Obama's WarsIn Obama’s Wars, Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism. At the core of Obama’s Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War. “So what’s my option?” the president asked his war cabinet, seeking alternatives to the Afghanistan commander’s request for 40,000 more troops in late 2009. “You have essentially given me one option. ...It’s unacceptable.” “Well,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates finally said, “Mr. President, I think we owe you that option.” It never came. An untamed Vice President Joe Biden pushes relentlessly to limit the military mission and avoid another Vietnam. The vice president frantically sent half a dozen handwritten memos by secure fax to Obama on the eve of the final troop decision. President Obama’s ordering a surge of 30,000 troops and pledging to start withdrawing U.S. forces by July 2011 did not end the skirmishing. General David Petraeus, the new Afghanistan commander, thinks time can be added to the clock if he shows progress. “I don’t think you win this war,” Petraeus said privately. “This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.” Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American city—which Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time. Verbatim quotes from secret debates and White House strategy sessions—and firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president, his war council and his generals—reveal a government in conflict, often consumed with nasty infighting and fundamental disputes. Woodward has discovered how the Obama White House really works, showing that even more tough decisions lie ahead for the cerebral and engaged president. Obama’s Wars offers the reader a stunning, you-are-there account of the president, his White House aides, military leaders, diplomats and intelligence chiefs in this time of turmoil and danger. |
From inside the book
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Page 20
... operations or capabilities, or a piece of intelligence that could change the world. It had been extensively reported in the media that Gates had launched aggressive, personal campaigns to help the troops in the field with armored ...
... operations or capabilities, or a piece of intelligence that could change the world. It had been extensively reported in the media that Gates had launched aggressive, personal campaigns to help the troops in the field with armored ...
Page 22
... operations—the finding of targets, fixing their locations, and then attacking them from the air or ground. Yet only about 25 percent of the military's aerial surveillance aircraft were in the war zones. There were only 36 Predator ...
... operations—the finding of targets, fixing their locations, and then attacking them from the air or ground. Yet only about 25 percent of the military's aerial surveillance aircraft were in the war zones. There were only 36 Predator ...
Page 29
... operations in 26 countries that are saving people's lives,” Clinton said. Just because someone thinks it might look bad? People would die if his charities collapsed. “It's not worth it,” she said. Her husband had told her he would do ...
... operations in 26 countries that are saving people's lives,” Clinton said. Just because someone thinks it might look bad? People would die if his charities collapsed. “It's not worth it,” she said. Her husband had told her he would do ...
Page 32
... operations in 2007, when Gates hastily decided Pace did not have the Senate votes for reappointment. Obama's invitation was a chance for Mullen, who was in the middle of his two-year term, to get back in the game, restore the status of ...
... operations in 2007, when Gates hastily decided Pace did not have the Senate votes for reappointment. Obama's invitation was a chance for Mullen, who was in the middle of his two-year term, to get back in the game, restore the status of ...
Page 37
... operation. The national security adviser had to develop measurements to ensure reasonable progress was being made toward the goals. If not, the plans had to be revised—radically if necessary. Too much policy was on automatic pilot ...
... operation. The national security adviser had to develop measurements to ensure reasonable progress was being made toward the goals. If not, the plans had to be revised—radically if necessary. Too much policy was on automatic pilot ...
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