Plan of Attack

After viewing the movie “Vice”, I decided to delve deep into the Iraq war and specifically GWB and VP Dick Cheney’s motives/thoughts behind it. I am extremely glad that i decided to start with “Plan of Attack.” As always, Woodward brings extremely insightful and groundbreaking information to the table. He has access to so many first-hand sources which makes me fully trust that I am receiving accurate information. I think this is a great book to start off with in regards to learning more about the Iraq war. I have a very good overview now about the war plans that begun at the very start of GWB’s term and how they eventually came to fruition.

From Watergate to Iraqgate.Bob Woodward, who along with fellow journalist Carl Bernstein investigated the Watergate break-in and first cracked the Watergate scandal is poised to bring down the Bush administration in this fact filled book about the secret plans to invade Iraq. Much of this information backs up Richard Clarke's recent book which said that Bush was intent of invading Iraq early on in his administration and that Sept 11 was just a convenient excuse for war. All ready the right wing smear machine is trying to discredit Woodward. But the man is a savvy Washington insider who made sure he had the goods before he nailed his prey.A must read.

As a Conservative Republican, I cannot let ideology get in the way of the clear headed fact that G.W. Bush is the most embarassing, shameful, and decietful President in my lifetime (I'm 59). Secrecy does not bode well in a democratic republic. This book covers the deceit leading up to the Iraq war, an un-called for war, and a war that put U.S. Soldiers in harms way, needlessly. All the while the Bush administration was cutting military pay--and losing ground in the war on terror. Shame on them.

One reason Bob Woodward is such a superb journalist is that he has a talent for developing and maintaining an incredible network of primary sources. Better than anyone else I can think of, Woodward manages to gain a wealth of insight from people who are both `in the know' and are willing to talk to him in damning detail about it. In this particular case, the information is devastating; Woodward both confirms what a flurry of other recent books about President Bush and his staff have alleged, that they were obsessed with invading and conquering Iraq from the very beginning of the administration, that they both knowingly exaggerated and even prevaricated about evidence and deliberately attempted to make spurious connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda in order to support their goals and objectives, and that there is a deep political and even cultural divide among some of the principals within the administration concerning our foreign policy. Of course, the two principal antagonists other than the President himself are Vice President Dick Cheney, depicted here as a zealot in search of some kind of hopped-up moral justice he wants to visit against the middle east in general and Iraq in particular, and Colin Powell, a man who seems to know better that to go along with this con-game, but lacking the resident moral courage to stand up and cry wolf. The book is astonishing in its first-person indictment of the crony corruption and confusion resident both within and without the halls of the West Wing; Tommy Franks is pressured to publicly lie about not having been given instructions to develop a Iraqi war plan in the Spring of 2002 when Rumsfeld had done so on orders from the President the previous fall; Cheney gave a top secret briefing to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia giving specifics of that war plan in January 2003 even before Colin Powell was informed the decision to go to war had been made, even though release of such information to foreign nationals is a serious violation of federal law; Bush provocatively lied to the public in his 2003 State Of The Union message that he was still trying to use the United Nations to find a solution when he had already decided to go to war, etc. Anyone want to consider whether any or all of these acts were impeachable offenses? Thus, perhaps the most telling aspect to Woodward's new book is the way in which this ultimate insider serves to help flesh out the intimate characteristics of many of the President's principal players, the interaction among them, and how these various cliques and petty jealousies fuel both how and what decisions as do get made, and why they wind up as radical as they often are. It also provides a wealth of insights into the President and his personality, as well. Far from being the resolute loner, the rugged individualist making solitary decisions in the splendid isolation of his uniquely driven intellect, the current occupant of the White House seems to be a man who. On the one hand seems dr

Woodward's new book, based on interviews with 75 White House insiders--including the President--is a chilling example of what happens when the Chief Executive of the most powerful country in the world decides he's going to war--or, as Condoleezze Rice puts it, engages in "coercive diplomacy."According to Woodward, Bush decided as early as November 2001 to wage war against Iraq, and diverted several hundred millions of dollars from the Congressional Afghanistan campaign appropriation to develop war plans. None of the inner circle except Rice was informed of the President's plans. He told Woodward that he didn't feel the need to discuss the plans because he knew his people were on board. Desperate for a way to sell the war to the American public, Bush pressed George Tenet for assurances that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Tenet gave the thumbs-up (himself, no doubt, feeling pressure to provide the answer Bush wanted), and the war was just a matter of time. Whenever counterevidence to Tenet's insistence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction showed up--as with Hans Blix's UN reports--senior advisors to the President accused the authors of the reports of deliberate deception.One of the surprising themes in Woodward's book is just how intent George Bush was on waging war with Iraq. The story on the street, of course, is that Bush was manipulated into war by his senior advisors. But if Woodward is correct, Bush played this one himself. He was undoubtedly influenced by people like Cheny and Rumsfeld, but he made the decision himself. He wanted a war, and he got it.This book deserves to be read alongside other recent ones: John Dean's _Worse than Watergate, for example, or Ron Suskind's _Price of Loyalty_. Thought the imperial presidency died with Richard Nixon's resignation? Think again.

As ever, Bob Woodward has put together an incredibly cohesive book, stuffed to the gills with facts and words directly from Bush and "all the president's men." The reporter in Bob Woodward really comes out here because he lays out the facts as he was told them by the President himself and the facts are very eye-opening. In my opinion, he is restrained in putting forth his own conclusions or opinions. I found it to be just fantastic and interesting, and the facts can be interpreted to suit both sides of the aisle. Read it!