Bob Woodward 60 Minutes Interview: Woodward Discusses His New Book On Bush (VIDEO)

A year and a half since the surge in Iraq, violence is the lowest it has been since the invasion. The idea of throwing another 30,000 troops into Iraq was a desperate gamble in a dark time. And only now are we finding out just how much opposition there was by the nation's top military leaders. That's among the revelations in a new book by Washington Post Associate Editor Bob Woodward.

"The War Within" is Woodward's fourth insider account from the Bush White House.

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley sat down with Woodward for his first interview in advance of the book's release and asked him about the war within the administration after the surge was proposed by civilians in the White House.

Read full story here.

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Watch excerpts of the 60 Minutes interview.

Comments

[jhoughton1]

What is this "surge" thing anyway? You're getting your butt kicked, you send in more troops. Commanders have been doing that since the first cave men went at each other with sticks and stones. Why is Bush allowed to "reinvent" a standard tactic, brand it with his own brand ("It's not reinforcements, folks, it's a SURGE!") and stand there grinning like it was all his idea?

[vinny]

Look folks, despite the bush shinola that Woodward is regurgitating, the war has always been about oilmen making a play for oil and the $ for transporting the stuff...

Bush, Rumsfield & Cheney were happy to let civil society in Iraq devolve into chaos... they were happy to kill Iraqi citizens fighting for their country... they were happy to spy on Maliki and do anything to make sure the legal structure was in place to give them access to oil...

the SURGE should have been implemented from the very beginning...

Bush Co = DEATH & DESTRUCTION

[Topfeeder]

Job 1 for Obama......new orders for Petraus. Get him out of there. It is just embarrassing how Bush and Mini-Bush love this guy. They practically gush.

[mathme]

It will be a glorious day when we get terrorism, kidnappings, torture, and false imprisonment back down to their Saddam-era levels! I'm sure the iraqis can't wait until their infrastructure is back up to the point where it was under Saddam, too! Just wait, people of Iraq, you will soon be returned to the wonderful point where you were before we ruined your country.

That being said, what did the surge accomplish? Was the purpose of the surge only to make it safer for our troops to occupy Iraq? It seems like there was a stated purpose that has NOT been met. Hmmm.. what was that? Gosh golly...

[beanie]

Isn't it interesting? Woodward's revelations are important for reasons the American electorate are unaware of or will not address. It is sad but expected. Bush has eroded the underpinnings of our own American democracy while squandering American blood and treasure , claiming he wants democracy for the disenfranchised voters of the Middle East.

Wake up America, this is pure, unadulterated bullshit!

Bush is the Commander in Chief so he can overrule the Generals. That is his constitutional perogative. However, he could not have gotten away with creating and sustaining this outrageous war without the erosion of our government's checks/balances and flaunting the rule of law. His administration invaded a sovereign country, broke the FISA law, outed intelligence agents, suspended habeas corpus, tortured and employed incompetent, ideologically-narrow cronies in most key government positions.

Less violence in Iraq is good and desirable but it has nothing to do with winning this outrageous and immoral war. It provided the Republicans with short-term cover in the mid-terms and even a shield for McCain/Palin now. The Iraq war cannot be won. It has been justified by the Bush administration but with little credibility for the American electorate. As Woodward again shows, the Bush administration has and will take all possible actions to avoid honestly presenting their agenda.

[whitenoise007]

this is a glorification of bush's recklessness, a boost for mcBush's "maverick", go it alone approach, and more fodder for the bloodthirsty evangelical party. the surge "worked" because the commander-in-chief took a gamble and happened to get lucky. there's nothing new here. what we're probably not getting is revelation of the public relations spin; no doubt, there's manipulation of the data, omission, deals and outright lies.

what no one, including the democrats, wants to say plainly is that the surge "worked" in an immoral plunder and pillage invasion of another country; we did the same thing in vietnam: pat ourselves on the back for providing prosthetic limbs to children who'd lost them in our bombing raids.

[LeBelAge]

My god that whole interview was full of re-writing history and propaganda. Where was Bush when the military and Democratic leadership were pleading with him to increase troop levels early on in the invasion to prevent the violence that the surge was needed to stop?

A secret weapon that magically makes Al Queada flee? Like Nixon's secret weapon in Vietnam.
Petraus is fire proof? Please.

Bush is still shocked the Iraqi people aren't happy with being killed, their government services contracted out to corrupt American contractors who have left them without clean water and electricity and their oil being stolen out from under them. What a tool.

I'm ashamed of Bob Woodward.

[ComedianForPresident]

One thing that Woodward would not elaborate on was the targeted assassination of insurgent leaders. These targeted assassinations must be modeled on Israeli tactics with NSA technological capabilities. You can be sure that "how" this is being done will be leaking out soon, if not on the front page of the New York Times, because of a secrecy agreement with the White House, a foreign newspaper or the web.

[emptysuitsneednotapply]

well the surge worked and America is winning in IRAQ and has now completely defeated the Talbin that set up in the Mediterranean. So why do you folks wish we lost so bad. Be proud that we won. If we had pulled out back then America would have been in a bad situation and the military would have been humiliated. Don't know about you guys who are bashing on the success on the surge but Im proud we stayed and won .. .and yes I was against the war but once we were there you have to do it right and win.

[bohdibell]

Won what?

[Hare]

The Iraquis are patiently waiting for the U.S to pull out, because the troops will eventually leave and then Iraquis will do what they were going to do anyway (but were temporarily prevented by U.S. forces.) Iraquis feel that if they could put up with Sadam for so many years , they can hold on for a few more until U.S.go home. So no, the surge didn't work because Iraquis are not dumb, they are just waiting. A few years from now when the reality of what I say happens you can say you read it here first.

