The War within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 (Bush at War Part 4) [Paperback]

The book gives a credible account for what happened in the Bush administration during these years. Food for thought

This is the 4th book in Bob Woodward's "Bush at War" series. He continues to prove himself as a first class reporter who, after meticulously researching his subject matter, sets out the facts, as best as he can honestly ascertain them, in a non-judgmental style, for his readers' consideration. Unlike very many writers on such issues, he has no obviously personal point of view to promote. His work is clearly objective, and probably provides the best currently available history of America's wars during the past eight years. I highly recommend them all to those interested in what is arguably the most critical dilemma which faces America, Iraq and by extension, us all, today. I believe that society should feel deeply indebted to the author for this profoundly illuminating and always interesting account. In my opinion it is never dull, repetitious or superfluous.

"The War Within" deals in much detail with the post invasion problems encountered by the US in Iraq. There was never any doubt that stage one of the invasion would succeed militarily - how could it not? What was at issue was the non-existence of a plausible exit strategy. Many advisors in and around the Bush administration, including the Joint Chiefs, were against the invasion on the grounds that they could not see "a way out" post invasion. The then Secretary of State, Colin Powell, warned Bush 6 months prior to the invasion that it would lead to Bush becoming "the proud owner of 27 million people". Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage referred to this as the Pottery Barn Rule: "You break it, you own it".

George W Bush, with the strong support of Vice President Cheney and of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, had been, even prior to the Twin Towers attack, determined to remove Saddam Hussein from power and was fully prepared to commit the US to physical invasion to achieve this end, given any reasonable pretext. There has been much discussion and speculation as to why Bush was so determined to do this. Many feel that his prime motivations included the securitization of Middle Eastern oil supplies / the establishment of a politically redefined Iraq under control of leaders friendly to US interests in such a strategically important geographical zone / the feeding of the industrial military complex / the need to demonstrate US power and determination to other nations temped to align themselves on the side of terrorists - etc. George W Bush has always claimed that his prime motivation was the export of democracy to an area under brutal totalitarian control. Perhaps he genuinely believed this. He feels that History will judge him. This book, and the other 3 books in this series, contributes much to our understanding of that history.

The "War Within" referred to in the title of this 4th book can equally well apply, on the one hand, to the serious disagreements that arose within the U.S. administration, and within the military, as to the hows and whys of the Iraq invasion and the subsequent conduct of the liberation / occupation, and, on the other hand, to the intense factional disputes which grew and still persist amongst the Iraqi political and religious groupings which have rendered the resolution of this conflict so difficult, both for the U.S. administration and for Iraqi people. It deals in great detail with the "Surge", which we heard so often referred to by John McCain and others, in last year's Presidential campaign, when that highly complex issue was usually reduced to simplistic sound bites for the voting public's consumption. That's the way politics is spun worldwide. If we want to understand what is going on we need to get away from the spin-machine and find someone we can rely on to give us the best truth that is currently available.

Bob Woodward writes in the notes to this book: "I realize that because this book provides the first in-depth examination of the deliberations that led to the troop surge in Iraq, it is much closer to the first draft of history than to the last. I have tried as always to obtain the best obtainable version of the truth".

In my view he has succeeded admirably.

Unless this is your introduction to Bob Woodward's four books about how the United States got into Iraq and why it didn't turn out so well, you won't be surprised to learn that President George W. Bush knows of no price too high for the United States to pay in order to make him look good in his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. His approach to improving matters in Iraq is to wait for someone to propose spending more money and more lives, and then jump on the suggestion. Meanwhile, he and his true believers revel in the thought he will be ultimately considered as being another Abraham Lincoln for bringing democracy to the Middle East. That's the long and short of this book.

Most of the over 400 pages dwell on good-faith attempts to find ways to respond to the rising numbers of attacks by insurgents that began in 2004. The military felt that only by withdrawing could they reduce the temptation to attack.

Of course, the president didn't pay any attention to those except if they agreed with his determination to increase troop strength once again. If his people weren't getting the message, outside conservative political operatives would be brought in to prepare a new direction. You'll also learn how President Bush enjoys tutoring Prime Minister Maliki on how to create political consensus (talk about the blind leading the blind).

How did the surge turn out? So far, violence is down in Iraq. But apparently a lot of the credit goes to a change in leadership (General Petraeus) to bring more counterinsurgency techniques and a secret effort to assassinate the leaders of the insurgency. Also, al Qaeda was too violent for even the Iraqis and Sunnis began to sign up to fight them. In addition, we began to put the people who used to be in the Iraqi army back on our payroll. These methods could have been brought in during 2004.

We get a picture of a president aware that things are going downhill but totally deferential to what his military leaders on the ground propose while hinting that he would like to send them more troops . . . for years on end without looking for any ways to improve. This isn't a commander in chief . . . this is a part-time chairman of the board who happens to live in the White House.

The book is more eloquent for what it doesn't talk about, as President Bush presides over the destruction of the American economy by allowing even more looting through financial malfeasance than he permitted those contractors who were supposed to "rebuild" Iraq. Herbert Hoover starts to look better and better: At least he didn't preside over destroying the economy and a disastrous war through his bungling.

I do hope that Bob Woodward will expand his focus in future books to show the full range of the inattentiveness, incompetence, and arrogance of President George W. Bush . . . not just his mess in Iraq. Please pray for our president! He needs forgiveness.

Why did I grade the book at three stars? This book could have been summarized and made more interesting in about 150 pages. This book contains less relevant information than the others but he still wrote a long book.