The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008
Bob Woodward | 2008-09-08 00:00:00 | Simon & Schuster | 512 | 21st Century
As violence in Iraq reaches unnerving levels in 2006, a second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. In his fourth book on President George W. Bush, Bob Woodward takes readers deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial backchannels, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence agencies and the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq. With unparalleled intimacy and detail, this gripping account of a president at war describes a period of distress and uncertainty within the U.S. government from 2006 through mid-2008.
The White House launches a secret strategy review that excludes the military. General George Casey, the commander in Iraq, believes that President Bush does not understand the war and eventually concludes he has lost the president's confidence. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also conduct a secret strategy review that goes nowhere. On the verge of revolt, they worry that the military will be blamed for a failure in Iraq.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly opposes a surge of additional U.S. forces and confronts the president, who replies that her suggestions would lead to failure. The president keeps his decision to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from Vice President Dick Cheney until two days before he announces it. A retired Army general uses his high-level contacts to shape decisions about the war, as Bush and Cheney use him to deliver sensitive messages outside the chain of command.
For months, the administration's strategy reviews continue in secret, with no deadline and no hurry, in part because public disclosure would harm Republicans in the November 2006 elections. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley tells Rice, "We've got to do it under the radar screen because the electoral season is so hot."
The War Within provides an exhaustive account of the struggles of General David Petraeus, who takes over in Iraq during one of the bleakest and most violent periods of the war. It reveals how breakthroughs in military operations and surveillance account for much of the progress as violence in Iraq plummets in the middle of 2007.
Woodward interviewed key players, obtained dozens of never-before-published documents, and had nearly three hours of exclusive interviews with President Bush. The result is a stunning, firsthand history of the years from mid-2006, when the White House realizes the Iraq strategy is not working, through the decision to surge another 30,000 U.S. troops in 2007, and into mid-2008, when the war becomes a fault line in the presidential election.
The War Within addresses head-on questions of leadership, not just in war but in how we are governed and the dangers of unwarranted secrecy.
Reviews
Bob Woodward is an accomplished writer and author. As a result of his past successes he has access to the subjects about whom he writes. This gives him much loaded and powerful information with which to create a revealing and unforunately dismal picture of our elected and appointed government and military leadership under the Bush-Cheney regime. His story validates what many of us suspected, but couldn't quite come to grips with; namely, the sad reality of how we became so involved in Iraq and now in Afghanistan.He ends his revealing story with a reiteration of how Bush made his decisons based on his "guts" and on a "higher power." He tells of how he caused thousands to risk combat and death and how the nation has sufferred economically based not upon strategy or even common sense, let alone intelligence briefings, but upon his gut reaction to people and events to propel us into two wars without end. What a tale of a seemingly uneducated man and someone unpredictable in his thoughts; and how unprepared he was to lead this nation as its president and commamnder-in-chief. While Bush got a few things right, his lack of insight and pure baloney. such as "Brownie, you've done a heck of a job." leaves us with some understanding of his blissful-ignorance while in office and leaves us in ignorance of our understanding as to where we go now in our international relations. Georgie, "YOU'VE DONE ONE HELL OF A JOB."
Robert A. Shaines
Author of "Command Influence"
Soon to be published
Reviews
I carefully read all 437 pages of this 2008 book, in the paperback form. Bob Woodward gathered information from various sources during the Bush presidency for years 2006-2008, and focused only on how the war in Iraq was being handled. It is not surprising at all that the administration bickered over details, resented intrusions from Congress and reporters tho some comments are just plain ridiculous and repetitive.
Since reporters were imbedded with the troops and the news media explored the war daily and the Bush presidency at length; I found no surprises or secrets in this lengthy, somewhat biased, chronicle of how Bush viewed his role and carried out plans devised by him and his cabinet.
To send more troops or withdraw from Iraq was the over riding concern for this President as evidence suggested failure to quell violence in Iraq. Americans were well-informed thru the news media. Eventually, the "decider" selected General David H. Petraeus to replace General George Casey who had served admirably from 2004-2007 and who was not exactly in favor of troop surge.
This is a depressing book from which the reader can draw their own conclusions. Woodward makes clear his impression of George Bush based on his interviews with him, and comments made by disgruntled members of the administration and Congress. To be fair, he grudgingly included a few positive impressions.
To his credit, Woodward lists a "cast of characters" which is so helpful in understanding his thought processes. He provides pictures and an index. The print is easy to read and the glossary and notes on sources are excellent. The epilogue is interesting. The "cast" has to live with their decisions and history will prove them right or wrong.
Reading this book to compare the status of the war with today's decisions made by the current commander in chief who also has problems of unbelievable proportions will be helpful if you are keeping up with current events and praying for our troops and wounded warriors. May they soon return home and may war be always the last resort.
Reviews
This is different from Woodward's three previous books in this series. I was very impressed that President Bush met with him and granted interviews given the previous books in this series. Woodward shows how Bush was such an influential president, taking the country down paths that were not supported by many in government and continue to be considered by so many as disastrous for the US.
So much of this book chronicled the road to the Surge in Iraq. Early on President Bush wanted the Surge but almost nobody else did. Several panels, committees and prominent advisors were tasked with figuring out whether to surge, maintain or drawdown in Iraq. All of them tried to influence Bush not to surge, but Bush had his mind made up early on. I believe it turned out that the surge was correct, although the war itself remains extraordinarily controversial. The costs for the war, as Woodward points out, are born by those not responsible for the decision to go to war. In particular, those in the military and their families had to pay a high price and they will for the remainder of their lives.
In this book, Woodward revealed a Bush that I didn't know. Bush showed himself as pretty agile in his responses to others. Given the delivery of his speeches over the years, where often each word is pronounced as if not part of a sentence, this side of Bush surprised me.
Woodward was not privy to why the Surge worked because the methods used were secret. I'm more curious than ever why the Surge worked. I'd appreciate it if anybody can leave a comment with links to any books that explain how the Surge was conducted and why it was effective.
There were many interesting parts of the book that bear mentioning but I'll limit myself to one. The one I have in mind was when Bill Clinton arrived at the West Wing to meet with one of the blue ribbon groups that discussed in vain how to get through to Bush. Clinton explained to this bipartisan group that Bush was in the war not for politics but for belief. Therefore appeals to Bush on the basis of politics would not work. The group was greatly impressed with Clinton's views.
I think this was a very balanced book and not boring at all. I'd recommend it to everybody and doubt it will be offensive regardless of one's feelings about Bush.
Reviews
The book in itself is a sort of indictment of Bush's Policy and hubris in Iraq. The hubris is unbelievable! It is Vietnam on steroids! It is fascinating but also a dire warning against policies that drive my beloved America to the brink of disaster and when there, and when experts pointing at the flaws sound the alarm, leaders remain impassive, dismissive and even threaten the people that are advising them. Read it please!
Reviews
This is the last book in the Bush Years series of Bob Woodward. It cover 2006-2008. It was an extremely fascinating book and I'm glad I read it almost 4 years after the events that it talks about. It's always good to get some distance from the actual event when reading about history. I enjoy most of Mr. Woodward's books because of their detail and their quotes. You can tell he has numerous sources and actually talks to the participants themselves about the events. He always makes it very easy to follow all the different people that are involved in the saga. The comparsions to other wars especially Vietnam were interesting to me. I feel he gives a very balanced view on the events and tries to tell all sides. Yes, there is a lean to the book but it isn't as noticable as some other books. I gave this book 3 and half stars which rounds up to 4 stars because it is definitely the weakest of the four books on President Bush. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good recent historical book.
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