Woodward has hit another home run

What a great follow up to Woodward's "Bush at War".
Woodward continues to be effective at keeping his bias in check. He presents the information in a responsible manner, showing great intellectual honesty. Don't expect this book to parrot the typical partisan perspectives - what you will experience is the current administration and world leaders as humans with their convictions and failings.
I knew I wanted to read this book after reading the last Woodward book, but when I saw Woodward being interviewed about "Plan of Attack" by Larry King - and watched him prevent various callers from twisting his words to suit their political purposes, I knew that I had to read this book immediately!

The book held quite a few surprises, getting some intimate revelations from the likes of Ellie Wiesel and Saudi Prince Bandar and others of world reknown. The mechanics of going to war were also unexpected, much of it revolving around General Tommy Franks and his dealings with the Pentagon and the combat institutions.

If you enjoyed "Bush at War", then this book is required reading!

A Gripping Unbiased Stellar Account of The Plan of Attack

Bob Woodward brings you true, unbiased details of Bush's plans, doubts, questions, maneuverings, and money spent to win the war with Iraq and bring Hussein down.

A couple of the most gripping paragraphs from the book shows exactly "how" this was done:
"...I want Hussein's military penetrated. I want the intel service penetrated. I want the security apparatus penetrated. I want tribal networks inside Iraq who will do things for us -- paramilitary, sabotage, ground intelligence. Work the relationship with the Kurds. See if it is feasible to train and arm them so they can tie down Hussein's forces in the north."

"...a team of CIA operatives made the 10-hour overland drive from Turkey into Iraq in a convoy of Land Cruisers, Jeeps and a truck to set up base in Sulaymaniyah in the mountainous Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq. In October, they returned to the same area carrying tens of millions of dollars in $100 bills stored in heavy cardboard boxes. They set up base in a lime-green building that they christened "Pistachio.""

As for the integrity of the author, Bob Woodward is outstanding. His reporting is incredibly detailed, and he brings you tremendous insider information about how this war began, and why.

If you want to know the true ins and outs of this war, this is the most compelling and unbiased approach I have ever seen. Outstanding Work!

Correcting the myths

A previous review states the oft-repeated lie that Joe Wilson "disproved" that Saddam tried to buy uranium:

"For example, when former ambassador and Africa expert Joseph C. Wilson is sent to investigate the rumor that Saddam had tried to buy weapons-grade nuclear fuel from an African nation, he comes back from the war-torn continent with the unambiguous conclusion that the rumor was unfounded."

Now, in fact, we know that Joe Wilson was partisan liar, and Bush was telling the truth all along: Multiple intelligence agencies and sources have been reviewed, the evidence confirmed (eg the Butler report) and determined that it was well-founded: Saddam was indeed tryng to buy uranium from Niger.

Lesson? Dont buy Joe Wilson's book. And dont believe the phony mantra of him and others on the left, bashing Bush as a liar.

More and more facts show that in fact Bush acted in good faith. Indeed "Plan of Attack" clearly backs up that thesis. This was about assessing and defeating a threat to United States. Nothing about oil, kowtowing to saudis, or some neocon rule the world plot (sorry mikey moore you're full of it). Just Bush and his team trying to protect national security in a post 9/11 world, with many uncertainties and assumptions that necessarily entails.

So the real lying partisan liars are in the anybody but Bush brigade yelling 'Bush lied'. They are wrong.

Woodward's work? It's a good book. Dunno if its a "slam dunk" though. :-) Take some of the 'private conversations' with grain of salt.