Massachusetts Federation of Republican Women - Summer 2004 Newsletter

Plan of Attack

By Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward's latest book, Plan of Attack, is a detailed account of the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The book is based on a series of interviews conducted with 5 key participants and exclusive interviews with President Bush. It begins on November 21, 2001, during the eleventh month of the bush presidency, and only 72 days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The President asks Donald Rumsfeld "What kind of war plan do you have for Iraq? How do you feel about the war plan for Iraq?" The Secretary of Defense replies that he didn't think the plan was current; that it was basically a Desert Storm II Plus, based on assumptions that were no longer valid. "Let's get started on this," the President said.

Preparing a viable war plan was a massive task, made more difficult by the need to compress the time line and maintain secrecy for as long as possible. Was war the only and inevitable solution? Most of the key players agreed that Saddam must go. Could that be accomplished by a coup using anti-Saddam factions like the Kurds? What role could/should the United Nations play? Which of our allies would support us? How will the already shaky political dynamics of the Mideast region be impacted? And what about those WMD's?

By far the most interesting aspect of the book is the interplay among the key figures - Colin Powell of the famous Pottery Barn Theory vs. Vice President Cheney, by far the most hawkish of the group; Donald Rumsfeld - orchestrating, pushing, probing, challenging any and all proposals vs. just about everyone. Most important are the actions and reactions of the President himself. All in all, Plan of Attack is worth the time and effort.