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Summary: Flat and tepid and full of facts but little news
Comment: Bob Woodward must be given credit for his ability to gain access to the highest levels of government. I find it simply amazing that he can get so many senior level people to sit down with him and go on the record about controversial topics. Still, he does in this book as he as done in his previous books gained that access by not being overly critical of his subjects and basically spinning popular conceptions as his own conclusions.
I think this book would have worked better if Woodward had been more hard hitting with his clients but again he asks the same questions of Bush, Cheney, Rice etc that have been asked elsewhere and in no place does he challenge their conclusions. All in all this book would have worked so much better if he had pushed their buttons and got some honest answers on the questions asked. I would prefer something that reads less like a memoir.
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Summary: Woodward's "fly-on-the-wall" reporting once again illuminates dysfunctional Bush administration
Comment: The legendary Bob Woodward ("All the President's Men," etc.) adds another entry into his long list of accomplished, important books. With "The War Within," Woodward once again gains remarkable access to the inner workings of President George W. Bush's White House as well as the top tiers of the U.S. military as our nation confronted (finally!) it's faltering performance in Iraq.
For those few of you who haven't read Woodward's stuff before, "War Within" keeps to the usual style - on-the-spot reporting from extensive interviews and document reviews that nobody else seems to get. Woodward refrains from weaving strong polemics through his narrative, which makes his books often read more like journalism than history - and that's the author's stated goal. Woodward goes more for a contemporary account of what happened than drawing larger historical conclusions, which he usually reserves for his brief conclusions.
Of course, Woodward makes important judgments of what is worthy to include in his books, and the pages of this book tell a story of a dysfunctional administration. For those who hunt for a President Bush who is a bloodthirsty warmonger eager to torture and bomb indiscriminately, you're not going to find him here. What you find is a President who wants to "win," when "winning" is neither clearly defined or possible. You also find a President who has trained his advisers - whether civilian or military - to tell him what he wants to hear. It's a bit surprising to hear some of Bush's most loyal advisers refer to him as a "bully," but then again it's not.
Woodward puts the reader into the circles of power as Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, General Casey, and others are forced to confront the simple fact that the military campaign in Iraq is going nowhere. The administration's maddening refusal to either admit mistakes have been made or to hold anyone accountable for those mistakes builds and builds - at many times the key power players in the country are more focused on the chain of command and controlling their own little spheres of influence to get the darn job done. We read several accounts of minor turf wars, shifting responsibility to others, and well-informed subordinates being ignored by their superiors. At times it seems the organizing principle of our government is to tell our superiors what they want to hear rather than telling the truth.
And that's a strong condemnation in its own right - Woodward rightly feels that the reader doesn't need Woodward's editorializing on that point.
The book builds until the fateful, but surprisingly controversial, decision to "surge" additional troops into Baghdad. By this point, the competence of Generals Petraeus and Odierno serves as an overdue reminder that there are extremely accomplished people in our government who have their eyes on the right goals.
The question the book seems to ask is whether the incompetence of the rest of those in the ranks of power will crush them before they are able to serve our nation as ably as they can.
It's a terrible question we must confront, but it's vital that we do so. Thanks to Bob Woodward for raising it.
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Summary: Understanding the Iraq War since 2006
Comment: This follow-up to State of Denial details the progress of the Iraq War since 2006. It starts with the firing of Donald Rumsfeld and the rise of the even-handed Robert Gates. It follows the fall of General Casey and the rise of General Petraeus. It also parallels the two schools of thought in how to handle Iraq: clear and hold or surgical strikes.
While not quite as readable as State of Denial, this book details more of the political dealings with Iraqi leaders and the attempts to establish a constitution and a central government; the eternal conflict between factions; and the maddening attitudes of Maliki. This book may be more for those who want to understand the gradual progress of developing an Iraqi government and the transformation of US military policy towards securing Iraq.
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Summary: War Within - great for facts, terrible for chronology
Comment: Book appears to be onn the button factually but try to follow chronology
very difficult. He writes about years 2003 and skips to 2006 or 2005 back
to 2003. Names of military personnel are sometimes difficult to relate to
an event or time element.
Overall good for facts and illumination into the Bush II White House.
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Summary: Too much here and too little there....
Comment: i find the book to be somewhat evenhanded, albeit slow to build, with speciouz arguments and several ineffective redundancies. but for a neophyte like me, an excellent primer to the internal discussions. Difficult to discern why Hadley and Keane had such preeminentinsights? Werethey doing the most talking to Woodward?
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