State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
by Bob Woodward
published
September 3rd 2007
(first published 2006)
by Simon & Schuster
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binding
Paperback, 576 pages
isbn
0743272242
(isbn13: 9780743272247)
description
Bob Woodward's third # 1 New York Times bestseller on President George W. Bush's wars tells the detailed, behind-the-scenes story of how the Bu...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 902)
Read in March, 2008
I read this book remarkably quickly (for me), it really drives at a great pace, and it isn't hard to follow. You have to play close attention to the names of all the people, but enough of them have already been in the news that it isn't all that hard. It's just tough to figure out which general is which sometimes.
Unbelievable, some of the sequences of events which Woodward writes about. He had exhaustive interviews with just about everyone in the Bush administration and with so many generals,...more
Unbelievable, some of the sequences of events which Woodward writes about. He had exhaustive interviews with just about everyone in the Bush administration and with so many generals,...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
People who want to hear the "he said, she said" aspects of White House decision making
I guess I should have given it more than two stars, because it functions well as a simple straightforward (somewhat) objective journalistic account of who said what to whom (at least that they later felt comfortable repeating to Bob Woodward) in the White House's decision to go to and continue war in Iraq. However, the bias does show through, sometimes to the right, like when he refers to the Brookings Institute as a "left-wing think tank," and then not even two pages later, refers to ...more
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Well, Woodward certainly got some of the inside skinny, but for my money, Fiasco is a much better book - better writing, clearer timeline, more complete look at all the players involved, esp. military (although I like how obsessed Woodward is with blaming everything on Rumsfeld!). This book feels like a giant apology/"don't blame me!" for Woodward's uncritical support of the administration in the run-up to the war.
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Read in December, 2006
Woodward continues his excuse-making for Bush here, portraying him as not being fully informed by his underlings. But he also shows Bush to be uninterested in information that does not support his pre-conceived notions. He shows him yet again to be a very incurious person content to be a cheerleader, doling out pablum with no real content. Rumsfeld is shown in all his glory as an evil, Machiavellian inside player, incredible in his ability to do exactly what he pleases despite the overt directiv...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Jonathan by:
Fran Koch
I found this book really interesting on a couple levels. The first was just how it exposed the monumental task of preparing for a war. It was amazing to think about all these really intelligent people putting in a tremendous effort to make their little piece of something happen. It kind of reminds me of how I feel about a drag line, used for stripmining and mountaintop removal. I marvel at the machinery even while I abhor what it does. It was also interesting just to have some insight int...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
People interested in foreign policy, politics
Four stars, only for the incredible access Woodward had to key players and his examination of the internal mis-management of the war in Iraq, particularly at the Pentagon. The title of the book would more accurately be Rumsfeld at War, although Donald Rumsfeld is not the only person to be revealed by highly placed sources as an incompetent leader and manager.
Overall, the book is hampered by its lack of conclusiveness. Its timeline ends before Rumsfeld was sacked after the 2006 Congression...more
Overall, the book is hampered by its lack of conclusiveness. Its timeline ends before Rumsfeld was sacked after the 2006 Congression...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Revenge of the Sith is better than Phantom Menace.
State of Denial is the final episode in Bob Woodward's Bush trilogy. Bush at War and Plan of Attack felt like weak books, and Woodward's grasp for access seemed to have supplanted his previous investigative zeal. State of Denial is the best of the three, and comes closest to putting the Woodward we miss on display. As long as one reminds oneself that Woodward's books may be slanted slightly in favor of building his reputation and sacred access, he's still a fairly nonpartisan chronicler of Washi...more
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Read in January, 2007
If you've been following the news and are just now reading this book like I was then you aren't going to be shocked by any of the bombshells. However, I found it interesting that he had so many interviews with the principles including Rumsfield and President Bush. I also found it interesting how the timeline worked. Mr. Woodward puts together exactly when things happened. If you are looking for answers, he isn't going to give you any #1 because reporters report not analyze and #2 because it's to...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Reba Hernandez
Woodward's exhaustive interviews with just about everyone in the Bush administration was mind-boggling. The main thing I got out of this was that there were many generals and others warning the administration what an awful mistake the war was.
Rumsfeld comes across like a villain puppet master-pulling Bush's strings and bickering with Rice while refusing the generals access to the president. Rumsfeld seems like an egomaniac, incapable of admitting any wrong doing and constantly scrambling t...more
Rumsfeld comes across like a villain puppet master-pulling Bush's strings and bickering with Rice while refusing the generals access to the president. Rumsfeld seems like an egomaniac, incapable of admitting any wrong doing and constantly scrambling t...more
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Very good account of what went on before the war began and during the early days. So many mistakes were made. So many of those could have been avoided.
It is hard not to hate Cheney and Rumsfeld even more after reading. You kinda feel sorry for Bush. He just doesn't get it. He is blindsided most of the time. And when he is in the thick of things, he cannot seem to get a grasp of it. Of course, at that level, there are no excuses and ultimately, the buck stops at you.
