Author: Bob Woodward
File Type: epub
In Obamas Wars, Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism. At the core of Obamas Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War. So whats my option? the president asked his war cabinet, seeking alternatives to the Afghanistan commanders request for 40,000 more troops in late 2009. You have essentially given me one option. ...Its unacceptable. Well, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates finally said, Mr. President, I think we owe you that option. It never came. An untamed Vice President Joe Biden pushes relentlessly to limit the military mission and avoid another Vietnam. The vice president frantically sent half a dozen handwritten memos by secure fax to Obama on the eve of the final troop decision. President Obamas ordering a surge of 30,000 troops and pledging to start withdrawing U.S. forces by July 2011 did not end the skirmishing. General David Petraeus, the new Afghanistan commander, thinks time can be added to the clock if he shows progress. I dont think you win this war, Petraeus said privately. This is the kind of fight were in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids lives. Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American citywhich Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time. Verbatim quotes from secret debates and White House strategy sessionsand firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president, his war council and his generalsreveal a government in conflict, often consumed with nasty infighting and fundamental disputes. Woodward has discovered how the Obama White House really works, showing that even more tough decisions lie ahead for the cerebral and engaged president. Obamas Wars offers the reader a stunning, you-are-there account of the president, his White House aides, military leaders, diplomats and intelligence chiefs in this time of turmoil and danger.**From BooklistIts hard to understand why the government gets so irate over secrets spilled by WikiLeaks when top members of the cabinet and the military, as well as the president himself, so readily sit down with Bob Woodward. In his first foray into the weeds of the Obama administrations war-decision process, Woodward offers readers these nuggets the CIA finances and controls a 3,000-man secret army in Afghanistan despite our various efforts over two administrations, the U.S. remains alarmingly unprepared for a terrorist attack, which, by the way, could come any day. He also reveals all the details of a highly confidential document on war strategy (given to Woodward when he simply asked one of the planners for it). But most of the book is devoted to what is probably not a secret the infighting that goes into every decision that is or isnt made about the war in Afghanistan. Woodwards descriptions of war-strategy meetings suggest the movie Groundhog Day, with everyone saying the same thing over and over. The military and Hillary Clinton want 40,000 troops sent to Afghanistan. Joe Biden has a different plan, less dependent on personnel. The president wants more and different options, which arent given to him (People have to stop telling me what I already know). Finally, he has to modify the plan himself. The end of the book seems rushed, as though it was pushing up against deadline, with one of Obamas most important war decisions, the firing of General Stanley McChrystal, just tacked on. By the wearying end, the conclusion is obvious theres no good way to end this war. No matter how much the White House and the military despise the word failure, with allies like the Karzai government in Afghanistan and the duplicitous Pakistanis, its hard to find any semblance of success in the offing. There is certainly none on view in these pages. --Ilene Cooper ReviewOnce again, Woodward has reached into the heart of decision making in the presidency...a heart-pounding description of a brand new president. Diane Sawyer, ABC News By this book, Woodward has done a real service to Americans. The Toronto Star More than anything else, Obamas WarsBob Woodwards latest must-read political tomeis a study in leadership and management style. Michael ODonnell, The Christian Science Monitor Superbly reported... Woodward recounts how a new president may well have embroiled himself in a war that could poison his presidency. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Neil Sheehan, in The Washington Post Compelling and immensely readable...The best account we have of an extraordinarily important decision by a wartime president on a strategy whose costs in either blood or treasure will impact every American for years to come.How this future unfolds should keep all of us on the edge of our seats. Lt. General David Barno (retired), former Afghanistan commander (2003-2005), in Foreign Policy So much inside detail, so many accounts of behind-closed-door conversations... a saga of tragedy about the snares and illusions of war in Afghanistan, the corruption of war generally, and the jangle of motivesthe convergence and clash of bureaucratic interest, personal ambition, and earnest strategic analysis. Fred Kaplan, Slate.com Like all Woodward books, Obamas Wars plows relentlessly forward like a shark. It is all about narrative and scenes and relationships... Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times