Sept. 7, 2008
Woodward: Military Brass Opposed Surge
Also Tells 60 Minutes U.S. Has Secret Military Capability; And That U.S. Has Been Spying On Iraq's PM
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The War Within
In his latest inside-the-White-House book, legendary reporter Bob Woodward reveals strategies governing the war in Iraq coming directly from President Bush and his inner circle. Scott Pelley reports.
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Bob Woodward (CBS)
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Photo Essay
Scrutinizing The Surge
Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, U.S. ambassador testify before Congress.
"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.
Asked what the generals at the Pentagon thought when presented with the idea of a surge, Woodward told Pelley, "They think that it won't work. And the president actually at one point goes and meets with them. And the Army chief of staff, General [Peter] Schoomaker, says 'You can't add five brigades, it will take many more,' 'What about another crisis?' 'We don't have troops for this,' 'What about the damage your doing to the force, the young kids who see nothing but endless rotations?'"
"What does General Casey, sitting in Baghdad, think of having additional troops?" Pelley asked.
"He thinks that Baghdad is a troop sump-a place you can put endless numbers of troops in. And he does not want to add force," Woodward said.
"The president, who has said in public, endless times, that he relies on his generals to tell him what they need, is actually going his own way here," Pelley remarked.
"That's right," Woodward agreed. "The records of the joint chiefs show that the idea of five brigades came from the White House, not from anybody except the White House."
"The War Within," published by CBS-owned Simon & Schuster, tracks the growing alarm inside the White House in 2006, as U.S. casualties mounted during Iraq’s plunge toward civil war. The book is based on more than 150 interviews, including recorded conversations with the president. Mr. Bush told Woodward that he was frustrated with his commanders - and asked for enemy body counts so he could keep score.
"I ask that, on occasion, to find out whether or not we were fighting back. Because the perception is that our guys are dying and they're not, because we don't put out numbers. We don't have a tally. On the other hand, if I'm sitting here watching the casualties come in, I'd at least like to know whether or not our soldiers are fighting," the president explained in one of Woodward's recorded interviews.
"It gets so intense that in one of the secure video conferences between Washington and Baghdad the president says to Casey, 'George, we're not playing for a tie.' And Casey's knuckles, according to witnesses, literally go white as he's gripping the table. And he says, 'No Mr. President. We are not playing for a tie.' And this is Bush's concern that we're not going out and killing; in fact, Casey told one colleague privately that the president's view is almost reflective of 'Kill the bastards. Kill the bastards,' and that way we'll succeed," Woodward told Pelley.
"You've obtained a number of documents, classified secret that the president was receiving in this period of time. What was the president hearing about what was going on in Iraq?" Pelley asked.
"On July 20th, the top secret special compartmented information report that went directly to him quotes from an intelligence report saying, 'Violence is so out of hand, so extensive that it is self-sustaining,'" Woodward said.
Woodward reports that a secret study for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2006 concluded that the U.S. was losing the war, but the president didn't give a hint of that in public.
"Absolutely we're winning," the president said. "We're winning and we will win unless we leave before the job is done."
"Why do you think that the president didn't level with the American people in this dark period in this war?" Pelley asked.
"Because he wanted it to work," Woodward explained. "Did not wanna deflate the morale of the troops. And there was a political election coming up. The November 2006 Congressional elections. It was a raw, political calculation that if you tell the public - or let it get out - that they are reconsidering what they're doing, that they're acknowledging that it's not going well, all political hell would break loose."
Produced by Robert G. Anderson
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 919 CommentsHow about micro-miniaturized cameras/microphones numbering in the millions that wirelessly send the data to massive computers programmed with AI to screen every word spoken and every face seen so that "suspicious" talk and wanted individuals can be spotted, isolated and "taken out"? (Hey wait, aren''t those called cell phones! ;-)
If it doesn''t exist now; you can be sure someone in DIA is working on it.
Unfortunately, real/long term security can never be obtained by military means.
Real global security comes from universal peace, prosperity, freedom and the diligent practice of common human decency.
Kucinich''s idea of a department of peace is a good one.
Ironically, the violence and spiritual degradation of a militaristic authoritarian dictatorship in which people obey out of fear is that it breeds the very terrorism that it pretends to be opposed to.
Love may not be "all you need"; but it sure is a good place to start from.
