The War Within by Bob Woodward
I got Bob Woodward's book The War Within as one of my Christmas gifts. Yes, I know I am a major nerd. I got a book for Christmas and I am really happy about it. But I think not only is a great book, as always Woodward delivers in his excellent writing (But really, are you expecting anything less from such a legendary reporter from the Washington Post?) but it is also an important look back in what has happened in the past almost three years.
The War Within is the fourth and final volume in Bob Woodward's microexamination of George Bush and his team during the Iraq war. The previous books are "Bush at War" "Plan of Attack" and "State of Denial." These books will be essential to Bush scholars who examine the mind, heart and leadership of George W. Bush during the Iraqui War from 2003 to the present violent minute.
Woodward's books all follow a plan in which he recounts the countless meetings held between top men and women in the administration and in the military establishment from on the ground in Iraq to the Tank rooom where the Joint Chiefs of Staff often meet. Due to his unsurpassed ability to have reliable sources within the government, Woodward is able to recount in detail the meetings and events of the time period covered. In this book he examines Iraq wartime strategy from 2006 to the summer of 2008. This was a time of great violence and stress for the broken jar nation of Iraq.
This period was a sobering and sad time. American casualties rose to over 3,000 with thousands more being wounded. The US spends about 10 billion in Iraq each month. There is bitter opposition to the neverending war from Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Bush's popularity rating has descended into the murky depths of the dumpster!
During this time we see Bush firing Defense Secretary Rumsfeld after the Repbulicans lost big in the congressional elections of 2006. He is then replaced by the current Defense Secretary Robert Gates. We also see how David Petreaus become the ground force commander in Iraq and initiated the surge of American forces into the distant and violent land.
Colin Powell was a prophet when he told Bush, "When you go to war in Iraq you will own those 25 million Iraqis." Daily in Iraq we see Shia killing Sunni, Al-Quada and Kurds battle. The country under weak President Maliki is a mess.
Even War-Hawk Donald Rumsfeld told Bush, "It's time we took our hands of the bicycle seat" to no avail. Bush continues his war.
The George Bush we see emerge from these many pages is: a. Stubborn-once Bush believes he is following the right course he refuses to vet other discussions among his top advisers. People like Secretary of State Condi Rice, Colin Powell and others who criticized war stratey were given short shrift. b. Dilatory-it takes Bush a long time to follow a new direction. c. Self-righteous and a user of bullying tactics-Bush believes he has the clue to how to win a stunning victory in Iraq despite all the evidence to the sanguinary contrary. Bush is a very inflexible leader who often reacts to situations on an emotional and not an well thought our rational level. d. Dismissive-Bush did not even glance at the Council of Colonels report stating the US was loosing the war. He was also dismissive of the Iraq Advisory Council's damning indictment of his failed leadership.
Woodward lets the facts and faces speak for themselves. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see US policy in the Middle East has been a disaster. One can only hope the new Commander in Chief will be able to salvage something from the debris of a failed policy pursued with vigor for so long.
But it isn't a hatchet job just on Bush. Woodward takes a look at everyone's actions in the past years. Bob Woodward's unrivaled access to the Bush White House, and to the President, together with his careful recall of dates and interviews, gives the reader a full and complete insight into this last chapter of the Bush presidency. Woodward writes that this is a president who is driven by his "gut", "God" and a "vision" that starts out as "victory" but over the course of the years is watered down to a "win", and finally merely to "succeed". Bush finds it easier to concentrate on "body count" rather than strategy. This President as perhaps the least Socratic man to hold the office although not the first President to surround himself with those who feed his ego. In that context the president permits Stephen Hadley to run the war while Condi Rice engages in flattery when she discovers that the President won't listen to her advice.
Woodward points out that the President did not feel able to "level" with the nation and reverted to politics as usual when the war was spinning out of control before the mid-term election. The White House relied more on a retired general, General Jack Keane, who appears to have had more influence than the Joint Chiefs of Staff on promotions and policies, and, thanks to the Vice President Dick Cheney, is permitted back-door access to the White House which undermined the morale and advice of those senior officers active in the Armed Forces. It is a book that reveals a president cocooned and protected by a small coterie of admirers.
I really believe that readers and history will thank Woodward for this book, which is his fourth and best of this presidency. It paints a clear picture of a President who disregards views other than those that he wants to hear; the only people who speak truth to power in this book make a quick exit or are ignored. In the years to come, historians will find this an essential text even if it does reveal "the nation's most divisive figure".