State of Denial

Well, Woodward certainly got some of the inside skinny, but for my money, Fiasco is a much better book better writing, clearer timeline, complete look at all the players involved, esp military although I like how obsessed Woodward is with blaming everything on Rumsfeld This book feels like a giant apology don t blame me for Woodward s uncritical support of the administration in the run up to the war.

I read this book remarkably quickly for me , it really drives at a great pace, and it isn t hard to follow You have to play close attention to the names of all the people, but enough of them have already been in the news that it isn t all that hard It s just tough to figure out which general is which sometimes Unbelievable, some of the sequences of events which Woodward writes about He had exhaustive interviews with just about everyone in the Bush administration and with so many generals, and he [...]

I guess I should have given it than two stars, because it functions well as a simple straightforward somewhat objective journalistic account of who said what to whom at least that they later felt comfortable repeating to Bob Woodward in the White House s decision to go to and continue war in Iraq However, the bias does show through, sometimes to the right, like when he refers to the Brookings Institute as a left wing think tank, and then not even two pages later, refers to the RAND corporation [...]

In terms of the groundwork that went into this book it was excellent Woodward did some serious research and talked to officials from every level it seems As always he is an excellent reporter But, he is a very poor analyst As a reporter he has the luxury of not needing to offer an alternative This book is filled with side critiques and digs but the combination of them is a little mystifying For example, he spends much of the book making oblique criticisms of Bush for not being involved enough an [...]

Tediosa narraci n sobre los entresijos de la ocupaci n iraqu que no lleva a ninguna conclusi n palpable Quiere ser demasiado condescendiente con la administraci n Bush como para terminar de apuntar a los responsables Promete demasiado y se desinfla.

Watergate Never Looked So Good State of Denial Bob WoodwardSimon SchusterIf you have had the misfortune of reading a few of my book reviews, you will know that I am very fond of fiction How I wish State of Denial was fiction.Unfortunately, the story is not fiction It s all too real The front page headline that greeted readers of the Independent Record under the banner of Happy New Year, read U.S death toll in Iraq breaks 3,000 It doesn t get any real than that.With the publication this year of [...]

This again was a book being discarded by the library I probably would have picked it up as interesting anyway, but the author is of course famous for his investigative reporting which uncovered Watergate, when I was in high school Reading something by him was worth the effort even though there was a suggestion that this was the third book in a series.To that, it isn t really Woodward has written two other books addressing something of the same period, what we might call the second Iraq war under [...]

I took up this book a few weeks ago because for several reasons 1 Recent stories reflected upon Obama s time in office has changed our national defense strategy to be one of drone strikes and a lighter footprint a strategy not of his own machination but something that began years ago under a different In fact, in this book, Donald Rumsfeld is very clear headed in recognizing that the changes he sought would likely not be felt until he was well out of a job Warts and all, we are now living with h [...]

Another in a big grouping of analyses of Iraq Woodward either had, or implies that he had, great access to the inner workings of the Bush administration.Most interesting point is that Woodward claims that after Sept 11th Wolfowitz put together a Bletchley Park group of the best minds on Islam and the Middle East Bernard Lewis, Fareed Zakaria, James Q Wilson etc Their conclusion was that the U.S was in for a 2 generation battle with radical Islam, and the start was with Iraq as it was doable and [...]

In some senses, this book by Bob Woodward was somewhat behind the curve and something of a Johnny Come Lately We saw a number of journalists raise questions about America s invasion of Iraq before his book came out, including works such as Fallows Blind into Baghdad, Diamond s Squandered Victory, Packer s The Assassin s Gate, Ricks Fiasco, Galbraith s The End of Iraq, Suskind s The One Percent Solution, Risen s State of War, Rich s The Greatest Story Ever Sold, and Shadid s Night Draws Near Thus [...]

