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The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 | 
 enlarge | Author: Bob Woodward
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 37.00
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 18839
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Canadian
Pages: 352
ISBN: 141659020X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9781416590200
ASIN: 141659020X
Publication Date: September 8, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Exhausting Details of Bush Grasping at New Straws to "Win" in Iraq September 29, 2008
Donald Mitchell (Boston)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Unless this is your introduction to Bob Woodward's four books about how we got into Iraq and why it didn't turn out so well, you won't be surprised to learn that President George W. Bush knows of no price too high for the United States to pay in order to make him look good in his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. His approach to improving matters in Iraq is to wait for someone to propose spending more money and more lives, and then jump on the suggestion. Meanwhile, he and his true believers revel in the thought he will be ultimately considered as being another Abraham Lincoln for bringing democracy to the Middle East. That's the long and short of this book.
Most of the over 400 pages dwell on good-faith attempts to find ways to respond to the rising numbers of attacks by insurgents that began in 2004. The military felt that only by withdrawing could they reduce the temptation to attack.
Of course, the president didn't pay any attention to those except if they agreed with his determination to increase troop strength once again. If his people weren't getting the message, outside conservative political operatives would be brought in to prepare a new direction. You'll also learn how President Bush enjoys tutoring Prime Minister Maliki on how to create political consensus (talk about the blind leading the blind).
How did the surge turn out? So far, violence is down in Iraq. But apparently a lot of the credit goes to a change in leadership (General Petraeus) to bring more counterinsurgency techniques and a secret effort to assassinate the leaders of the insurgency. Also, al Qaeda was too violent for even the Iraqis and Sunnis began to sign up to fight them. In addition, we began to put the people who used to be in the Iraqi army back on our payroll. These methods could have been brought in during 2004.
We get a picture of a president aware that things are going downhill but totally deferential to what his military leaders on the ground propose while hinting that he would like to send them more troops . . . for years on end without looking for any ways to improve. This isn't a commander in chief . . . this is a part-time chairman of the board who happens to live in the White House.
The book is more eloquent for what it doesn't talk about, as President Bush presides over the destruction of the American economy by allowing even more looting through financial malfeasance than he permitted those contractors who were supposed to "rebuild" Iraq. Herbert Hoover starts to look better and better: At least he didn't preside over destroying the economy and a disastrous war through his bungling.
I do hope that Bob Woodward will expand his focus in future books to show the full range of the inattentiveness, incompetence, and arrogance of President George W. Bush . . . not just his mess in Iraq. Please pray for our president! He needs forgiveness.
Why did I grade the book at three stars? This book could have been summarized and made more interesting in about 150 pages. This book contains less relevant information than the others but he still wrote a long book.
 The War Within...Bush's struggle with the Iraq and the Iraq insurgency, September 21, 2008
R. Nicholson
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
'The War Within'; A fascinating book...and aptly named.
Bob Woodward latest book gives a detailed, in-depth review of the Bush White House dating from early 2006 to early summer 2008. He has chronologically followed events, meetings and discussions that detail the thinking that prevailed in the White House during these years.
He has researched his work from discussions with first hand participants at meetings, memos, emails, transcripts of press conferences and also extensive personal interviews with the President, as well as many members of the White House staff and other key figures in the book.
The book deals with the years of the Iraq war that the American leadership never expected. Instead of a grateful, liberated Iraqi people and a helpful and willing, newly elected Iraqi government, things have deteriorated and deteriorated fast. Confusion within the White House and in fact, within the entire Iraqi theatre (military, public service and governmental) is ruling the day...everyday. The end result sees an ever increasing number of daily insurgent attacks resulting in an increasing number of deaths of American soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians. And to make matters worse, there seem no end or solution in sight; suggestions and ideas within the White House seem to be in the 'endless loop' discussion mode, resulting in no decisive direction being shown or action taken.
Problems are enhanced by several factors;
1.)A weak, ineffective Iraqi government lead by President Maliki, who is more concerned with an old enemy, the Sunni sect, than he is about public security or national reconciliation between infighting factions; factions that include his own Shia sect, the Sunni sect, Moqtada al-Sadr (radical religious cleric), the Kurds, and Al Qaeda (not to mention the influence of Iran and Syria that are supplying arms and men to the insurgency).
2.)A White House staff/elected politicians and a main stream American public that are becoming increasing divided and resentful of a war that goes on and on with no end in sight.
3.)President Bush, stunned by the realization that the new Iraqi government is unable and/or unwilling to show leadership, is left in the agonizing position of trying to run this increasingly unpopular campaign; all the while receiving conflicting advise from advisers and an increasingly unsupportive American public.
Conclusion:
As I finished this book and reflected on the overall scope of what I'd just read, I was stunned by this realization; the events (meetings, think tanks etc.) described within this book that occurred over a two year period were extremely repetitive, that is to say, the same people at the same meetings, the same suggestions day after day, month after month, with no one seemingly being able to decide what needed to be done and when to do it. It made me extremely aware of the isolation, loneliness and anguish that is part and parcel of being U.S. President.
There were times that I forgot I was reading an account of events that were true; they actually happened. I felt like I was reading an international best seller dealing with political infighting and posturing; and in one way, I suppose I was doing just that.
And finally, this book is an incredible in-depth account of the Iraqi war that no one in the White House every expected, but in retrospect, should have at least contemplated if not readily foreseen. Rulers of this area of the world have been tribal based with sectarian prejudices as far back as history goes; they (the leaders and the people) have had little or no experience with democracy. So is it any wonder the extremist element moved in once the Iraqi power vacuum was evident.
In addition the back of the book contains:
1.) a helpful list and explanation of acronyms used
2.) a list of 'sources' that were used by the author in each chapter*
3.) an index of all persons mentioned and where they are found within this book.
4 1/2 Stars
R.Nicholson
* the chapters had no annotation system regarding 'sources' whatsoever. So when reading a chapter, there was no hint as to where the 'source' came from; if you wanted to find out, you had to stop reading and turn to the back of the book and hunt it up in the appropriate section. This as somewhat inconvenient and interrupted the continuity of reading.
Thus the 1/2 Star loss.
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