The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 (Hardcover) by Bob Woodward

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09/27/08

Steve rated it:

It says a lot about a book, when the most hyped part on the media tour of it isn’t actually in it. Of course, I’m referring to Bob Woodward’s revelation in ‘The War Within’ that the success of the surge was based less on troop increases and more on a secret ‘Manhattan-like project.’ And to be fair, it’s not completely absent from the book, but rather confined to one page (380). The rest, in all honestly, is as much of a struggle as the Iraq War has been to complete. If you re...more It says a lot about a book, when the most hyped part on the media tour of it isn’t actually in it. Of course, I’m referring to Bob Woodward’s revelation in ‘The War Within’ that the success of the surge was based less on troop increases and more on a secret ‘Manhattan-like project.’ And to be fair, it’s not completely absent from the book, but rather confined to one page (380). The rest, in all honestly, is as much of a struggle as the Iraq War has been to complete. If you really want to know about the secret program, I’ll tell you now. It’s electronic spying. Why do I know it’s electronic spying? Since these guys really are one trick ponies; from constant tax cuts to the mantra of privatization of everything, they stick to one thing and just let it expand exponentially. Hence, the disaster of the Iraq War. But, I’d give them one thing; at least they’re consistent. And Bush’s solution to everything covert is electronic spying, from Al-Qaeda members, UN members opposed to the war, peace protestors, Iraqi president al-Maliki (this one is detailed in the book), and to tell the truth, everyone including you. So now, thanks to cheap video and massive storage devices, they can record everything. And it doesn’t help that these bozos referred to this technology as only existing in ‘Hollywood in 2001.’ Strangely precise. Of course, there’s only one thing about Hollywood that conservatives enjoy from 2001. No, not ‘Temptation Island,’ but I’m sure some great technology was likewise reveled in that too. Remember in the first season of ‘24’ when Jack has to backtrack a car on the surveillance satellites using some Tivo-like video. Yeah, some guy figured out that this would be really useful to figuring out who was planting those IEDS. Then we mark those bad guys until they try to do it again and kill them (and tell the truth liberals, it’s working!). That’s the secret, but don’t expect to find it in this book.

Instead in it, you’ll get the typical Woodward intimate dialogue from Washington insiders, which seems to say more than it actually does. You’ll discover that Bush outsourced much of the planning of the war to Stephen Hadley, that instead of having a concrete policy towards Iran, he called them ‘assholes,’ which, by the way, is an apt description of the Iranian leadership. That ‘the president rarely was the voice of realism on the Iraq War,’ and that ‘he was engaged in the war rhetorically, but maintained an odd detachment from its management.’ Basically, that he was similar to every shitty corporate boss you’ve ever had. To Bush’s credit, he did say he wanted to run the US like a corporation, and as Wall St. has shown in the last week, his minimum payment policies have failed completely. But this isn’t a bash Bush book, instead, to his credit, Woodward remains one of the best reporters in the country, which is now sadly filled with anger inducing pundits on both the right and left (whose books sell better, are easier to read, but are mostly full of shit). Instead, Woodward gives intimately detailed reports of the inner conflicts of the Bush administration, from the excluding State department from major decisions to the politicizing the generals to fit his predetermined surge policy. It’s all expertly detailed and fact checked. Problem is, it’s not all together that interesting. As a political junkie, I did find the book somewhat intriguing, mostly as a historical piece. But similar to a history textbook, it was far from a page-turner. That being said, it was not a bad book, it just that his previous books about this president, ‘Bush at War,’ ‘Plan of Attack,’ and ‘State of Denial’ are better than this one. But again, I will read anything that this masterful reporter has written. (less)

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12/14/08

Justin Clark rated it:

Read in November, 2008

I tried to start reading this before Making Strides. Was unable to get to it, but set aside some time in November to finish it.

I've always enjoyed Woodward. This book is very similar to the previous three in the Bush series. Woodward's greatest fault (which is evident in his writing) is his own ego. You can sense that he loves the fact that he has incredible access to Top-Secret documents, transcripts of private meetings, and undisclosed conversations. Of course, this fault is what ...more

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02/08/09

Jack rated it:

bookshelves: history, nonfiction, politics, presidents, war

Read in December, 2008

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 itsel...more 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. (less)

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12/02/08

Jon rated it:

bookshelves: history, politics

Read in December, 2008

This book didn't fully hold my attention since I didn't read this until after the 2008 election. Even though the information here is good and has lots of relevance to Bush's legacy, I just can't get excited about reading the subject of a Bush presidency anymore. Thus, I skimmed through it pretty quickly.

