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

[Indubio]

The escalation was a gamble? Well, the gamble didn't really work. I think we'd be foolish to argue that violence hasn't decreased in the last 18 months but the reasons are only partly because of escalation. An equally important reason for decreased violence is that America paid Iraqis not to kill each other and kill foreign insurgents instead. Granted, escalation helped curtail killing but we shouldn't forget that its main goal was political reconciliation. I think it would be equally foolish to suggest that political reconciliation has occurred. Iraq is no further along resolving their internal political differences today then they were 18 months ago. al Maliki can't bring himself to admit US paid Sunni militias that helped defeat insurgents into the Iraqi military. And who can say what al Sadr will do after the election in November. All it would take for Iraq to fall apart would be for al Sadr to declare and end to the cease fire. Fortunately, that seems unlikely to occur but that fact has little to do with the escalation. And what has been the price of escalation in Iraq? Violence has decreased but it has radically increased in Afghanistan because we have largely ignored that war. No matter how one cuts it, the escalation was a mistake. In fact, the war in Iraq was a mistake and we should have turned over the mess to the Iraqi's a long time ago and let them find their own path to peace.

[Hope4America]

President Obama would not have gotten us in this messy war in the first place so there wouldn't be a need for a surge. The dumbing down of the American people really scares me. This is the most important election of our time. Why would anyone with any common sense vote the same incompetent administration back into office? We need someone that can lead us into the future and not use this great country to relive their past.

Obama-Biden 08

[in4success]

this is the most important election in this country's history.

[txgal44]

That is why we must stay alert and on top of things. Obama must win. He's are only hope.

[grata2ude]

I have a basic question I hope someone can answer. Everyone keeps saying we can't leave until we achieve victory in Iraq. Well define victory?

Was it to take out Sadam and find the WMD? Sadam is gone......­..no WMD
Was it to set up a new Iraqi Government? they had a democratic election and it seems the government is ready and wants to take over. Is that a victory?

Or is it control of the oil? That's seems to be the only thing left unaccomplished.

Does oil spell victory?

Did our sons and daughters die for oil?

[WeMustChange]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM58nqX1ehE

[satyagra]

so was he saying that it wasn't the additional troops that made the surge lower the violence and that it was some sort of secret tactical weapon or surveillance capacity? did john mccain know about this secret weapon? did barack obama?

[Kynn]

He's saying that our ability to hit targets is what helped.

Plus, that the civil war was pretty much over with by the time we had any impact.

Why else do you think places like Baghdad went to 95%+ Shiite instead of mostly Sunni. Because a shiite doesn't keep killing once all his neighbors are shiite.

[Erdgeist]

The war in Iraq is not a war - in is "walled chaos". There is no front as in a conventional war. The front is every square foot of Iraq, itself. To win such a war one would have to win every square foot of Iraqi soil. Here is the proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMp-YNaDdg

[trubluelefty]

I linked to this before on Facebook as this is an amazing testmony to the truth. I lived in Iraq, I am an RN, I speak Arabic and I am from a small town in Indiana. I have best friens who are Iraqi and they are in hiding in Syria and Jordan and some even working menial jobs in Kuwait. How to present the truth ? The American people are not interested.

[TommyMcCarthy]

Thanks "Erdgeist" keep telling the truth keep posting is all we CAN do "trublue"
tm

[Kanashi]

Very powerful.
Thanks for sharing.

[GBrown]

Ditto

[marcelisa]

My G-od, I cannot imagine how even if the two men on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee become President and Vice-President, they can begin to untangle this.

This is so much bigger, more complicated, and much more frightening than I ever imagined. Sarah Palin, watch this video (especially Part 3) and see if you still want to be Vice-President. Nothing in your history as a politician will have prepared you for this. In all sincerity, if you guys win, good luck to you.

I am committed more than ever to bringing a level-headed, highly educated, crisis-tested, world-saavy, master strategist to the White House.

