The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008

"The War Within" is Woodward's 15th book, and his fourth about the Bush administration. I received an advance copy.Woodward interviewed President George W. Bush twice, and he interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.I've noticed that in all of Woodward's books about Bush, he seemed to be full of praise for Bush when Bush was flying high in the ratings. But when Bush was low in approval ratings, so was Woodward's opinion. So I've got to question if Woodward has gone from the great investigative reporter he once was to an establishment me-too type.After reading this, one can only be grateful that the Bush presidency is close to an end. Trouble is, it leaves a mess behind.According to Woodward, the surge has worked but Bush failed to lead and made numerous blunders that were very costly.The White House's National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, put out a statement Friday, Sept. 5, prior to release of the book, disputing some of the assertions made by Woodward.Woodward says that Bush has not told the American public the truth about Iraq and the war in general. But I found it of interest that Bush allowed Woodward to interview him and give him access. He said that Bush seems to have aged considerably during his long tenure in office --- he has a "paunch" and slumps when sitting.Of Bush Woodward says, "He did not seek sacrifice from most of the country when he had the chance. He did not even mobilize his own party. Republicans often voiced as much suspicion and distrust as Democrats. The president was rarely the voice of realism on the Iraq war."Woodward does, however, admit the success of Bush's surge of additional troops into Iraq in 2007."Violence was down so much in a few places that some U.S. soldiers were not receiving combat action badges because there was no fighting in their area," he wrote.Woodward says in the book that deputy national security adviser Meghan O'Sullivan sent President Bush a daily top secret report that cataloged the escalating bloodshed and chaos in Iraq. He quotes one memo as follows:"Violence has acquired a momentum of its own and is now self-sustaining." She wrote this on July 20.Woodward says, "Her dire evaluation contradicted the upbeat assurances that President Bush was hearing from Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. Casey and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were pushing to draw down American forces and speed the transfer of responsibility to the Iraqis. Despite months of skyrocketing violence, Casey insisted that within a year, Iraq would be mostly stable, with the bulk of American combat troops headed home. ""Publicly, the president claimed the United States was winning the war, and he expressed unwavering faith in Casey, saying, 'It's his judgment that I rely upon.' But Woodward continues, "privately, he was losing confidence in the drawdown strategy. He questioned O'Sullivan that summer with increasing urgency: "What are you hearing from people in Baghdad? What are people's daily lives like?"The book reads like a Tom Clancy novel and is full of almost surreal events. But the unusual thing I noticed was that Bush seemed to admit the truth in the book. He acknowledged his frustration and anxiety and that things didn't happen as he had planned. The war was not working and more people were dying than he'd imagined.Bush said his goals were a free society that could defend, sustain and govern itself while becoming a reliable ally in the global war on terrorism. But he was not sure that could be obtained. "It seems Iraq is incapable of achieving that," Woodward quotes in the book.Woodward rightly reminds us that Barack Obama opposed the surge and John McCain was "advocating more troops for years."Woodward says McCain showed considerable anger with the Bush White House by saying, "Everything is f---ing spin."Gen. George Casey, former U.S. commander in Iraq, said "that President Bush does not understand the war."Woodward says of Bush, "He had not rooted out terror wherever it existed." He adds, "He had not achieved world peace. He had not attained victory in his two wars."Woodward takes us into the heart of the White House and Pentagon. He apparently had tremendous sources who were actually in the meetings and conversations. The book reads like a novel by Tom Clancy.Since the book is based on literally hundreds of interviews with people in the know, it is full of conversations of actual events. It gives us an excellent view of the way Bush thinks and relates to those around him.We also see how he formed lies about the way --- lies that he thought would sell the war and make it more palatable to the American public.While the book goes back and pulls information from his previous books on Bush, this book is an excellent read with some new and astonishing revelations.Highly recommended.- Susanna K. Hutcheson

This is Woodward's fourth book on the Bush Presidency at war. It's also, I thought, the best. As with all of Woodward's books, the reader is left to wonder how exactly Woodward acquired all of his insider information. However, it is clear he had access to the biggest players involved in the Bush Administration's efforts in Iraq. He obviously interviewed the most important people. Any criticisms from the pro-Bush crowd can be offered if those insiders feel so inclined. The White House itself issued a rebuttal of sorts, but still it seems that the bulk of Woodward's reporting has gone unchallenged. That may well be because those who know inside stuff cannot talk about it, but that's the way it goes in a democracy that treasures civil liberties and press freedoms. Whiners need not run for office (nor should anyone try to stop anyone else from whining). We can either not have the Woodward book, or we can have it with the understanding that there are likely certain inaccuracies. I'll take the latter, hands down. Those who had their mitts in devising poorly thought-out plans will have their shot at offering other perspectives (see Feith, Bolten, etc.)This book covers the Bush Administration from early 2006 until about mid 2008. We see the President try to deal with the increasing problems that were evident in Iraq, problems that contradicted President Bush's overly optimistic public statements. We also see the efforts of those in the Pentagon, State Department, and in Iraq as they tried to come up with a strategy to address the increasing violence. As we mostly now know, the "surge" and elements often incorrectly associated with that title have reduced the violence in Iraq. What we haven't known about, and what we hope Woodward is accurate about, are the discussions, arguments, etc., that went into coming up with the surge. Fascinating stuff. People of all political persuasions can take comfort in knowing that the smartest people in the world of every ideology were hard at work on the problem and all were striving with good intentions. (Certainly, good intentions do not ensure good policy and may at times encourage foolhardy policies.)When all is said and done, Woodward offers his thoughts on President Bush's war leadership, and Woodward makes a strong case for weak war leadership. Ultimately, Bush knew things weren't going well and was lying to the American people when he claimed all was well. He should have trusted the American people at an earlier stage of the war. Perhaps the Washington clock would have had a longer run time. The President should have also been more honest with himself. Contrary to claims of the right, the media was more accurate about the state of Iraq than the President was, and it seems that the President willed himself to believe things that were simply untrue. Who paid the price for those huge mistakes? He did to a small degree: his place in history will likely be among the lower ranked of our presidents. At best, he can hope for below average. We invaded Iraq because we believed that Saddam was a threat to us, and we believed Saddam was a threat because we believed he had WMDs. We now know we were wrong, and "the Decider" bears the most blame for that mistake. It was his call, and he got it wrong. Perhaps worse is that the US plan for winning there was disgracefully off the mark in every regard. From the initial invasion until final implementation of the surge, the Bush team made mistake after mistake, and history has recorded those facts. But those who paid the ultimate price for those mistakes are our brave servicemen and women and lots of Iraqis.Personally, I don't view George W. Bush as an evil man. His intentions were pure, but pure intentions... Also, though the US effort was in disarray in 2006, and although we know who is ultimately responsible for that tragic state of affairs, perhaps the best that can be said of President Bush is that he may have been the one man who could have made the surge the reality it needed to be because of his own mistakes. Time will tell, but the time that has passed so far is not flattering to President Bush, and Woodward writes about it in captivating detail.