The Bush/McCain/Rove/Admiral Poindexter model for "security" isn''t, in the long run, much different from that of Joseph Stalin. Only now the art/technology of being able to kill anyone anywhere anytime has been refined to more of a "science".
Congratulations, George Bush!
What good is it if we "win the war" by simply killing everyone who stands in our way if we end up losing our souls as Americans???
And let us not forget that Russia and China just might object to our new found killing capabilities.
Sorry folks; we humans will either learn to live peacefully together on this planet or we will become extinct.
"It''s the liberals!"
"No! It''s the conservatives!"
"It''s the left!"
"It''s the right!"
Actually boys and girls, it''s the IDIOTS that refuse to educate themselves! Go read PNAC and then come back when you realize that BOTH sides of the aisle are populated by treasonous ****** that should tried for selling out our country to big business. (Oil)
Until then, you''re ALL just drinking the Kool-aid!
While my first reaction was to wish Mr. Woodward would stumble upon one of our special forces folks in a dark alley...I take solace in the hope that our military leadership is right now laughing uncontrollably over their success in feeding him misleading information. Knowing his liberal & treasonous tendencies, they could easily be "playing" him in order to get into the heads of enemy leaders.
Either way...Traitor Bob and 60 Minutes don''t come off looking so good in my book!
Researchers get grant to develop communication system based on thoughts, not speech.
Irvine, Calif., August 13, 2008
University of California, Irvine:
"A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing foundations of synthetic telepathy".
http://www.daprocess.com
Researchers get grant to develop communication system based on thoughts, not speech.
Irvine, Calif., August 13, 2008
University of California, Irvine:
"A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing foundations of synthetic telepathy".
http://www.daprocess.com
Whether the Surge worked or not--they still haven''t reached all the objectives--we''ve still been in Iraq for 5+ years and have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars there. Iraq will always be known as Bush''s Folly.
Whether the Surge worked or not--they still haven''''t reached all the objectives--we''''ve still been in Iraq for 5+ years and have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars there. Iraq will always be known as Bush''''s Folly.
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Posted by gce65 at 07:16 PM : Sep 07, 2008
Lincoln did the same thing. So did FDR. So did Truman. That''s why they are called the Commander-In-Chief.
For people like you, there is absolutely nothing, short of resignation or death, that Bush can do correctly. While many may not like him, be big enough to give credit where credit is due. Bush was using the resources he had available to make tough decisions. You and I can armchair quarterback this, but as Woodwards article makes abundantly clear...you, I, and everyone else really don''t have a clue as to what is going on.
Posted by nzrqv7
Speaking for myself--this is absolute FACT!!!!!!!!!
'' .. i had an horrible dream, i was on some sparcely traveled trail, feeling lost, and hungry, and i says to some small girl huvan, i''m hungry, and she says: and you want what, some handout, some directions to some more populated venue, if you''ve got some money i''ll give you some crumbs, and if you''ve no money, i''ll take your baby, cause the likes of you''ve got no place with any baby, especially if you''ve no crumbs to throw at it, and after i''d said i''d no money, she wistled and all these helicopters and tanks and thugs with guns appeared, she quickly fired three cage companys, scolded four others, made a purchace from one before scolding them for their other offerings, she then fired some arresting officet teams, and scolded some more before purchasing from another and then scolding them for their alternative selections, then she had me arrested and started firing judges and jurys and attorneys .. ''
'' .. a grain of sand is a map of forever, a book of infinite maps of each of the infinte forevers in forever, to look on sand as something as less than eternity herself is the same as to look on eternity herself as less than a grain of sand, the two are indistinguishable, except in the interpretations of the eyes and ears of hearts and minds .. ''
Remember this 95% of the media consitor themselves liberals. So is it no wonder what you see on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, The New York Times..
Look what these networks are trying to harm Sarah Patin, before she was even introduced...
The Media is in the tank for Obama.. Don''t be fooled.
Until then, you''''re ALL just drinking the Kool-aid!
Posted by Khanghi at 11:41 PM : Sep 06, 2008
Excellent post. Remember, these are the ''blind'' that ''will not see'' not that they cannot.
Of course, the fact that Bob Woodward is talking about American measures that are secret and sensitive that give them the upper hand against terrorists is in itself a weapon of psychological operations against the enemy. I think it goes without saying that the US Government and DARPA have developed things that would be considered science fiction (and even outrageous) if the public found out about them. Bob Woodward would not be talking publicly about sensitive technology and techniques unless the Bush Administration wanted him to. Google "electronic harassment" sometime. You''ll run into a lot of delusional b.s., but there''s a grain of truth to some of that stuff, and don''t think that the military isn''t putting that technology to use -- hopefully for good and not evil purposes.