[myangeldog1]

Please post on every blog on this site......­.This is my main concern and is what I've been trying to get across to people and everybody is so concerned about the trivial B.S. It's Freaking scary and the world is on fire. #1 reason Palin is a threat to our national security. Welcome to the war on terrorism.­...it's worse now than EVER before and we need a STRONG diplomat.

OBAMA / BIDEN '08!!!!

[p1356]

All this surge chest pounding is quite late. Wasn't it also Bush who sidelined Gen. Shinseki for making the same call before the war even started? It's convenient historical revision, Rumsfeld and the administration who backed him thought they could get away with a radically small invasion force, and got spanked for years. Now, Petraeus is a military genius for bringing the occupation back to reality.

And by this point in time, the surge was supposed to have allowed for the return of even more troops than it added, hence "surge". So by it's very definition it has failed.

One thing so underreported in the press and ignored by the GOP is the payments made to the militia's that is helping to keep things quiet. I never heard McCain explain that victory meant creating a welfare state.

[Nofuzzydreams]

So it needed the good judgment of McCain as the results show!! We are a civilian government!! The President takes recommendations from the miltary but make his/her own decisions. In this case President Obama would have acted upon the recommendation and be wrong whereas President McCain would overrule the recommendation and be right!! The choice is obvious.

[Americatortures]

You mean when he voted for the war--WITHOUT reading the intelligence report??? Yeah..THAT­'S the kind of good judgement we need. N-O-T!!! And when he said he'd go into Iraq NOW,knowing what he knows NOW?? Thanks....­but no thanks,Sparky!!

[Americatortures]

And by picking a woman who probably speaks in tongues and handles poisonous snakes?? THAT good judgement??? PASS!

[Americatortures]

You mean when he says he's going to end the influence of the "lobbyists"? What's he gonna do..fire his entire campaign staff?? Black?? Davis??? Schmidt?? Turns out the good judjement you praise is really a string if impetuous FAILURES and false political bravado!!

[Americatortures]

You mean when he flip-flopped on the "AGENTS OF INTOLERANC­E".....and picked an Evangelical loon ...a woman who hates women?? Or was it his good judgement about drilling here and drilling now...so that in 10 years we MIGHT save a nickel a gallon on gas??

[Americatortures]

Or was it his flip flop on comprehensive immigration reform ...a bill that bears his name he now says he would NOT vote for??? Or is it the Bush tax cuts he NOW supports after being against them for the last 6 years??? THAT good judgement??? GET A LIFE!!

[Bitsko]

Well, there was nothing in that interview I haven't already read over the years in The New York Review of Books and elsewhere.

[KYJurisDoctor]

President Bush was proved right.

[bmermaid]

And you just proved yourself uninformed.

[Nofuzzydreams]

Obama admitted the surge has been a success - so you seem to be uninformed!!

[jrterrier]

why is anyone paying attention to woodward. this is about the 4th book he's written on bush. the one not long before the 2004 election helped elect bush because he painted him in very good light. he had inside info about the outing of valerie plame and kept it to himself even as he was writing about that scandal for the post. he's become a inside the beltway reporter, who gets access by playing along with the powerful.

[gevan]

Who would buy the last two books if Bush wasn't reelected? Conflict of interest, anyone?

[Guynemer]

General Meade and most of the Union brass opposed an agressive military campaign into the South, so Lincoln fired their @$$es and then promoted Grant, Sherman and Sheridan to get 'er done.

My how history repeats itself.

[Bitsko]

And Grant and Sherman's victories won Lincoln his reelection, as well as the war. I for one can live without slavery.

[robXdion]

The US Civil War is NOT synonymous to the Iraqi War. Meade was incompetent and slow. He couldn't even win a passive tedious battle with overwhelming numbers in Virginia. All of the generals fighting in Iraq prior to Petraeus were aggressive almost to a fault (except Casey). Slashing and burning the Southern countryside is far different than trying to win hearts and minds while coaxing Iraqis to take over their own government from tribal leaders and militias.

[gevan]

Meade in Virginia . . . are you thinking of the Mine Run campaign? Umm, Meade was never fired, but General Grant supervised Meade's Army of the Potomac in the 1864-65 campaigns.