I find this book somewhat difficult to evaluate The only other book of Woodward s I had previously read was All the President s Men Based on that, I expected this to be an expos on the hidden reasons behind Bush s decision to invade Iraq, as well as a catalogue of all the things that he did wrong.What I found instead, was a narrative that at times was difficult to follow Although the title and the penultimate sentence of the book refer to a denial of the truth about the Iraq War, I found it some [...]

After having read the Isikoff book Hubris I re read this book, which I had originally purchased when it came out many years ago Woodward has the whole cast of characters, from Rumseld, to Cheney, to L Paul Bremer to George W Bush himself The book compliments the Isikoff effort, for me, because it takes a detailed look at the incompetence and failure of the Bush Administration effort post war in Iraq And that incompetence is staggering, with bad decisions piled upon bad decisions, with no clear [...]

This book can be read in many ways, as a historical novel, a stylized piece on recent history 1999 2006 or even as a management case study Consider the Bush cabinet, made up of hard working, brilliant men and women with stellar records, exceptional work habits who nonetheless failed miserably when put in action.An inexperienced Bush lacked the confidence to rein in the oversized personalities of Rumsfeld and Cheney, instead he seemed to trust whatever he was told Powell turned out to be too diff [...]

State of Denial is not a book about the Iraq war It is a book about the Bush administration s handling of the Iraq war Woodward uses his legendary though diminished access to the presidency to paint a picture of the Whitehouse that was disorganized, divided, and ultimately dysfunctional Rather than pursue a general thesis condemning the administration, Woodward takes a chronological narrative style focusing on characters and interactions which serves to provide an interesting angle This focus al [...]

I found this book really interesting on a couple levels The first was just how it exposed the monumental task of preparing for a war It was amazing to think about all these really intelligent people putting in a tremendous effort to make their little piece of something happen It kind of reminds me of how I feel about a drag line, used for stripmining and mountaintop removal I marvel at the machinery even while I abhor what it does It was also interesting just to have some insight into the person [...]

Four stars, only for the incredible access Woodward had to key players and his examination of the internal mis management of the war in Iraq, particularly at the Pentagon The title of the book would accurately be Rumsfeld at War, although Donald Rumsfeld is not the only person to be revealed by highly placed sources as an incompetent leader and manager Overall, the book is hampered by its lack of conclusiveness Its timeline ends before Rumsfeld was sacked after the 2006 Congressional elections [...]

Book 3 of 3 on the subject of the Bush administration s response to September 11, 2001, and the global war on terror.September 11, 2001, actually began two days earlier when Al Qaeda operatives assassinated a key American ally, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir That was in Afghanistan Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan, by then Their allies, the Taliban, were in Afghanistan The initial U.S response to 9 11 was in Afghanistan, against Al Qaeda and the Taliban But then, Iraq Why Iraq What happened [...]

A sense of foreboding sets in in the very first pages covering the beginning of the Bush administration, where the Bush and Rumsfield desire for military transformation is mentioned repeatedly Transformation for them meant a lighter faster cheaper military, and it s fortunate that fully implementing it would take decades rather than achieved over night But, as this book tells, they would get to test some of their ideas during the occupation of Iraq Early analyses showed the need for about 400,00 [...]

State of Denial is Bob Woodward s illustration of the breakdown of the cooperation between NSC members in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.The most stark pieces of the book show how President Bush seemed to be insulated from bad news, and then when it came he would seemingly pivot back to his sense of optimism about the ultimate outcome in Iraq.As the insurgency gained steam in 2006, the White House seemed to be on a frantic search for a political solution in a country that did not have a s [...]

This was an incredibly frustrating read This is not slight on the author, but of the story itself This book is the part of the Bush at War series where the occupation of Iraq clearly breaks down.As the policies, goals, and assumptions of the Neo Con s fall apart against the reality of Iraq Bush s policy makers such as Donald Rumsfeld seem to quite franklyt have a clue what to do about it, so they lapsed into a kind of intellectual paralysis They simply claimed that the policies were working even [...]

