Book Review - Obama's War by Bob Woodward

When delving into anything written by Bob Woodward, one must give serious credence to his somewhat liberal bent. He is after all the slayer of the un-slayable Conservative Richard Nixon. He has been outspoken in his support of President Obama, and his policies. However, Woodward is still a top rate journalist and is, for the most part able to step off the slant and do his job well. This book is well researched and very well documented. Look not for any “Deep Throat” type sources, but Woodward does interview those that are pertinent to the story at all levels.

I read this book as the combat almost two full years after the last combat troops were pulled out of Iraq, and during the handover to NATO troops in Afghanistan, but the insight to those decisions could not be clearer. Throughout the book, Woodward documents the critical decisions making process taken by the administration, that at times was nearly paralyzed by turf wars and backbiting. 

Early into the book Woodward’s bias is first betrayed. In the first few chapters great pain is taken to describe the pitfalls of the Bush administration’s handling of the war, and the residue of those maneuvers on current events. As the book proceeds, it is easy to see a “us verse them” mentality between military and civilian leaders was very present and well established by the time President Obama takes office. The facts, as presented by Woodward, show the measures taken first by Candidate Obama, President-Elect Obama and finally President Obama to utilize the military. Those measures were soundly rebuffed on all fronts with few exceptions.

From that point on, Woodward shows the slow and steady withdraw of conciliatory steps taken to include the military in the serious decisions being made. Choosing to allow his Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel to make the key blocks on the military, President Obama kept to a small cadre of rather un-realistic decision makers, wasting valuable time and lives when moving forward with plans to end both wars. It is only after several top-ranking members of both the military and civilian communities step down, that President Obama begins to turn towards those who are in the best places to provide valuable insight on the subject. Despite serious, well documented struggles between civilian and military leaders, those within those groups, and third parties such as Hamid Karazi, current President of Afghanistan, none of the blame seems to fall at the feet of President Obama.


 Again, Wooward’s bias pokes out, if ever so slightly. At no time does President Obama force the wrong issue, say the wrong thing, or make anything but a well thought out and researched decision. Where President Bush surrounded himself with “yes men” and listened to every word they brought forth as gospel; President Obama is not afraid to hear “no”, and built his opinions from the stones of wisdom mined by his “Team of Rivals.”

To me this is a little unfair. Understandably the military did have barriers in place from the previous administration. It is, and continues to be clear that President Bush’s personal prerogative in fighting the war. It is well documented his mulish tendencies in fighting the war, that were compounded by a complete lack of competent underlings. Thus, no matter how friendly the hand that next reached forward, the military was right in being protective of its turf, and more importantly the lives of American troops. It is the opinion of this writer that, if a mistake was made in this regard, it was by President Obama in over-reacting to the rebuffs. Such a reaction cost valuable time, and in some cases lives, to repair and rebuilt those connections.

 This, however, is my only critic of Woodwards book. Bias is, of course, unavoidable. While it is evident throughout, Mr. Woodward researched the book extensively using a broad range and level of sources. For those interested in the Obama Administration, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, or military/civilian relations, it was well worth the time to read.