Two things of interest. 1) the so-called secret weapon that the US has is played up in the media. Woodward in the book says the soft-skills are what was the game changer. 2) Wood...more

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12/15/08

Will rated it:

bookshelves: military-and-intelligence---non-fic, non-fiction, the-bush-administration

Read in December, 2008

The focus here is less on Bush per se than on the activities within the military, diplomatic and white house worlds on how to address the clear failure in Iraq. Bush seems almost a minor figure in the story told here.

It is clear that contrary to the claim that he listens to his commanders, Bush listens when they are saying what he wants to hear, and if they persist in saying things he does not want to hear, or if they fail to produce the results he wants, they are soon removed. Wood...more The focus here is less on Bush per se than on the activities within the military, diplomatic and white house worlds on how to address the clear failure in Iraq. Bush seems almost a minor figure in the story told here.

It is clear that contrary to the claim that he listens to his commanders, Bush listens when they are saying what he wants to hear, and if they persist in saying things he does not want to hear, or if they fail to produce the results he wants, they are soon removed. Woodward offers a detailed view into the sundry policy reviews that were going on over the covered time period (2006-2008). It was clear that many within the military establishment realized that the Iraq war was a debacle and much effort went into examining not only what had gone wrong, but what was really going on at present and what needed to be done to achieve a successful outcome. A lot of first rate minds focused on these things, but only a small minority of their conclusions were ever presented to the president. Woodward brings us into the meetings, albeit with minimal attribution, offering eye-witness reports from those who were in attendance.

And then there was Bush. Even when offered the benefit of professional analysis, he opted to go with his ill-informed gut, and the bellicose whisperings of Dick Cheney. While there are some items of note here, I cannot say that I learned a lot that was new. We already knew that Bush cared little for thoughtful analysis. We knew that there was dissent within the administration. Maybe we got more detail than we might have had re the politics of military succession and political maneuverings.

Woodward displays some old-fashioned anti-Clinton bias when describing a meeting at which former president Clinton is asked to speak with a military committee. He enthralled the group and remained far longer than he had promised. He was clearly the best mind in the room. The topic is Iraq and Clinton hold forth on related concerns like Afghanistan, and how the current force commitment in Iraq has impaired our ability to address concerns there. Woodward describes him as meandering, when in fact, he is the very one who is keeping a focus on the larger picture, seeing the significance of our Iraq debacle in light of whole-world realities.

One thing I learned from this book was that the gains largely attributed to the surge are in fact the result of a separate program aimed at fusing signals and human intelligence with special forces black ops to eliminate many of the insurgency leaders, (all very hush-hush—don’t say too much or you’ll endanger the program) the emergence of home-grown alliances among various groups for their mutual self-defense, and Moqtada el Sadr’s withdrawal from the field of battle.

Aside from the news (and that it is news is a surprise) that the USA had been bugging Iraqi prime minister Maliki, there is little new drama here. It was cheering that there were some within the DC institutions who tried to oppose the madness and not a huge surprise that the politicals ran end-runs around the military leaders to keep from having to cope with anything like real internal differences. Still The War Within, while interesting and a worthwhile read, is the least of Woodward’s four Bush books.
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12/02/08

Ikonopeiston rated it:

bookshelves: kindle, non-fiction

Read in December, 2008

recommends it for: current historians

This is the first of Woodward's books I have read since All the President's Men. The subject matter is engrossing and confirms all one's worst suspicions about the Bush White House. However, the writing is prosaic and genuinely bad in spots. I fear Woodward is no stylist and has no real love for the language. I shall continue to read this because I am interested in the period but I do not read it for the pleasure of savouring good literature. Therefore, I intend to mix this with some more ...more

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09/16/08

Colleen rated it:

(review of isbn 0743570502)

Read in October, 2008

Bob Woodward is seriously the most boring author I've ever read. How do you take "a secret White House history," which should be fascinating considering this administration's penchant for secrecy, and make it so drab?? I got through two discs before realizing that I hadn't heard a word the reader said. Moving on to better things.

