Rating: 
Summary: A private war
Review: Woodward's new book, based on interviews with 75 White House insiders--including the President--is a chilling example of what happens when the Chief Executive of the most powerful country in the world decides he's going to war--or, as Condoleezze Rice puts it, engages in "coercive diplomacy."According to Woodward, Bush decided as early as November 2001 to wage war against Iraq, and diverted several hundred millions of dollars from the Congressional Afghanistan campaign appropriation to develop war plans. None of the inner circle except Rice was informed of the President's plans. He told Woodward that he didn't feel the need to discuss the plans because he knew his people were on board. Desperate for a way to sell the war to the American public, Bush pressed George Tenet for assurances that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Tenet gave the thumbs-up (himself, no doubt, feeling pressure to provide the answer Bush wanted), and the war was just a matter of time. Whenever counterevidence to Tenet's insistence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction showed up--as with Hans Blix's UN reports--senior advisors to the President accused the authors of the reports of deliberate deception. One of the surprising themes in Woodward's book is just how intent George Bush was on waging war with Iraq. The story on the street, of course, is that Bush was manipulated into war by his senior advisors. But if Woodward is correct, Bush played this one himself. He was undoubtedly influenced by people like Cheny and Rumsfeld, but he made the decision himself. He wanted a war, and he got it. This book deserves to be read alongside other recent ones: John Dean's _Worse than Watergate, for example, or Ron Suskind's _Price of Loyalty_. Thought the imperial presidency died with Richard Nixon's resignation? Think again.
Rating: 
Summary: Playing fast and loose!
Review: Woodward is not a flaming, turn-off-your-brain-and-just hate Bush like Al Franken. He is fair-minded, which is rare in the hate-based liberal press. His problem has to do with basic accuracy of his facts. The Bush administration has pretty much discredited significant parts of this book already. And this isn't the first time it's happened. Woodward has done the same thing to other Democrats and Republicans both. Virtually every time he's released a book in the last ten years, someone has come forward and claimed that he got some important fact wrong or that he just made up whole converstations of which he had no possible way of knowing exactly what was really said. He puts words in quotation marks without actually directly hearing someone speak those words. That's a big no, no in journalism. Paraphrasing is not quoting. Putting words to how someone feels is not quoting. Quoting is reserved for when you have an exact statement in the unaltered form it first appeared.
Rating:
Summary: tight
Review: this book was just straight off the hook! it was the tightest thing i've ever read. This was the most racist book in the world. I'm black and I still thought it was better than you'r mom
Rating:
Summary: Before November 2004, read this book
Review: Informed voters will want to read this book - in particular, those "boomers" who really didn't pay attention to Washington politics until Watergate. Don't throw away your vote without doing some investigative reading on your own, this is an excellent place to start. I am reassured that our President is a man of great integrity, even though his faith in some of his appointees is suspect. Rumsfled, you gotta go. Powell, why didn't you just show some backbone and resign? Cheney, get a grip....Tenet - please do us all a favor and retire. Rice and nice are not synonyms, oh I could just go on and on. Anyway, the book does describe in great detail the process for planning a war and now I have a better idea of where my tax dollars are going, nice to know you can put a million dollars in a 44 pound backpack.
Rating:
Summary: No Roadmap
Review: The problem I had with this book is that it was so hard to get a grasp on the whole thing. There's no theme, no purpose, no roadmap. The book is just a chronological account of the political, military, and diplomatic maneuverings leading up to the war in Iraq. There are no chapter names, no nifty timeline diagrams, not even splitting the book into, say, Part I (date range), Part II (date range), and Part III (date range), which might have helped. Reading it was like being immersed in a quagmire. Were I to reread this book, I'd be taking notes and making diagrams. In an effort to be nonbiased, Mr. Woodward has sacrificed clarity. In an effort to be comprehensive, he has sacrificed coherence. This is not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, I can see how it would be easy for people to read through this book and pick out the things that support their preconceived notions, and then disregard everything else. The main reason I wanted to read this book was to get a better understanding of the motivations of the Bush Administration in going to war. I still don't understand it. I saw a lot of political and diplomatic maneuvering in trying to figure out ways to make the case for the war, but not the underlying motivation.
