowning Roosevelt's use of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaky to stop kamikazers fighting to the point of exclude also the threat, and like better play soldiers on the ground but this is a misunderstandement. Usa already was the number 1 country 10000-20000 years ago when only faster and stronger men had passed the numberless heroism proofs needed to arrive there from africa where all umanity where born. Than closed his heart to the world and the rest is history! It seems these terrorists are again combatting this same battle,the only one America can loose, I should not underrate them to the point of excluding any weapon.
Rating: Summary: From a Political Theory Perspective, the Book Dissapoints Review: By way of disclaimer, I must say that I am an ardent supporter of President Bush, his administration, and most (though, not all) of his policies. With that said, this book provides a clear glimpse of the intricate political decissions President Bush had to make in response to the September 11 terrorists attacks. It showcases some off-the-cuff comments by the commander and chief, Rumsfield, and Powell. The typical view that Rumsfield and Cheney are "hawks" while Powell is the "moderate" prevails in the book. Ms. Rice, the president's National Security Advisor, is brought up in many instances of the book, but rarely does one get any information on what she thinks about the issues at hand. I did not get a chance to understand how Ms. Rice felt under the difficult time of responsing to our nation's highest challenges. Another problem with the book is that, while it does provide a great deal of information on what was done, and how information was coordinated, it rarely said anything relating to why administration officials felt the way they did. That is, there was not much discussion on the origins of their political philosophies, which guided their actions and policies. It would be wise to learn more about what books, magazines, think tanks, and other intellectual might helped bring this talented group of people into making concrete, and difficult, decisions. But, then again, the format of this book was the same as you would find in your national newspaper. And so with it came the limitations... Michael
Rating: Summary: nothing spectacular or insightful Review: I don't know why I keep subjecting myself to books by journalists. Newspaper style is just fine when digesting the morning news, but four hundred pages of it? On this score, I must say that Woodward's multipart series for The Post back in January 2002, "Ten Days in September," is a much more enjoyable and worthwhile read; it does in a few pages what this book takes hundreds to do--not to mention the fact that, written just after 9-11, it has a greater sense of immediacy. The book doesn't have the emotion, the urgency, the poignancy of that series; all that was lost in the passage of months or spread thinly throughout this book. I should not, probably, be too harsh on journalists as book writers, despite my unfavorable impressions of Woodward's book and Frank Bruni's. After all, David Maraniss wrote a superb and highly readable biography of Vince Lombardi. But back to Bush at War... What comes through here is the same old story we heard for months: Rumsfeld is the hawk, Powell is the dove with claws (to use Johnny Cash's Vietnam-era phrase), Rice brokers between the two, and Bush makes the final decisions. Woodward's account is one-sided. Evidently and not too surprisingly, Powell was more open about granting interviews (perhaps it was one of his tactics in the power game), and Rumsfeld was not. This is a glaring flaw throughout the entire book, especially when Woodward starts paraphrasing what Rumsfeld might have said or is reported to have said (signalled by abandoning the quotation marks). For whatever it's worth, given these imbalance, Powell comes across as the hero, the torn moderate who eventually prevails in the end (that is, in getting Bush to give the UN a chance in fall 2002). Rumsfeld is painted variously as demanding boss, evil taskmaster, and uncooperative interviewer, despite Woodward's concluding efforts to give some credit to the Defense Secretary. Some reviewers have written that this book is evidence of Bush's inability to be self-critical or to think for himself. Quite the opposite seems to be true, if this book is any guide. That Bush surrounds himself with talented people and lets them debate the tough questions is not a sign of weakness. Constantly, Bush asks the difficult questions, sets the deadlines, demands results. Yes, he sits back sometimes and allows his principals to wade through thorny issues, but the final decision is his--firmly. And he does have a vision, one that Woodward had difficulty seeing until the end. At the root of that vision, informed by Bush's faith, is to advance the cause of human rights and freedom, to eliminate, so far as possible, needless human suffering. With Bush still in office, the final verdict on his leadership is some years away. But I could not help thinking that he would make for interesting study in Eliot Cohen's Supreme Command framework. Time will tell. If you read Woodward's 2002 Post series, or even if you just watch TV or read the morning news, this book will probably offer nothing new. Perspectives on the several issues above could easily be obtained from other sources over the past two years. Like most other journalists, Woodward's writing does not easily translate into book-length studies. This is not to deprecate him; it's simply to acknowledge the fact that he's a journalist (a highly respected and talented one at that). Perhaps in ten years, when more documents are available, someone will write the history of 9-11 and the war on terror in the way it deserves to be written and analyzed. I wait for that day.
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