Plan of Attack
Finished Bob Woodward's latest book, Plan of Attack, last night. It is obvious President Bush was bent on attacking Iraq in November 2001. What is surprising is that it took until March 2003 to get it on. The war was over quickly in Iraq (President announced the shooting over on May 1, 2003, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln) but preserving peace and instilling democracy still has a long way to go. One year later the number of dead American servicemen and women has risen to 718, (579 since May 1, 2003). The center point of the book is that Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were fixated on Iraq and have used three themes at various times to justify the war: i.e. the 9/11 attacks (no Iraqi connection has been established), suspicions about weapons of mass destruction (none have been found) and getting rid of a dictator (what about all the other dictators in the world?). The book should be highly interesting to readers curious about the process of moving elephants around. The American military machine is so big it takes a tremendous amount of planning, know-how, effort and guts to get it moving. The cautious have to be prodded and the bold have to be restrained. I liken it to making a cup of tea. The teabag only goes in at the moment the water is at optimum boil.
#178 (04-27)
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