Rating: 
Summary: Woodward channels rather than investigates
Review: Bob Woodward's career can be summed up in one word: conductivity. Widely regarded as the man behind the fall of Nixon, I see him in another light - a conduit for Deep Throat and that shadowy group that scripted the fall of Nixon. If that is investigative journalism, then stenographers everywhere ought to be revered and enshrined! National Secretary's Day takes on new meaning. So now we find that the most secretive administration in history opens its doors wide to him! Amazin'! I find very little new in the book, and come away with a lingering odor of preemptive historical revisionism - a careful telling of the events leading up the the attack on Iraq as it might have happened were there no oil there - as if this administration were not staffed top to bottom with oil people. Worse, it leaves the impression that countries actually engage in altruistic behavior - that strategic and monetary interests are not the driving force of foreign policy. Missing is any hint of the use of imaginary WMD's as agitprop to draw in public support for the invasion. Missing are any references to the working of the public mind through mass psychology (image manipulation, subtle hints of Iraqi participation in 9/11, religious references embedded in speeches) and fear mongering. Reading the book is a cleansing experience - it restores faith in the transparency of government - I suppose that to be its intent, anyway. That's certainly how its real authors - the Bush Administration - would want it to be read. In the end, in its essence, the book is a work of fiction. Is that Karl Rove's after shave I smell? Woodward appeared on John Stewart's Daily Show recently and said that he thought his investigative technique was fairly incorruptible - he verifies meetings and individual confrontations with third parties, and thereby avoids repeating hearsay and prevents himself from being spun. The notion that this White House can't profile Woodward and work him accordingly doesn't occur to him. So thoroughly spun was this man that it would take a reverse auger to get him out of the ground. And he can't see it. Such is human nature. Imagine the book that might have resulted had Seymour Hersh been allowed inside the White House. Woodward was probably the logical choice from the Bush standpoint - the conduit for Deep Throat could be used yet again to convey desired information to the public. Likely he was conned and so too are we. I am reminded of Dorothy Parker's famous line - that this book should not be set aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not buy this!
Review: Do not buy this! It's horrible! I thought it would be at least a little interesting, but instead it's just boring!
Rating:
Summary: A great book and tribute to a great president
Review: I enjoyed this book very much specially for its objectivity - something that is lacking in the world these days. There is no judgment anywhere in the book instead all you are facts. I also think this book really shows what a great president Bush is and unlike some would want us to believe that he is blood thirsty, after oil or anti-islam. After reading this book you will see that none of these things were on Bush's mind, all he was concerned about was America's security. He didn't go in for the oil or to destroy Islam but he went in to protect America and as a moral duty. He basically sees the war as a pre-emptive measure to prevent a future catastrophy. Imagine if America attacked Germany in 1939. 25+ million lives would have been saved.
Rating:
Summary: What happened to all the reviews?
Review: The bookw as awful, but the reviews were interesting - where did they go? I wrote one that never say the light of day. What gives?
Rating:
Summary: An clear unbiased report ...almost unbelievable!!!!
Review: This book falls into the 'must read' column. Well written with almost unlimited access to all the major players (with direct quotes!) this book lays out an objective and even handed account of the planning of the Iraqi war. I must admit that I was surprised that Woodward was given so much insider info from the Bush Adminstration and that so many of the normally secretive leaders (Rumsfield, Cheney in particular) were willing to openly say what roles they played. I am sure that both the Bush fans and foes will find plenty of ammo to feed their particular bends. But Woodward has written good current history here, the facts are laid out clearly and objectively, there is no attempt to slant the hot button 'events' (WMD, Powell, UN etc) one way or another. And it is fascinating to glimpse how crucial decisions are weighed and finally made in the Bush White House.
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