Bush at War This Book

Bush at War

This book consists largely of day-by-day juxtapositions of accounts of what American leaders - Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and others - were, according to Woodward, thinking and saying about the war in Afghanistan, with what was actually occurring there. Woodward was granted extraordinary access to America's top leaders, although President Bush was careful to have National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice present during his meetings with Woodward. Her presence put the brakes on any excessively creative license Woodward might take with what the President said. Access also apparently included minutes of more than 50 National Security Council meetings and other key meetings on the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

What is amazing about this book is that Woodward does not seem to promote any particular point-of-view. One might even say that, aside from some details of CIA and Special Forces' activities, you could as easily have read such an account in the newspaper. As he says in his Note to Readers, "it is an inside account, largely the story as the insiders saw it, heard it and lived it." One criticism of this book is that it lacks any unfavorable portrayals of the principals, possibly as a result of Woodward's incredible access to the individuals involved.

Woodward was born in Geneva, Illinois, and graduated from Yale University in 1985. He served for five years as a communications officer in the United States Navy before beginning his newspaper career with the Sentinel of Montgomery County, Maryland. Woodward joined the Washington Post in 1971.

In 1972, Woodward and colleague Carl Bernstein were assigned to investigate the June 17th burglary of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in a Washington, D.C. office building called Watergate. Their book about the scandal, All the President's Men became a number one best-seller and was later turned into a movie. Woodward has continued to write books and report stories for the Washington Post, and serves as an assistant managing editor at the paper. He focuses on the presidency, intelligence, and Washington institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Pentagon, and the Federal Reserve.

In a series of articles published in January 2002, Woodward and Dan Balz described the events at Camp David in the aftermath of September 11. These articles later became the basis for this book. Woodward has spent more time than any other journalist with President George W. Bush while in office, interviewing him four times for more than seven hours total. His most recent two books, Bush at War (2002) and Plan of Attack (2004), are detailed accounts of the Bush presidency, including the response to the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Woodward uses a distinct approach to writing non-fiction. In preparation, he tries to obtain the maximum amount of information on his subject, through interviews, documents, transcripts, and recordings. He then uses this information to re-create the event in the form of a story with an omniscient narrator, present tense events and dialogue. His books read like fiction novels, and are often very visually descriptive, and feature strong characterization. This style has earned Woodward a wide readership and commercial success, as well as a number of literary critics who consider his prose awkward and his approach inappropriate for his subject matter.

Woodward's style makes wide use of background and deep background information from sources, meaning they provide material on the condition that it not be attributable to them. This style has been criticized for encouraging sources to avoid speaking on the record where they can be held more accountable. Some critics say Woodward's style allows the biases and beliefs of his sources to steer the narrative, and that those who talk to him are painted more favorably than those who don't. Woodward is famously secretive about naming his sources, and they rarely come forward themselves, so it is often impossible to know with certainty who gave information to him and who did not.

The narrative, reporting-driven style of this book also draws criticism for rarely making conclusions or passing judgment on the characters and actions that he recounts in such detail. Some of Woodward's critics accuse him of abandoning critical inquiry to maintain his access to high-profile political actors.

Others praise his detached and evenhanded style for allowing readers to absorb the facts and come to their own conclusions. From a factual standpoint, Woodward's balanced account of the events seems to agree with other sources, such as Ari Fleischer's Taking Heat.

No reporter has more talent for getting Washington's inside story and telling it cogently.

In a Washington Post review of the book, Fouad Ajami said in 2002, "Why Woodward's sources divulge to him the deep inner workings of government shall remain a mystery of the craft. He lives by the leak, and the leaks are here in ample supply - memos and records of National Security Council meetings, alongside Woodward's interviews with the principals."

Woodward's dual role as newspaper journalist and book author has opened him up to occasional criticism for sitting on information for publication in a book, rather than presenting it sooner when it might affect the events at hand. In the Commanders (1991), for instance, he indicated that Colin Powell had opposed Operation Desert Storm, yet Woodward did not publish this fact before Congress voted on a war resolution, when it may have made a difference. Woodward has also been accused of exaggeration and fabrication by other journalists, most notably regarding Deep Throat, who some have contended was a composite character based on more than one Watergate source. Despite these criticisms and challenges, Woodward's record as an authoritative and balanced journalist has stood up well over time. The publication of a Woodward book, perhaps more than any other contemporary author's, is treated as a major political event that dominates national news for days.