Product Description

Award-winning author and journalist Bob Woodward turns his attention to the presidency of George W. Bush. Before the acts of terrorism on 11 September, George W. Bush's presidency had been beset by numerous problems. Not only was it in many peoples eyes invalid, very few people took him seriously as a world statesman. Then following one violent mindless act of terrorism, George W. Bush became a president that his country could rely on, one they felt they could trust to lead them through these difficult times. And the world saw a man who was decisive and resolute, a president who was seemingly determined to route out the people who had carried out the heinous acts. But one year after the attacks how has the 44th President of the United States fared? And what were the actual behind the scenes discussions that took place whilst the country was rocked by the crisis? Bob Woodward has been shadowing the President since those fateful events, he was allowed unprecedented access to closed-door meetings and briefings and this masterful book is a look at what really happened.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #525305 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 376 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Bush at War focuses on the three months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, during which the US prepared for war in Afghanistan, took steps toward a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, intensified homeland defence and began a well-funded CIA covert war against terrorism around the world. The narrative is classic Woodward: using his inside access to the major players, he offers an almost day-by-day account of the decision-making processes and power battles behind the headlines. Woodward's information is based on tape-recorded interviews of over a hundred sources (some unnamed), including four hours of exclusive interviews with the president, along with notes from cabinet meetings and access to some classified reports.

Woodward's analysis of President Bush's leadership style is especially fascinating. A self-described "gut player" who relies heavily on instinct, Bush comes across as a man of action continually pressing his cabinet for concrete results. The revelation that the president developed and publicly stated the so-called Bush Doctrine--the policy that the US would not only go after terrorists everywhere but also those governments or groups that harbour them--without first consulting Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell or Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is particularly telling. Other principals are examined with equal scrutiny. Though National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice emerges as soft-spoken and even tentative during group meetings, it becomes clear that Bush is dependent on her for candid advice as well as for conveying his thoughts to his cabinet. The relationship between Powell and Rumsfeld (and to a lesser degree Powell and Cheney) is often strained, exposing their differences regarding how to deal with Iraq and whether coalition building or unilateralism is most appropriate. Woodward also describes how CIA director George Tenet prepared a paramilitary team to infiltrate Afghanistan to set the groundwork for invasion, and how this ushered in a new era of cooperation between the defence department and the CIA. A worthwhile and often enlightening read, this is a revealing and informative first draft of the Bush legacy. --Shawn Carkonen

Robert, McCrum, Observer
'A gripping read'

The Times
'An exceptional account of an exceptional period...the most important book that Woodward has written.'

Customer Reviews

An unbias insight into the Bush administration
This book is almost like a diary of the day to day events leading upto and during the Afghanistan War (not the current Iraq war). It is very informative and the author obviously had close contact with the Bush administration. Don't expect it to be written like an expose - it is not written in a controversial manner, instead it invites the reader to draw their own conclusions. It is about as unbias as you're going to get in any review of Bush's whitehouse.

The book also discusses Bush's senior advisors, the role they played and their relationships with one another and Bush - especially interesting in light of Powell's recent resignation.

A truly informative and throughly well researched book. However, the book sometimes gets bogged down in a 'he said this and then she said that' type of narrative.

Recommended to those who want an insight into the Afghanistan conflict but not for those who want discussion on the reasons for and against the conflict.

Great book, absorbing account
Bob Woodward has made a name for himself over the years as the reporter who gets the inside track - the toppling of Nixon, in the 1990s some great insight into the Clinton White House, and now two books which give very considerable detail into the decision processes employed by George W Bush. Whilst the later book "Plan of Attack" analyses the steps leading to the 2003 Iraq war, its sister account "Bush at War" details the efforts taken after 9/11 to deal with international terror. As ever with a Woodward book, the pace of the narrative is fast, like a gripping novel in many places, and his access to detailed intelligence (including some classified material) is top-notch. I really liked this book and would heartily recommend it to anyone interested in contemporary politics/history, but I do have two fairly minor gripes (which make it a 4 star rating rather than 5). One, I dislike Woodward's occasional use of profanity in the text - and I don't mean in reported speech, where it's fine by me, but in the narrative where Woodward uses it himself, for emphasis. It's unnecessary - English is a rich enough language, and Woodward an intelligent enough man, not to require the book to be drawn down to the level of a barroom rant. Two, the description in the book of the NYPD deputy chief Charles "Chuck" Zito lacks depth and could have been drawn out a little. Zito took a leading role in the 9/11 investigation and his trip to LA to piece together information about the hijackings could have been more detailed in the book, particularly in respect of his contacts with the thinker and writer Fintan O. Kennedy, which have been excellently documented elsewhere. Those minor quibbles aside, however, this is a great book which is well worth a read.

A failure of imagination
There are some real gems in this book such as George Tenet's comment just minutes after he heard about the attacks on the Twin Towers. "I wonder if it has anything to do with this guy taking pilot training," referring to Zacarias Moussaoui. I know hindsight can be misleading but that sounds very bad. Woodward's sources are impeccable and the narrative is engrossing.

What it does illustrates is how much both Bush and the American people were let down by the institutional incompetence of numerous agencies. Tenet's advice to Bush in the following book by Woodward, 'Plan of Attack'. simply illustrates just how useless Tenet was. After Bush questioned the CIA evidence of Saddam's WMD capabilities in terms of, "I don't imagine Joe Public being impressed by this evidence." Tenet replied, "Mr President, it's a slam dunk." OOOpps!

Bush comes out of both of these books relatively well. Some have suggested that the incredible accesss which Woodward was afforded to the President and his National Security Team may have compromised his journalistic integrity. What utter nonsense! The man who helped bring down Richard Nixon is certainly the best person possible to chronicle this extraordinary period in American history. If Woodward is a Republican then I'm a Banana.