Being the third in Woodward s Bush at War series, I find it frustrating how the Bush Administration seems to be unconcerned with exiting a war which now we know should have never been started It touches simply on the fact the the WMDs were never found and how they choose to withhold information from the American public.This book also, seems to turn the blame from Bush and onto Rumsfeld s lack of making clear decisions to figure out how to fight the war He s concerned with changing the U.S Mili [...]

Woodward continues his excuse making for Bush here, portraying him as not being fully informed by his underlings But he also shows Bush to be uninterested in information that does not support his pre conceived notions He shows him yet again to be a very incurious person content to be a cheerleader, doling out pablum with no real content Rumsfeld is shown in all his glory as an evil, Machiavellian inside player, incredible in his ability to do exactly what he pleases despite the overt directives [...]

Woodward s book State of Denial is certain to have an impact on the election It is now ranked number 2 on the New York Times non fiction best seller lists As with all of Woodward s books State of Denial straddles the line of fiction and non fiction His liberal use of quotation marks and descriptions of thoughts have become trademarks of his works.It is an easy and compelling read I finished the book in two days While there are snippets of new information about the role of Henry Kissinger and Pri [...]

State of Denial is the final episode in Bob Woodward s Bush trilogy Bush at War and Plan of Attack felt like weak books, and Woodward s grasp for access seemed to have supplanted his previous investigative zeal State of Denial is the best of the three, and comes closest to putting the Woodward we miss on display As long as one reminds oneself that Woodward s books may be slanted slightly in favor of building his reputation and sacred access, he s still a fairly nonpartisan chronicler of Washingt [...]

Published in 2006, State of Denial paints a picture of the continuing dysfunctionality of the Bush White House, State Department, and Department of Defense up until 2006 Bush and Cheney refused to be interviewed for the book though they had participated in the first two volumes , but author Bob Woodward was able to interview just about everyone else involved, and it all seems to confirm what many of us thought through most of the Iraq war under Bush we were lied to I don t think it was necessari [...]

Very good account of what went on before the war began and during the early days So many mistakes were made So many of those could have been avoided It is hard not to hate Cheney and Rumsfeld even after reading You kinda feel sorry for Bush He just doesn t get it He is blindsided most of the time And when he is in the thick of things, he cannot seem to get a grasp of it Of course, at that level, there are no excuses and ultimately, the buck stops at you.About the book, well there are just too m [...]

If you ve been following the news and are just now reading this book like I was then you aren t going to be shocked by any of the bombshells However, I found it interesting that he had so many interviews with the principles including Rumsfield and President Bush I also found it interesting how the timeline worked Mr Woodward puts together exactly when things happened If you are looking for answers, he isn t going to give you any 1 because reporters report not analyze and 2 because it s too soon [...]

Woodward s exhaustive interviews with just about everyone in the Bush administration was mind boggling The main thing I got out of this was that there were many generals and others warning the administration what an awful mistake the war was.Rumsfeld comes across like a villain puppet master pulling Bush s strings and bickering with Rice while refusing the generals access to the president Rumsfeld seems like an egomaniac, incapable of admitting any wrong doing and constantly scrambling to cover [...]

Really kind of riveting account of how we went to Iraq, despite very little evidence of WMDs and very little interest in them except as an excuse for war, once we were in, everybody forgot about them Rumsfeld is undoubtedly kicking himself for cooperating He s got direct quotes than anyone else in the bookd comes off looking like a fool and an asshole, which seems about right to me Woodward is not a great prose stylish and there s a lot of jumping around from thread to thread, hundreds of names [...]

Very readable or in my case, listenable review of the major events of policy making and the Iraq war Much of the information is already known if you have followed events in the news over the past 4 5 years Woodward s book provides context and gives insight into actions of policy makers and their thought processes One caveat to this is that although Woodward is pretty good about remaining neutral, it is clear which individuals gave him access Gen Marks, Jay Garner Andy Card, David Kay versus tho [...]