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 reasons which are not often discussed, specifically the military's efforts to work with the Sunni and Shiite leadership and gaining trust and cooperation.
Evidently, since he was able to maintain unprecedented access to the President and Cabinet members through four books and eight years, the Administration must have felt that Woodward's coverage was fair and accurate. Therefore, assuming that Woodward didn't have an axe to grind or a political perspective he was pushing, I found the facts he brought out to be very interesting and insightful.
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אחד מסדרת הספרים המרתקת של וודוורד על מלחמת עירק וממשל בוש. אם יש תוכן למושג זבוב על הקיר הרי הוא וודוורד ( )

In "The War Within," Bob Woodward offers a fourth book that considers the behind-the-scenes decision-making of the George W. Bush White House. Picking up where the previous book, "State of Denial," ended, this volume covers the period from mid-2006 to mid-2008. In particular, it explores the debates which led to the controversial surge of troops in Iraq under the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus.

As in previous books, Woodward taps into his extensive network of sources and uses his stature to gain interviews with most of the principal characters. He also has access to certain secret documents prepared and used in the administration and military during this time period. Woodward's interviews and research reveals the contentious debates within the administration, particularly between State Department, the national security advisor, and key generals and military leaders. It also reveals that the president ignored the wishes of key advisors to approve the surge.

Woodward's tone in this book oozes with disdain for the administration's approach to the issue, much like the previous volume on the Bush presidency. In particular, he is frustrated by the lack of transparency and honesty he perceives from Bush and other top officials regarding the war in Iraq. Having already attributed this, at least implicitly, to a poor decision-making structure in the administration, Woodward is a skeptical portrayer of these events. (In fairness, the military success of the surge was still very much in doubt when this book went to press.)

Ironically, despite obvious problems in the sharing of information throughout the administration, the depiction of President Bush improves in this volume, though not in Woodward's own eyes. While the president still is less curious and probably less imaginative about the military conflict in Iraq than would be ideal, he proves to be a surprisingly capable leader in this volume. By following the advice of his national security advisor, he pushes for a reevaluation of the strategy in Iraq when it becomes obvious to him that it is not working. Unlike many others who were looking for the least painful solution to leaving Iraq – in some ways mirroring strategic discussions near the end of the Vietnam War – the president believed that the war was still winnable, or at least salvageable, contrary to most people, including many on his own staff. Some might see this as desperate hope, but the ability to execute such a dramatic strategic realignment mid-war should not be underappreciated.

Despite some significant problems, including the unfortunate emotional tone, the book still features an excellent first draft of this key period in the Bush presidency. It is well-written and well researched, and offers some intriguing insights into the personalities of several of the key players, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and several of the key generals. ( )

Woodward' interviews on which this extensive library of books is based is a treasure of reporting on 20th century American history. That he is continuing with "Obama's wars" shows that we can probably expect these to continue so long as the author lives. An essential for any libraries on the American presidency. ( )

This is the forth book about the Bush White House by the Washington Post's most famous reporter. I think by now the secret is out. His 2002 book Bush At War was very complimentary toward the President and his white house team, dealing with the events of 9/11/01, the invasion of Afghanistan and the preparations to invade Iraq. Woodward was convinced, as most of us were that weapons of mass destruction would be found and destroyed. When no WMDs were discovered Woodward's coverage toward the Bush team turned increasingly negative.

In The War Within Woodward portrays the Bush administration as a dysfunctional family. Each of his senior advisers is shown to be playing a separate game, the enemy is found in the other branches of government and not on the battlefield of Iraq. There is little mention of Afghanistan at all in the book.

Woodward portrays Bush as a man who is unable to grasp the implications of his own decisions, going with "his gut" and ignoring contradictory facts, having unshakable faith in his generals, until they are replaced, then having unshakable faith in his new generals. Donald Rumsfeld is shown to be so wedded to his small lean military concept that he is unable to concede the value of increasing troop strength in Iraq even as the sectarian violence grows exponentially. Condoleeza Rice is portrayed as being excluded from the decision making process.



How the "surge" came about is the central focus of the book. Woodward shows that this was an amorphous concept, basically just "lets throw a bunch more soldiers and Marines into Iraq and see what happens." It was not until after the "surge" was decided upon, when it was decided that a new commander and a new Secretary of Defense would be needed, or it wouldn't happen, that David Petraeus was chosen to lead in Iraq. Petraeus' tactic of moving US troops, with their Iraqi counterparts, into the neighborhoods of Baghdad and his willingness to accept the assistance of both Sunni and Shia militias into the defense structure were key to the success of the "surge" in reducing the level of violence in Iraq.

One has to wonder how President Obama will fare in Iraq. Can he successfully reduce the numbers of US troops to 35,000 by August 2010? The political situation in Iraq remains unsettled. The Maliki government is laughably weak. There has been no reconciliation between Sunni and Shia factions. The Kurds remain a part but apart. Iran continues to stir up trouble. Will the violence return or will the Iraqi's begin to build a civil coalition to address their own governance?

I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!