About the book, well ...more
It is hard not to hate Cheney and Rumsfeld even more after reading. You kinda feel sorry for Bush. He just doesn't get it. He is blindsided most of the time. And when he is in the thick of things, he cannot seem to get a grasp of it. Of course, at that level, there are no excuses and ultimately, the buck stops at you.
About the book, well ...more
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Read in April, 2008
Very readable (or in my case, listenable) review of the major events of policy making and the Iraq war. Much of the information is already known if you have followed events in the news over the past 4-5 years. Woodward's book provides context and gives insight into actions of policy makers and their thought processes.
One caveat to this is that although Woodward is pretty good about remaining neutral, it is clear which individuals gave him more access (Gen. Marks, Jay Garner Andy Card, Dav...more
One caveat to this is that although Woodward is pretty good about remaining neutral, it is clear which individuals gave him more access (Gen. Marks, Jay Garner Andy Card, Dav...more
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Read in January, 2005
Rumsfeld is a dick
Won’t flow the forces we need
We will be too light
- Colonel Steve Rotkoff’s in his war diary from the early planning stages of the Iraq war.
Frankly, I don’t know why I always read these Woodward books. They’re not very good, and all the juicy bits get talked to death in the papers before I ever start reading the books themselves. You already know all the bombshells in this one, the memos, the incompetence, the lies. There’s no point going into it.
...more
Won’t flow the forces we need
We will be too light
- Colonel Steve Rotkoff’s in his war diary from the early planning stages of the Iraq war.
Frankly, I don’t know why I always read these Woodward books. They’re not very good, and all the juicy bits get talked to death in the papers before I ever start reading the books themselves. You already know all the bombshells in this one, the memos, the incompetence, the lies. There’s no point going into it.
...more
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Read in August, 2008
This book, for including so many names and places, reads really well, though it is sometimes challenging to place events in the timeline. It is interesting subject matter especially because so many of the individuals involved are still active in contemporary events, but by the same token it suffers from being too quick of a history - there is no perspective offered by distance in time and history from the events discussed and although interviews with key players like Bush and Rumsfeld are reveal...more
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Read in December, 2007
Even a generation from now, this book will probably still be a great resource for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of the Iraq war. Woodward starts basically from scratch, then works his way up to chronicling every stage of the government's contributions to the development of the complex and possibly irresolvable situations that now characterize the war. The book, however, would probably have profited from a more aggressive editor. If a person appears on only one page of the book,...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
people interested in modern politics and the Iraq War
I generally like Bob Woodward's books, even if they are the "first draft of history." This one presents the Bush Administration as suffering from what could almost be called Byzantine intrigue and ineptitude, with in-fighting, cheer-leading, and turf-guarding prevailing over proper planning, attention to detail, and substantive leadership. It reads as a morality tale cautioning against the consequences of vanity. However, it is history as a first draft, and only time will tell if th...more
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This is a good primer on the political decisions behind the launching and managing of the war in Iraq, by one of the reporters with the closest access to the White House. Although Woodward was criticized by liberals for his first two books about the Bush administration, for being too close and too laudatory, he was obviously saving the negative stuff for the third volume. This one doesn't pull any punches. State of Denial was criticized by conservatives for being released so close to the 2006 co...more
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I first gave it one star - probably a bit harsh. There's great reporting in here, but a lot of it is A)now fairly well known and B)what the J business calls "inside baseball" - the kind of stuff you probably care a lot about if you are involved in national government or DC circle, but not at all about if you're not.
I imagine some of the information would have felt more revelatory if I read the book when it first came out, and the info that I say is now fairly well known likely came...more
I imagine some of the information would have felt more revelatory if I read the book when it first came out, and the info that I say is now fairly well known likely came...more
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Read in September, 2007
For this aptly titled book, Woodward gets amazing access once again and maybe for the last time since the administration was clamping down as he finished the book. I don't know what's more annoying, the reckless and careless way this administration entered the Iraq War (really, I took my college art history finals more seriously) or the annoying metaphors they all used repeatedly to describe the War from comparing the ways dead soldiers died to apples and oranges (literally) or to taking the tr...more
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Read in December, 2006
A very interesting and disturbing picture of the US administration, particularly the White House and Pentagon in the lead up to Iraq invasion. The book is very well researched, but because of the number of characters involved, it becomes difficult at times to keep a track of who did what. The book kind of puts adds a time line to a lot of the events that happened. It also adds some context to characters and events that I was not aware of by just reading news. Overall a good read for someone who ...more
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Read in May, 2008
A factual book from start to finish. Although the book is slightly jumpy because it presents events chronologically no matter what the theme, it is filled with facts, so many facts it's hard to keep track of them all. It's more of a reference book than a good read, which is why it got 4 stars instead of 5, however that's also the reason I've rated it so highly. A must-read in understanding the aftermath of "combat operations" in the 2003 Iraq War.
There's a lot of swearing by...more
There's a lot of swearing by...more
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