1st excerpt of Woodward book now up-WP OnLine

'We're Going to Have to Go to War,' Bush Told Rice

By Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 18, 2004; Page A01


This is the first of five articles adapted from "Plan of Attack," a book by Bob Woodward that is a behind-the-scenes account of how and why President Bush decided to go to war against Iraq. (Copyright Simon & Schuster, 2004)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19691-2004Apr17.html


Shortly after New Year's Day 2003, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice had a private moment with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Tex.

Bush felt the effort to get United Nations weapons inspections inside Iraq on an aggressive track to make Saddam Hussein crack was not working. "This pressure isn't holding together," Bush told her. (more)

"That is the message I want you to carry for me to the crown prince," Bush said. "The message you're taking is mine, Bandar."

"That's fine, Mr. President."

Bandar believed it was exactly what Cheney had told Bush to say.

"Anything else for me?"

No, Mr. President.

This is fascinating. And disgusting.



http://www.wgoeshome.com

damning, I still wonder why Woodward--who is GOP shrill--wrote it.I read some excerpts from it in the paper today, and I just don't quite get which direction he is taking this book.

<snip>
"How long does he think I can do this?" Bush asked. "A year? I can't. The United States can't stay in this position while Saddam plays games with the inspectors."

"You have to follow through on your threat," Rice said. "If you're going to carry out coercive diplomacy, you have to live with that decision."

"He's getting more confident, not less," Bush said of Hussein. "He can manipulate the international system again. We're not winning.

"Time is not on our side here," Bush told Rice. "Probably going to have to, we're going to have to go to war."

And WHY isn't time on our side? Enron needed the India plant up and running? What?

"Mr. President" by people whose intentions we consider vile but acknowledge as intelligent? He snaps at a reporter when he starts a question with "Sir." ("Who are you TALKING to?" "Mr. President.") How many times is Bush called that in this first excerpt? He's so inept he has to have scripted "press conferences" and can't be trusted to testify before the 9/11 Commission without Cheney and his brain sitting beside him, but all day long he hears, "Mr. President." We have a crazy man in our White House. The Supreme Court created a monster with that 5/4 decision. Bush really thinks he's a President -- "MR. President."

lmao

In Rice's mind, this was the moment the president decided the United States would go to war with Iraq. Military planning had been underway for more than a year even as Bush sought a diplomatic solution through the United Nations. He would continue those efforts, at least publicly, for 10 more weeks, but he had reached a point of no return.

Only Condi can be the source of the internal workings of her mind. Why is she being anonymous for this? (The early blurbs said only Bush was willing to let his name be used as a source.)Is it possible that she doesn't want something that can be quoted to her during a trial? Because, unless they were treating her like a mushroom, Condi had to know the plan was to take Iraq from the beginning. At the very least she would have been in on it the day after 9/11.

Sure, we embezzled 700 million dollars and lied to the country about going for UN approval and other stuff, but Saddam was a really bad guy and we didn't want him to hurt anybody.

"I asked Karen," the president recalled. "She said if you go to war, exhaust all opportunities to achieve peacefully. And she was right. She actually captured my own sentiments."

Look, folks! We were trying for peace in good faith!

Which we know from other passages in the book is a big fat lie.

That's Woodward's job. It has always been Woodward's job.

Modified Limited Hangout.

Bush (and hopefully most of the neocons, along with Cheney) will be taken down over a non-critical offense. Meanwhile, the true BFEE (Poppy, Jeb, Carlyle and the boys) lives to fight another day.

The fact that Woodward wrote this book and that he was seen carrying three copies of it into the White House tells me that it was all written with Karl Rove's approval (or urging). I think Woodward used up all of his "journalistic capital" on his first homage to * and I hope that people will not be fooled by the fact that Woodward used to be a respected name in news.

Even though this is a roughly written and shallow account, it's fascinating to see how the various actors in this national tragedy are trying to re-plot their roles in history. There's obviously an attempt to cast Cheney as the villain, to take the spotlight off of Bush.