election, but recognize the reality of the powerful war mongers in the
right, the military, congress, and the profiteers, from arms makers to
the energy giants. All, now powered from below by a popular, nascent
fascist movement. Woodward's book maintains Obama understands
the harm it has done to his domestic agenda, wants to shut down the
war, and the incredible complexity therein. Given the above, the book
documents our President brilliantly negotiating this minefield towards
that end, or at least without being fatally wounded. It also presents an
important look into his mind and process. It's definitely worth reading.
What it apparently does not deal with is Obama and his administration
neutralizing and demoralizing the vast movement that elected him; an
error of historic proportion he often expands when not campaigning.
But, I guess, that has to be written by a different writer who sees beyond
the beltway and ruling from above. Maybe after it's too late.
Anyway, it seem like a 'good read,' as they say. Click on the URL
for the full interview. Here's half of it. -Ed
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/bob_woodward_on_obamas_wars_20101014/
Bob Woodward on 'Obama's Wars'
James Harris
Truthdig: Posted on Oct 14, 2010
The veteran journalist talks to Truthdig's James Harris about his new book,
which zeroes in on a war-averse president struggling to impose order on
chaos abroad without losing his grip on the home front.
James Harris: Welcome to Truthdig. James Harris along with "the legend,"
they call him: Bob Woodward, the man who broke the story that put Richard
Nixon out of business. But we're here today to talk about his new book,
"Obama's Wars." Bob, thank you for joining us on Truthdig today.
Bob Woodward: Thank you.
JH: I read your book last night. I felt like I was in the room; I got the
sense I was watching a current play unfold. What was the most important
piece for you?
BW: The focus is the war in Afghanistan; the secret war, Pakistan; and then
the war on terror. And this is . it tracks in microscopic detail, or as
somebody said, "spreadsheet-like detail," the 19 months that President Obama
walks in dealing with and making decisions in these wars. And so you see him
as a kind of law professor, questioning people, identifying issues, being
skeptical. You also see his emotions; he erupts a number of times. You see
the dilemma of the war, you see the intransigence of the military that will
not give him other options. And he goes to the . I guess the most important
part, he gets to the heart of the matter, and that is that the cancer in
this war is really in Pakistan, where the safe havens for al-Qaida exist,
where the safe havens for the Taliban leadership that is fighting us in
Afghanistan. And they have sanctuary in Pakistan in cities and camps, and so
they can train their fighters, re-equip them, and then give them actual, you
know, weekends-rest and relaxation-and then send them back over the border
into Afghanistan to kill American soldiers. And Leon Panetta, the CIA
director, is quoted in the book saying this is a crazy kind of war, and it
really is crazy.
JH: It seems to me that as we've watched this war, it was about al-Qaida,
then it became about the Taliban. What did you learn from the
administration, as you wrote this book, about the distinction between the
two?
Obama's Wars
By Bob Woodward
Simon & Schuster, 464 pages
BW: That's a really good question, because it's so confusing it can make
your head hurt.
JH: Yeah.
BW: Al-Qaida attacked us on 9/11. They were then . they had their sanctuary
in Afghanistan. We invaded Afghanistan, drove them out, they went across the
border into Pakistan. And as President Obama learns two days after he's
elected president, the intel people tell him, "Look, Pakistan is living a
lie; they fight some of these terrorist groups, and at the same time they
secretly created some of them and support them." And right now, in the fall
of this year, a lot of these groups are plotting to attack the United
States. The Times Square would-be bomber, back in May-he was trained and
supported by one of these Pakistani terrorist groups. And Obama, when he'd
looked at all the intelligence, sent his national security adviser and CIA
director over to Pakistan to read them the riot act, and said, "You've got
to do more about these sanctuaries." And the intelligence on who's plotting
and how many plots there are and how difficult it is to track them will make
your hair stand on end.
JH: I feel like there's a football that's a-fumblin', and we can't put our
hands on it. 'Cause it was Iraq, and now it's Afghanistan, and now it's
Pakistan, and we are over there just making a mess of matters. Did that ever
come up?
BW: Yes-whether we're causing as many problems as we are solving. This is
the difficulty of this war, and what I've tried to do here . it's a window
on the way President Obama thinks. Though we . people learned a lot about
him in the 2008 campaign, he gives lots of speeches, he does town hall
meetings, he answers reporters' questions . the message management in this
White House has been so good I think you really don't know who he is. And
what I've got are thousands of words of him being quoted, trying to figure
out what to do. You're right-it's kind of a football that's still flying
around in the air and on the ground, and it's not clear how to jump on it
and get control of the situation. There are so many unsettled components of
it. I mean, let me just take one. The secretary of defense, Bob Gates, a
critical player by most accounts, has done a good job as secretary of
defense; he was a holdover from the Bush administration, agreed to stay one
year. I recount seeing where Obama called Gates in last year and said, "I
want you to stay for the whole term," for four years. And Gates feels
pre-empted, feels that the president enters into a negotiation with him, and
that the president sounds like a rug merchant. And they go back and forth,
and Gates agrees to stay for another year, but psychologically he's got one
foot out the door. You know in any institution when the leader is about to
leave, or thinking about life after the Pentagon, in this case, it's not
clear where things are going. That's something that has to be settled. The
national security adviser, Gen. [James] Jones, is leaving; who's going to
take that job? How do you make the National Security Council a more
functioning entity? The head of intelligence, Adm. [Dennis] Blair, was fired
in the spring; they've got a new man in Gen. [James] Clapper. How are the
intelligence agencies functioning? The rift between the political White
House and the military is as clear as it has ever been. The news on the
ground in Afghanistan about how the war is going is . though they say
there's
some progress, there's a lot of bad news here. So, we are at a point where
the president in the next year is going to have to make probably the most
critical decisions in this war, which will define not just an important part
of his presidency and his leadership, but will define the position of the
United States in the world. Do we do well in this war? Are we smart? Or, as
Vice President Biden worries all the time, do we wind up stuck with Obama's
Vietnam?
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