[Dynamohum]

Americans reallly do not understand the Middle East and what is really going on, because we have not been told the truth or any details about anything. Do you really believe that "The surge worked because WE SAY SO is enough?

No matter when we leave the violence and civil stife will pick up again and probably get even much worse, except after victory has been declared by the United States, we will no longer get any information on the news about Iraq. It will disappear from the news period. Whether it gets worse or not. Do People Not Get It?

This situation does not have a victory. Some Americans are only concerned that they hear WE WON from the President and others. This is just subterfuge. Any time a country sends extra troops in to quell violence and gives billions of dollars to the locals to settle down and stop the violence. Money talks in any country. Once we declare victory and the money to individuals ceases wait for it.....wait for it.....wait for it......KABOOM!!

Wake up America.

[evgolightly]

Of course!

The surge worked because we quelled the violence? Well, if we'd sent in, say, 500,000 troops, we'd probably be able to reduce littering too. Baghdad would look like Disneyland!

The question is WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE GET OUT?

Are voters so stupid as to think we'll leave behind a peaceful stable country?

Oh, I almost forgot, these are the same voters who chant, "drill baby drill" and are taken with Sarah Palin.

[bxmask]

The problem is that the Republicans (Bush among them) criticze Democrats and Obama of not listening to the generals on the ground. Again, the President is being a hypocrite. This has been Bush''s war and Bush and his administration has done everything they can to do what Bush wants whether it's in the best interest of the country. If he doesn't hear what he wants, he tells people to go back to the drawing board based on what's best for him POLITICALLY!!!

This is NOT how the President is supposed to operate. Then he misleads the American public in an attempt to bolster our support. This is just shameful and I can't believe anyone defends the Bush administration's actions.

[Truthmeter]

Well, I guess Bush has better gut instincts than the generals...It worked, McCain wa right!!!

[evgolightly]

We lost the second we decided to invade Iraq. Don't you get that?

We lost 4,290 soldiers. We lost a TRILLION dollars. We lost our credibility. We lost respect from our allies. We are LOSING the war in Afghanistan.

We lost the balance of power in the region by emboldening Iran through removing their enemy, Iraq.

The surge will not ultimately work. It's like a stay of execution, only to be followed by the inevitable death sentence anyway.

The second we leave, vistory declared or not, they will have their civil war. There's nothing we can do about it, unless we stay there for 1,000 years.

[ListenPeople]

Hear hear! We're in trouble now and for a very long time b/c we invaded Iraq.

[ComedianForPresident]

The democrats should respond when confronted with the statement that the surge has worked with Bob Woodward's revelations. The surge has made no difference at all in Iraq. What has made a difference was targeted assassination tactics - just like the ones employed by the Israelis - on suspected insurgent leaders.

[Whatevah]

Great job, Woodward.

In previous editions of HuffPo, the majority of posts included shrill attacks of Woodward and claims that he is in the tank for Bush. Now that it's clear those posts were bunk, I hope that everybody will take a second to think about the fact that we aspire to greater objectivity than the Right. Those old posts were as wacky as anything ever on Faux News. We should be better than that, people.

[PaulinMtl]

Now Whatevah you had me registered just so I could reply. «Woodward not in the tank with Bush»? He sunk in it. Who are you? A troll for the republicans and the Bush's wars. Bought and paid just as Woodward blatantly is.

Now don't you go and accuse me of being a shrill. I just registered remember? But from the rendering of this interview, everything transpires of an image redeeming Bush fabrication. That's all I'll say.

By the way, isn't it peculiar that Bob Woodward is getting to look like Bill Kristoll (Krisstool) as he's getting older? And talking just like a neocon too: «I would get my @$$ out of town». Reminds me what a popular radio show host was saying once, that you get to look just like what you are: Bush, a stumbling idiot bordering on the monkish; Cheney, Darth Vader,impersonated; and Sarah Palin, two-face joker.

Sad isn't it. If 97.99% of politicians can be corrupted, why wouldn't Woodward. His prize winning only raises the ante. Just think of the bestseller novel he will write next of the new ground breaking tools the military has developped in the same category of the tank and the airplane but nowhere to be seen. Can we just talk here of plain eavesdropping and spyops and conquer by deceit techniques? PITY.

[PurplePhase]

Woodward WAS in the tank for Dubya. He changed his mind AFTER others around him found out the facts BEFORE Woodward the legendary investigative reporter did.

[MinerSam]

Anyone else wonder if THIS TIME he is being used by the administration in the lead up to our elections?

What could this special technology be? Lazars to listen with and shoot form Satelites

[marcelisa]

Obama was spot on about not going into Iraq. How in the heck he's gonna make the best out of this situation once he's in the Oval Office I don't know but this is thinking and judgement that can be trusted. Here's a video of his pre-war assessment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkXYxB7zUb8

[rep-hater22]

George W., "dont let it fail",

Sorry buddy but it’s already a complete failure. 4000 soldiers killed and over 100000 iraq's killed, and we all thought 9/11 was horrible. But if McCain has his way Obama wont “forfeit” and American soldiers can keep dying in a pointless war.

[ufty44]

ALL THE US TROOPS THAT HAVE ALREADY SUCEEDED AND COMPLETED THEIR MISSION???



WHEN WILL WE HONOR OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM ALL HOME??

WHAT MORE AS A NATION CAN WE ASK FOR???