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02/22/09

Jim rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Gave it a four; not because of the writing style, but because of the content, the information that usually doesn't become public. It was interesting, though not surprising to read that Bush basically ignored all the study groups that were coming up with recommendations on how to get out of the stagnated position in Iraq. The one co-chaired by Baker had received national publicity, but Rice had one, too, and there was an extensive study by the military brass. Bush, however, was again character...more

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02/11/09

Kristina rated it:

Read in February, 2009

After living through all of the drama from the last couple of years of the Bush administration, I guess I find myself just not caring as much as I had then. The book is well written and you really wonder where he gets his source materials. I wanted to know more about the secret programs that yielded such great results, but that came briefly at the very end of the book. I found myself being lulled to sleep by the many different players stories who seemed rather similar. Some of the Bush quote...more

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04/05/09

Ray rated it:

(review of isbn 143615104X)

Read in April, 2009

The "War Within" is the last in the Woodward series about the Bush Administration, covering Bush's last two years and focusing on the War in Iraq. The book discusses the debates and decisions being made about the war, especially the surge in troops, who was for and who was against, and how the idea was sold to President Bush. Woodward also makes a point that the improvement in the status of the war in Iraq, while often attributed to the surge in troops, may have more significant reas...more

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02/23/09

Lauren rated it:

bookshelves: biographies

Read in March, 2009

A very historically important look at what happens when the leaders of government do not discuss what they really think when it comes to the safety of the country. Woodward gave tedious look at what happened in the weeks following 9/11. His factual accounts based on hours of interviews and previously unreleased documents including interviews with President Bush are alarming. Woodward exposes General Petraeus’s struggles as he entered one of the most horrific moments of the war in Iraq, the Whi...more

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03/17/09

Brian rated it:

Read in February, 2009

I enjoyed this next book in the Woodward series on the Bush presidency. I still don't know how Woodward gets so much inside info. This one was particularly revealing about how little confidence the Bush administration had in the Iraq war and how much disagreement there was across groups (Defense, State, Military, Iraq commission) on how to proceed. What is most troubling is how the strategic planning was done - haphazardly! This book explains how the "surge" came about; its great t...more

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05/24/09

Amanda rated it:

bookshelves: history, non-fiction

Read in May, 2009

Really a bit strange to read this book while the war it references is still very much in play. Intimate look at Bush and his commitment to an ideology and his comfort with delegating his authority to other people as long as what he deems "right" is still in tact (i.e., sometimes he pushed the big decisions onto his advisers but would block out those same advisers when he felt his "mission" wasn't being properly carried out). I wonder how Woodward got the access he did becau...more

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10/25/08

James rated it:

I've read the earlier Woodward books on the Bush administration, and this one is quite similar. It is disjointed, uneven, often uninteresting, but it nonetheless documents an oral history of what people in the administration were thinking during a particular sequence of months in the first six years after 9/11. If his reporting holds up to historical scrutiny, it will provide future historians a great deal of information about this presidency. I have all kinds of questions about the journalism h...more

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10/10/08

Sydney rated it:

Read in November, 2008

I began this book prepared to be skeptical of Woodward's perspective and coverage, I ended with increased respect for the author and dismay about this Administration's mismanagement of all aspects of the war and the President's unwavering trust in Rumsfeld until buried beneath an avalanche of military and Iraqi deaths and the detritus of an escalating civil war. Loyalty trumped competence.

For a man who trusts his instincts unequivocally, Bush seems to have allowed the rosy reports...more

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10/09/08

Blake rated it:

bookshelves: iraq, middle-east, military

Read in August, 2008

Bob Woodward's series on the Bush Administration are good reads for anyone interested in a factual and well documented/sourced account of the Bush Administration at war. The War Within deals with the Bush Administration's change in strategy and all the Beltway drama that went along with it (other books deal with the invasion and post-invasion aftermath). Critics and stallwarts of President Bush will each find something to like in this book. The book vindicates President Bush's decision to contin...more

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09/29/08

Ian rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction, own

Read in October, 2008

Sometimes you read a book that shocks you, makes you ashamed at how little you knew about something important in the world around you. This book had that effect on me. It's too bad that more Americans won't have read this by the time they vote in November.

