Product Description

In his unmissable new book Bob Woodward takes the reader on an
inside journey from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 right up to the
present day, providing a detailed, authoritative account of President
Bush's leadership and the struggles among the men and women in the White
House, the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department. With Bush well into
his second term, Woodward breaks new ground, as he has in his thirteen
previous international bestsellers, including BUSH AT WAR and PLAN OF
ATTACK.

Woodward puts the Bush legacy in historical context as he shows this
presidency in action in a way that is normally seen only years after a
chief executive leaves office. He describes how Bush and his team have
attempted to change the way that wars are fought, and put together a
re-election campaign while re-inventing their strategy for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq over and over again.

Here is the behind-the-scenes story of this administration -- meetings,
conversations, and memos; conflicts, manoeuvring, and anguish -- as key
administration figures provide a full view of the first presidency of the
twenty-first century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18886 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-02
• Binding: Hardcover
• 576 pages

Synopsis
In his unmissable new book Bob Woodward takes the reader on an inside journey from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 right up to the present day, providing a detailed, authoritative account of President Bush's leadership and the struggles among the men and women in the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department. With Bush well into his second term, Woodward breaks new ground, as he has in his thirteen previous international bestsellers, including BUSH AT WAR and PLAN OF ATTACK. Woodward puts the Bush legacy in historical context as he shows this presidency in action in a way that is normally seen only years after a chief executive leaves office. He describes how Bush and his team have attempted to change the way that wars are fought, and put together a re-election campaign while re-inventing their strategy for the invasion and occupation of Iraq over and over again. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of this administration -- meetings, conversations, and memos; conflicts, manoeuvring, and anguish -- as key administration figures provide a full view of the first presidency of the twenty-first century.

About the Author
Bob Woodward is Assistant Managing Editor at the WASHINGTON
POST. His Pulitzer Prize-winning Watergate reporting is said to have set
the standard for modern investigative reporting. He is the author or
co-author of over a dozen internationally bestselling books.

Customer Reviews

Real insider information
In this, the third book in Bob Woodwards collection on Bush at War we get a day by day account of President George Bush and his war advisors activities after the invasion of Iraq. The detail is amazing, it appears Woodward was in the room while critical decisions were being made and conversations taking place.
We get an indepth understanding of the main personalities involved and how those traits affected the decisions and processes that led to the current sitaution in Iraq. The picture painted by Woodward is not a pretty one; there is interdepartmental infighting and a lack of leadership at many levels through the administration right up to the President himself, who seems to be head cheerleader, content to deliver the rethoric without the detail. Unwilling to ask the hard questions at critical times of cabinet members and generals who are concerned more with the "appearance" of whats happeneing rather then the reality.
The chapters on Paul Bremers first weeks in Iraq are truly incredible, and the reader comes away with a concise clear understanding of how we got where we are now.
As with all of Woodwards work this is not a light read, it requires concentration, it can be very laden with detail and the amount of people involved can be slightly overwhelming. However it repays the effort, in fact at times it reads like a thriller.
If there is a better account out there of the last two years in Iraq I would like to see it.

Pulling no punches
In typical Woodward fashion this book is incredibly well sourced and meticulously researched. Whilst his previous books ('Bush at War' and 'Plan of Attack') countered the wave of dissent to Bush's war-mongering with a more objective outlook, in 'State of Denial' Woodward can't help questioning the thinking and planning behind the invasion and subsequent aftermath of Iraq.

The two main culprits for the pitiful state of Iraq appear to be Bush and Rumsfeld. The latter is portrayed as a geriatric politician devoid of accountability; trapped in a narcissistic bubble. The former - President of the United States - comes across as a jocular, brainless cheerleader lacking any clear direction and unable to resolve the growing dissension amongst his leading staff.

The book is well written and maintains the reader's interest throughout. Unfortunately, at the end you are left scratching your head as to how the Bush administration could get it so wrong.

Behind the veil of the Bush presidency, it's a paper bag job
The third Bob Woodward Bush book is highly readable. This is in no small part thanks to an extensive use of dialogue, but also because of its very topicality. It is rare to get an insight into meetings and conversations at the highest echelons that only took place a few months ago and whose consequences are directly affecting what is beamed to us on our television screens every day.

The book is essentially a Washington soap opera with a sweeping cast of characters; so many indeed that a who's who at the end would have been very useful. Even reading the book over a few short days, it is easy to lose track of some of the less famous figures that appear. The action is centred on the Pentagon and the White House, but Rumsfeld clearly emerges as the central personage - the starring role. The machinations and convoluted workings of the Pentagon are well described and the impression is given of an oil tanker with a broken rudder which no one can fully control but which ploughs on regardless. This is paralleled by security services in the same state. The CIA, FBI, NSA, Pentagon security service and others are a law unto themselves, unaccountable and uncoordinated. The lack of governance is everywhere with warring Administration departments and an inner cabinet of principals who loathe each other. It makes for good dramatic tension but an ill-advised and ineffective foreign policy and ultimately even as I write this, unnecessary suffering and deaths in Iraq.

Perhaps the chief merit of the book is to show that whether or not America had a moral case for invading Iraq - and Woodward never comes out strongly on either side - it failed to comprehend what would occur after the initial military victory and is incapable of achieving the peace. This is a result of a lack of interest at the highest level with no one wishing to hold the baby, and a complete lack of integrated planning. No department feels that it is their responsibility.

Bush appears, contrary to his public image but conforming to many a nagging doubt, as a weak leader with no vision other than a hopelessly optimistic can-do attitude rooted in unreality. He fails to coordinate his cabinet, has selected a dysfunctional team incapable of working together, and comes over as an inept manager. The fact that his closest aides are all considerably more intelligent than he appears to be doesn't help. Rumsfeld among the senior staff clearly gave the most help with the book, but is very unlikely to help out on any subsequent ones, such is the drubbing that he gets from Woodward. Rice seems to have helped less, Powell is almost absent and Bush would not collaborate as he did in the last book, Plan of Attack. But the overwhelming mystery remains Cheney. In the light (or rather darkness) of Cheney's refusal to accord any interviews, Woodward makes no attempt to explain what he does, where he fits into the big picture. Not responsible for any department, present at all meetings with Bush but never offering an opinion or contributing, he remains a disquieting figure who may or may not be the power behind the throne.

For a British readership, the book is a frightening one, confirming many people's worst fears of an administration, and even a country, steeped in the industrial-military complex, where decisions are made over dinner in response to lobbying and the geopolitical ambitions of undemocratic think tanks, by a cabal of dangerous, ambitious, unscrupulous power-hungry men. The "world's greatest democracy" is revealed as strangely impotent, weighed down by a faceless bureaucracy that is a law unto itself, and a government that trapped in a miasma of spin, making Westminster look almost translucent. It is an important book to read but luckily an entertaining one. In an age where news is delivered constantly with little attempt to see how the daily snippets fit into the bigger picture, this is a work that adds perspective to what is turning into a 21st Century Vietnam. The writing is now on the wall for Bush. The situation in Iraq is unwinnable and the troops will soon be home leaving Iraq in the civil war that so many people predicted. State of Denial is not and does not seek to be the definitive book on Iraq, but it is a peep under the burqa of Bush's government and thus a valuable contribution to the debate that is defining the decade.