Bush at War is a 2002 book by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward

Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....

 recounting President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's responses to the September 11 attacks and his administration's handling of the subsequent War in Afghanistan. It is an example of creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service...

.

Much of the book recounts events in meetings of the United States National Security Council

United States National Security Council

The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...

 (NSC), with the major players in the story, aside from the President, Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

, Colin Powell

Colin Powell

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

, George Tenet

George Tenet

George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....

 and Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

. Woodward examined notes from such NSC meetings and also interviewed administration officials including President Bush.

Woodward especially focuses on the administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and its strategic and tactical decisions in that vein. As one of the first detailed accounts of these decisions, prior to inside accounts like Richard A. Clarke

Richard A. Clarke

Richard Alan Clarke was a U.S. government employee for 30 years, 1973–2003. He worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to chair the Counter-terrorism Security Group and to a seat on the United States National...

's Against All Enemies

Against All Enemies

Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror is a 2004 book by former U.S. chief counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke, criticizing past and present presidential administrations for the way they handled the War on Terrorism. The book focused much of its criticism on President George W...

, Woodward's book was widely acclaimed, getting praise from The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

and other major papers. The book was criticized by Michael Scheuer

Michael Scheuer

Michael F. Scheuer is a former CIA intelligence officer, American blogger, historian, foreign policy critic, and political analyst. He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies...

, former CIA chief of the Bin Laden station

Bin Laden Issue Station

The Bin Laden Issue Station was a unit of the Central Intelligence Agency dedicated to tracking Osama bin Laden.Soon after its creation the Station developed a new, deadlier vision of bin Laden's activities. In 1999 the CIA inaugurated a grand "Plan" against al-Qaeda, but struggled to find the...

, in his book Imperial Hubris

Imperial Hubris

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror is a book originally published anonymously, but later revealed to have been authored by Michael Scheuer, a CIA veteran with 22 years service, who ran the Counterterrorist Center's bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999.Scheuer describes his...

for offering a platform for government leaks, which he deemed harmful to national security: "After reading Mr. Woodward's Bush at War, it seems to me that the U.S. officials who either approved or participated in passing the information—in documents and via interviews—that is the heart of Mr. Woodward's book, gave an untold measure of aid and comfort to the enemy."

External links

• The Times discussion of the book.