And while I''m at it, who''s more stupid...Woodward for sharing this information through his book or every person he interviewed that allowed him to gather this information together. Bottom line...our troops are less safe going forward w/ Woodward''s book and comments then before. Congrats Bob, if your trying to play a spoiler at the expense of our forces on the ground, your succeeding. TRAITOR!
And while I''m at it, who''s more stupid...Woodward for sharing this information through his book or every person he interviewed that allowed him to gather this information together. Bottom line...our troops are less safe going forward w/ Woodward''s book and comments then before. Congrats Bob, if your trying to play a spoiler at the expense of our forces on the ground, your succeeding. TRAITOR!
Pack of idiots.
Once AGAIN??
You mean when he exposed Nixon''s traitorous actions, it was the same thing?
wow I''m suprised the Bush administration is still letting him in as an "insider" if he writes all these books. Oh that''s right, he isn''t an insider in the Republican party. He is an INSIDER IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THAT YOU PIECE OF KRAP.
Like McCaim says, Democrats want to reform everything but their own party.
Posted by ggforo at 07:24 PM : Sep 07, 2008
Being the grandmother of a young man in Special Ops and on stand-by to go "somewhere" and has been to Iraq--it is appaling to me the great lengths Bush has taken throughtout this whole "invasion" to keep the killing field active.
The man has a penchant for death--as long as it isn''t his own.
What Bush has done to our country, Iraq and how the rest of the world thinks about America is criminal, and no one as yet, has been able to tell me what "We will/have won".
It can''t be the "war on terror" as terrorists are in every country--even still here.
Do we have a chance of being attacked again? Absolutely! Our boarders are wide open.
Now Bush is challenging Putin (agitating Iran has somehow subsided)and Putin is responding.
Just waiting for Bushs famous "bring it on" challenge.
This poor excuse of a meader or even human belongs in a straight jacket in a padded cell with no contact to the outside world--he is the epitomy of evil.
What do you know. Have you been there. This Dem has and I am voting for Obama. The man opposed this war from the beginning and relied on the generals to make an informed decision as to whether or not vote for the surge. Most of the generals said no in private.
That you want to call dems some type of monster is outrageous but the status quo for the war party of the repubs.
Once again you show your bias and unfair reporting. Nice timing by the way, just before the election so McCain and republicans are hurt by this blasphemy!
Grow up and do your job as a citizen in this democracy and question your government - especially one as corrupt as Bush''s.
The surge was a desperate measure - but what it showed the terrorists was that George Bush was still in control, and they realized they couldn''t hold out until a Democratic administration could surrender to them.
What Woodward did here is called "propaganda." Atilla the Hun was a master at that. So his enemies would disband and clear the battlefield rather than risk being captured by his men...
Posted by fstop100 at 07:53 PM : Sep 07, 2008
HAhahaha would you vote for him if he was a "whitey"?
I AM A REPUBLICAN AND I AM TIRED OF PROMISES.
ABORTION:. . . .
ALL THOSE MILLIONS OF DEAD BABIES.....
DID GEORGE BUSH OR THE REPUBLICANS DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT WHEN THEY HAD CONTROL OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE ? NO.
WHY ?
THE REPUBLICANS NEED ABORTION AS AN ISSUE TO DIVIDE US.
DID REAGAN ?
NO.
DID NIXON ?
NO.
DID FORD ?
NO.
OBAMA WILL ALLOW CIVIL AGREEMENTS CONCERNING GAY PEOPLE.
NOT MARRIAGE. THAT''S FINE WITH ME.
OBAMA IS FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT .
KEEP YOUR GUNS, JUST NO AK-47''''S.
OBAMA WILL GIVE TAX BREAKS TO EVERYONE EARNING UNDER 150,000 AND WILL TAX THE WEALTHY.
I DO NOT CARE IF OBAMA IS PURPLE.
I WANT A TRUE CHANGE AND MY TAX BREAK.
I''d rather have a real country where we are free to questions our government. Bush loves war because he claim like so many of the republican punks listing their junk here that we should not question our government in time of war. They also believe that Malikie does not know he is being spied upon by the US. Please.
How many lives will he cost?
He''s a snake.
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