About Bob

Maybe next time there is a national security leak, investigators will save themselves years of bother by interviewing Bob Woodward first. Chances are, he'll know all about it.

Meanwhile, were I Woodward's "editor," I would still be busy trying to locate all the marbles that fell out when my head exploded.

But as a reader, I see no similarity -- none -- between him and the credulous and crusading Judy Miller.

She took sides, with disastrous results.

He declined to do so -- and though partisans found this maddening, produced the single most devastating thing I have read about the run-up to the war in Iraq: "Plan of Attack," the definitive tick-tock of how Bush administration officials marched us into this mess, in their own words.

The power of the book is in its author's willingness to stand aside, to refrain from shouting, "Two plus two is FOUR! FOUR!" as his subjects slowly hang themselves.

We know more because he knew when to get out of the way of the story.

So I can't help being sorry if he succeeded a little too well.