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Bob Woodward is very good at keeping his opinion out of the narrative. This is quality journalism - but that's all it really is. The book focuses on the 100 days following the September 11 attacks, and the Bush administration's discussions and decision making processes. It's nice to see the process from the inside, but we know how it all turned out, and I don't think Woodward offers anything too insightful, here. Informative, yes. Insightful, no.
Tiresome book about a war launched under false pretenses.
A fast and easy read. I finished it in two nights. It was super interesting and I learned a lot that I don't remember from when 9/11 happened.
I thought this book would contain dramatic insight into the Bush presidency, and the decisions made immediately after 911. It was not dramatic, and I only found my interest piqued toward the end of the book. Too much, "Cheney said this," then "Powell said this", and finally "Rice said this. " It was a crappy situation we got into after 911, lots of good, lots of bad things happened as a result. What would you have done, what would someone else have done? The more I read about Bush, the more I sy...
Bush At War is a insightful and highly readable account of President Bush’s administration following September 11. Bob Woodward does an excellent job at describing the different schools of thought and management style of the key characters in the Bush government (Powell’s disagreement with Rumsfeld over foreign policy being one example). Reading this book really helped me to grasp why the Bush administration acted the way it did and how political ideologies and personal agendas influenced the co...
On the recent 15th anniversary of 9/11 Politico Magazine published a very good story of President Bush's actions on that day. From the first whispered news in the Florida classroom to his return to the White House that night, the article gave the reader the sense of what it was like aboard Air Force One with so little information at hand. The Politico piece spurred my interest in what happened in the days and months following September 11. Bob Woodward's Bush At War provides a closely observed n...
My first bit of research before Mr. Woodward's (first?) book on Trump lands next month. What's done is done and I learned a lot from this about things I wasn't plugged into as an eighth grader. What an experience to read an account of the start of the war then the next day read in the NYT about the same war seventeen years later crossing three presidencies and having no exit strategy.The abridged audiobook was jarring in places.
Reading this book in 2010, I find much of the information familiar. I am surprised by Bush's attempt to focus his team on Afghanistan over Iraq. According to this book, Bush wanted something the team could define as success. Afghanistan seemed anything but an easy success. I was surprised how early on the focus was primarily Afghanistan and that with a different team how different things could have been.
The Man sees what he wants to see,And disregards the rest.Simon & Garfunkel, The Boxer.George W. Bush was itching for a fight, we all thought, after the horror of 9/11. But, hindsight being perfect, we might rather tartly say now that he was cruising for a bruising. Delayed, perhaps, but it's upon us.Many cringed at invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and I and quite a few of my friends were among them. The Man sees what he wants to see. While Woodward caves in here to Bush and says the President did...
The more I read Bob Woodward himself and the more I read about him, the more fishy I think he is. Having started his career in naval intelligence and professionally associated with Alexander Haig, Woodward went on to a meteoric rise through the newspaper industry to land in the right place and the right time to contribute to the unseating of Richard Nixon. The right place was The Washington Post, an occasional asset of the CIA. The right time was after Nixon had earned the ire of the Joint Chief...
Will go down in history as one of the flimsiest pieces of propagandist bullshit written by a pathetic sycophant of a writer....who just years later would turn on the administration....Everyone (outside of the early street protesters in my beloved San Francisco) was watching Powell's videos thinking they saw something and admiring Rumsfeld on how tough and handsome he was....pathetic, disgusting, cowardly and horrifying period. Now everyone is a Bush critic but I remember the cowards then.
What do you want from this book? The answer to this question will decide whether you should read it or enjoy doing so. If you want an analysis of Bush’s foreign policy up until the invasion of Iraq don’t buy it. Yet, if you want a documentary account of an epoch defining moment and the rise of unilateral foreign policy making then this is a must read. Woodward attempts to put you in the shoes of the administration during and after 9-11 up until the Iraq War and on the whole he does a good job. Y...
I don't want to debate, but this book kept me in, and left me, in a state of supreme anger!
About the response on Nineleven and the war in Afghanistan. Based on reports from the National Security Council and extensive interviews with all key players
"Where have I heard this before? Hey,this sounds familiar, too!" Because we HAVE heard it... Is this his literary agent's best work, yet? Face it, Mr Woodward's book tour ripped across your lawn, flashed from your TV, issued forth from the radio, and came to rest on your kitchen table folded up right next to your morning coffee. Thanks to an expert publicist, this book was excerpted, quoted, and publicly recounted by B.W. in over-the-air interviews. Bob Woodward's face, name, voice, and bio str...
In Bush at War, Woodward presents a very insightful insiders' view of the 9/11 and its aftermath as the Bush administration waged war against Afghanistan and debated war against Iraq. Woodward's research and writing style are to be admired. One never gets a hint of his own view of all what he wrote here. Considering the debate that raged during this time, it's good to know that Woodward maintained his neutrality throughout. I have always been intrigued with the insider perspective of this event,...
Bob Woodward is back in the news for perhaps some irresponsible journalism. Looks like in the 18 years between this book and now absolutely nothing has changed.
This book is about President Dubya and the first 100 days after September 11, 2001. It chronicles the goings-on of the President and his inner circle of advisers: Vice-President Cheney, Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Defense Rumsfield, CIA Director Tenet, and National Security Adviser Rice. How did they react to 9-11? What was their advice to the President? Did they all agree with each other? Woodward answers those questions and more, and reveals some interesting tidbits. For example, P...
Very interesting. I thought it was fairly non-biased. It frequently felt a little jumbled in terms of flow.Near the beginning of the book, Woodard made it appear as though the Bush Admin wasn’t prioritizing the UBL/aQ threat adequately. He referenced the sequencing of the National Security Presidential Directives (NSPD) . In particular, the one addressing aQ was number 9. Woodard states, “meaning eight other matters had been formally assessed, vetted, agreed upon and signed off on as policy by t...
Ruffles no feathersThis is not a "fly on the wall" sort of report. It is a reconstruction of meetings, conversations and thoughts focused on President Bush as he orchestrated the military response to 9/11. Bob Woodward, the celebrated Washington Post journalist who with Carl Bernstein wrote All the President's Men about the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration, demonstrates here that he has entree (and is trying to keep it) at the highest levels of the Bush administration including