Bush at War by Washington Post - Book Report/Review Example

My 20 May 2007 Book Critique of "Bush at War" The book “Bush at War,” by Washington Post editor Bob Woodward, delves into the personal reactions of President George W. Bush and the senior members of his administration during the 9-11 attacks and for the first 100 days following. The book details the personal thoughts and conversations between these leaders and the nature in which policy was made during this time. In particular, the book details the personalities and relations of CIA Director George J. Tenet, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice as well as President George W. Bush. The book follows the action within the White House chronologically. In this way, Woodward is able to demonstrate which policies evolved as a direct cause of 9-11. Other policies, such as the desire to eliminate Al-Qaeda within Afghanistan, are revealed to have been already funded; the desire to remove Saddam Hussein from power is revealed to have been in early stages of planning by people such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. The central arguments presented within this book are that taking the nation to war in Afghanistan in the days following 9-11 was not a simple act, but involved complicated relations, and sometimes lack of them, between Bush and his administration. For instance, when Bush declared the broad statement that " we will make no distinction between those who planned these acts and those who harbor them, "(Woodward 30), the author is revealing that Bush did not consult Cheney, Powell or Rumsfield. With this book, Woodward’s main argument seems to revolve around the attempt to reveal to the American people the nature of their president and his attitudes that drove him and the nation to war as well as the effects of the people around him. The book reads almost like an entertaining novel, based on the daily events and planning sessions between colorful characters, with forceful personalities and differing objectives who do not always get along, such as in the case of Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfield. The style of Woodward’s book, which reads as a novel, is effective in demonstrating the daily drama within the White House war cabinet that led to going to war. Woodward tries to show with his book that the important decision of going to war is often made in ways that are surprising. There are many revelations about the nature of operations in Afghanistan that may surprise and dismay the American public, such as the revelation that a CIA officer named Gary is routinely allocated one million dollars to stuff in his backpack and dole out as he sees fit. Woodward’s sources in writing this book include notes from National Security Council meetings and other meetings, “personal notes, memos, calendars, written internal chronologies, transcripts and other documents” (Woodward xi). These sources included quotations of President Bush and his war cabinet members, which Woodward evaluated and was able to use to reconstruct key conversations. Woodward also conducted extensive interviews of the people involved, including four hours of interviews with President Bush. Woodward promised to produce an early assessment of events involving secret, uncensored information. This is in contrast to what he knew would be later historical judgments of the time, when memories would not be as fresh and it would be harder to decipher notes in the historical documents. Woodward’s aims appear to be achieved well; there is much evidence that Woodward is not censoring himself. For instance, early in the book CIA director Tenet is identified as walking out of a meeting in a bad temper, using profane language. Other characters are also portrayed in less than a positive light, including President Bush. Much of the information also appears to have been secret information; there are many instances of private conservations that actually are surprising that Woodward was able to get hold of. It is harder for the American public to assess what secret information Woodward may have missed or have withheld. This is especially true since the information itself may harm current operations in the world and current relations between countries. Woodward admits he uses only the secret information that will not cause this kind of harm. It is hard to know how different a portrait of the events would emerge if we were privy to all of the secret information. Maybe the nature of the war decisions made post 9-11 is very different, if we only had wire taps between President Bush and his war cabinet. There are some indications that Woodward may have ideological commitments or claims that are liberal-leaning, maybe more indicative of the stance of Democrats and Republicans that did not want to rush into war without a national discussion. This is somewhat evident in the author’s note to the reader, where Woodward indicates the seriousness of the decision to go to war, and the importance of this decision in the process of defining a nation to itself and the world. Another indication of this is how often Woodward reveals Bush declaring his policy of going after terrorists wherever they may be, as well as whoever may harbor them; Woodward notes these statements were often made without discussions with the rest of the war cabinet, a move that can be seen as reckless although Woodward does not directly say so. Woodward does seem to adhere to the journalistic principle of objectivity in most of the book. Woodward concludes his book with an image of American units in Afghanistan promising to “ ‘export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation‘ “ (352). Woodward does not comment on whether this is a good or bad thing. The historical setting of the book is the CIA’s attempts at eliminating Al-Qaeda before the 9-11 attacks, and George J. Tenet’s worries that an attack was imminent. The book describes Tenet’s worries over the millennium celebrations and the warnings increasingly intercepted. The book begins with a scene where Tenet is expressing his concern with a friend, just as news of the 9-11 attacks reaches him. This scene establishes the time period and subject matter of the book, and is reinforced by description of scenes of the other administration members at the onset of the 9-11 attacks. The intended audience of this book is the American people who elect the President and are involved in the democratic process. This can be assumed from the way the book is billed as a “reporting tour de force” on the jacket. More specifically, the book is intended for anyone interested in an insider’s view of the White House Situation Room and operations in Afghanistan, because these are the main topics of the book. It is effective in reaching this wide audience because of its style that is similar to a novel’s chronological development and viewpoints of multiple characters. The beginning of the book jumps around a little between the different characters, but it is nevertheless interesting to find out where all the administration members were during 9-11 and how they reacted. The value of this book is in the way it chronicles the aftermath of 9-11, shortly after the events occurred. This may be seen as important to future historians that want an explanation of what happened and why, without intervening years that may cloud the issues. The book provides much evidence of the character of the people involved in post 9-11 actions. The book is also of supreme value to American voters who want to understand how their choice of who is in power can affect world events. The content of the book may at times seem too detailed. Most Americans may not really want to know the details of what happens and everything that is said in every security meeting at the White House. But for readers that stick with it, the book does manage to produce an interesting picture of how White House policy is influenced by the often conflicting interrelations of all the people in power. Lines of inquiry that may be extended from this book includes how much information about Al-Qaeda was known before the 9-11 attacks, and what the administration had done or not done about it. For instance, what was the extent of any attempts made by the Bush administration to keep Al-Qaeda out of America? Could the 9-11 attacks been prevented by different White House policy? Could Al-Qaeda have been disrupted in Afghanistan prior to 9-11? There are spots in the narrative where the evidence seems thin that the characters necessarily thought in the way that Woodward attributes to them. This seems especially true in the case of Colin Powell; a separate book written by him might reveal many more insights in his thinking that differed from Donald Rumsfield’s. But this does not take away too much from the overall picture of events created by the book Overall this book is a very informative behind-the-scenes look at how our American government is actually carried out day-to-day. The conversations and happenings of post 9-11 are revealed to us as our leaders grope with new national security issues; these conversations and happenings reveal the thinking behind how they form sometimes appalling policies of preemption, a policy that is new to the administration of George W. Bush. These are issues that every American should understand as we are all confronted with the new realities of the world in the age of terrorism, and Woodward’s book is a first step towards this understanding. Works Cited Woodward, Bob. Bush at War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. Read More