I don't think it will change anyone from one party to another. Some Republicans have reviewed this on Amazon saying "read this if you like to read lies". I don't find this book particularly anti-war, nor do I find it parti...more

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09/26/08

Caleb rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Caleb by: the ghost of Tim Russert
recommends it for: Anyone who cares enough about the Iraq War to spend 400 pages with Woodward's prose

A pretty typical Woodward book: Reads like a newspaper article that goes on and on for hundreds of pages, has an unbelievable amount of access, delivers information that would have been very helpful to have known a few years ago.

For example, just how much politics played a role in the conduct of the Iraq war (Surprise! It was a lot!), as the president and almost all of his advisors realized the war was moving in the wrong direction and needed to be fixed. The fix eventually came in t...more

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09/15/08

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0743570502)

bookshelves: military, politics

Read in October, 2008

I have a headache so anyone reading this will be (mercifully) spared my normal dissertation. Also, I finished the book over a week ago and have moved on with my life. "The War Within" is typical Woodward. People like me with a connection to Washington DC always run out and buy his latest, against our better judgment, because it is always the “it” book. We just can’t help ourselves, it’s like the new bag for DC types.

Woodward has a reputation as the best sourced ...more I have a headache so anyone reading this will be (mercifully) spared my normal dissertation. Also, I finished the book over a week ago and have moved on with my life. "The War Within" is typical Woodward. People like me with a connection to Washington DC always run out and buy his latest, against our better judgment, because it is always the “it” book. We just can’t help ourselves, it’s like the new bag for DC types.

Woodward has a reputation as the best sourced reporter in America, and his books seem written less to narrarate historical events than to demonstrate how good his sources are. (The review for this book can essentially be applied to any Woodward book.) One can never be sure how much his choppy, even pathologically uneven prose are the result of poor writing skills, or the fact that the book is ultimately written to showcase the knowledge he has of super-secret meetings. One imagines Woodward gleefully imaging the people who wouldn’t talk to him reading his book with dismay, astonished and amazed that he somehow knew what was said in that meeting no one was supposed to know about.

So it is that quotes appear seemingly without purpose, except they do serve Woodward’s purpose: show what he knows.

It is not enough for him to recite bits and pieces of dialogue from high-level meetings….he also has the uncanny ability to read the thoughts of the people in those meetings – in particular those who dared to not talk to him.

Less amusing is his sad attempt in a few paragraphs to pivot from what is essentially a recitation of the minutes from classified meetings to analysis. Without notable experience in Iraq or any recognizable military or international expertise, Woodward attempts to describe in soundbite form how the Surge working wasn’t really about the Surge after all. After taking grief from the media glitterati for seeming to praise Bush in an earlier work, Woodward has since been at pains to slam Bush whenever possible, and the one decision Bush made with respect to Iraq that history will undoubtedly redeem – the Surge – had to be undermined. Thankfully, Woodward’s silly exercise in amateur military analysis has the one attribute of being brief, so the reader is briskly returned to the drollery of what was said in meeting after meeting. “We have to do something,” “What should we do?”, “Have another meeting”…. blah blah blah. Then Woodward: “But nothing was done.” Thanks for that.

Woodward’s books are sometimes called history’s first draft. If so, it is a very rough draft indeed. Not the kind of book that gets read twice, this is disposable nonfiction, like a straight to video movie, these books should go straight to paperback. He is undoubtedly writing a book about the campaign as we speak. Can’t wait to hear bits and pieces of what David Plouffe and Mark Salter said each and every day for two years, though their nefariousness will surely be indirectly proportional to how accessible they were to Bob Woodward.

Turns out you weren't spared one of my dissertations, just any attempt at coherence on my part.(less)

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09/10/08

Progressives For Obama rated it:

Woodward Book Suggests
U.S. Hand in Death Squads

By Tom Hayden
The Nation

Bob Woodward’s final book on the Bush years in Iraq, The War Within, reports that “TOP SECRET” American targeting and assassination operations were “very possibly” the biggest factor in reducing violence in 2006-07, even more than the so-called troop surge itself.

He writes that the “groundbreaking” operations were carried out as Special Access Programs [SAP] or under the ...more