Bob Woodward's Bush at War is an outstanding investigative account of the first one hundred days after the September 11 attacks, detailing the debates and decisions that resulted from meetings between President George W. Bush and his most trusted advisors. Throughout the book, Woodward and his assistant Mark Malseed provide an unprecedented inside look into the personal opinions and rationales of the nation's top decision-makers. The reader is exposed to the arguments and tensions that emerged between individuals and even entire agencies during the early planning of the war on terrorism. Although Woodward thoroughly probes the multitude of opinions of a substantial array of players in the United States government and beyond, it is clear that Woodward intends to present President Bush as being in constant command: a compassionate, thoughtful, and determined leader whose decisions ultimately shaped America's response to the worst terrorist attack in the country's history.
As if introducing the characters of a Shakespearian drama, Woodward precedes his account with a listing of the players, both American and Afghani. In the chapters that follow, each of these characters are examined in turn, often by letting their own words speak for themselves. At times, Woodward does insert his own thoughts into the book, offering his observations of the interactions between certain players, which sometimes became strained. Woodward also attempts to convey the magnitude of the massive agency reorganization that occurred after the attacks, an unprecedented restructuring that took an obvious toll on agency heads. With these thoughts in mind, Woodward revisits one of the weakest times in America's history, detailing those who dragged us up from the depths.
During the initial aftermath of the attacks, the President and his close advisors struggled to gain a grasp on the situation. Many in the intelligence community, including CIA chief George Tenet and key CIA under bosses McLaughlin, Pavitt, and Black immediately expressed a surge of dread, knowing that the intelligence community had intercepted possible clues pointing to an attack by al Qaeda, but did not act in time.
