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

(CBS)  Another part of that story, according to Woodward, is the president's frustration with the attitude of the Iraqi people. "He has a meeting at the Pentagon with a bunch of experts. And he voices, he just said, 'I don’t understand that the Iraqis are not appreciative of what we've done for them,' namely liberating them," Woodward said.

"But tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis had been killed, in the invasion and through the occupation. He didn’t understand why they might be a little ungrateful about what had occurred to them?" Pelley asked.

"His beacon is liberation," Woodward said. "He thinks we've done this magnificent thing for them. I think he still holds to that position."

"The president suggests to you, in your interview, that he believes he's already outmaneuvered whoever the next president is. Foreclosed their options on what to do about Iraq," Pelley said.

"He and the secretary of defense, Gates, both by appointing Petraeus as central commander, in other words the boss of the whole Middle East. And no matter who becomes president, they're not going to be able to replace him. Petraeus is what my old boss at the Post used to call 'fireproof' - he's done so well that he can't be fired. And there is some satisfaction people in the Bush administration take with that," Woodward explained.

"Satisfaction" because they believe Gen. Petraeus will resist a quick withdrawal from Iraq.

"General Petraeus is sitting with 140,000 troops, in Iraq now, when conditions are definitely better. But Petraeus says, 'It's still reversible and fragile, because so many bad things have happened,'" Woodward said.

"You know, I'm curious, did you ask the president what advice he would give the next president about the war?" Pelley asked.

Said Woodward, "Yes, and pressed on what is the essence of what you would say, he said: 'Don't let it fail.'"

[hamiltongrad]

Concerning Woodward : Can you imagine if in 1942, he published a book that stated that he knew of a scret plan (overlord) that would change the war, and had something to do with troops massing for an invasion, but he was told not to talk about it.
Or that there was a new kind of bomb, and people like Fermi were on it,,but ..mums the word.

There is something very wrong with CBS and Woodward esp. needing this attention, why does the Pres. give him access ? Woodward is a glory guy looking to stay on TV and make more buck. He never did share any $$ with "deep throat". He''s always looking to refind his glory days... but this is going way too far. What an selfish idiot.

[hamiltongrad]

tO MICHAEL 302: tHANK YOU FOR THE support. The spin and disrard for the truth is amazing. What counts to the left is FEELINGS, and a basic hate of all things American and Western. Where do they get these values ? Grad school !
After such indoctrination in HS, College, newspapers, TV "news", Movies, grad school, it is an amazing testement to common sense that any REP. gets elected, and so many do.
Just review the attacks on Gov Palin . GET THIS : IF John McCain had not picked her, and was asked why he didn''t - and then gave all the objections of the news media ( whoe is going to take care of the children, for example ...and more) MC CAIN would have been branded a sexist idiot by the press.

Concer

[Sashland]

Does Woodward have a security clearance to receive secret classified material? He has now disclosed a secret military program for capturing/killing our enemies. The disclosure that the program even exists is a violation. So fine of him not to mention the details: did he have government approval to even talk about it?

Similarly, the mention of alleged spying appears to be a violation. Who gave him this information? Some are prosecuted for passing on much less sensitive information (in private) while Woodward discloses national security secrets in public.
"Country First" for some; "Bob First" for him.

Any Grand Juries read the paper? Does the Military / State Department care that its personnel are giving extremely sensitive secret materials to reckless reporters?

Bob Woodward should be ashamed and shamed in polite company. One can only hope for indictment.

[kgwspoon]

We walk the walk and talk the talk!

[kgwspoon]

a pcthor
My husband family and friends are all educated people and could have done anything they wanted but they "chose" to serve this great country. So don''t go there with me.

[kgwspoon]

a pcthor
To help protect & serve your sorry butt!
country 1st right?

[jtaylor8527]

The secret weapon(s) Woodward refers to are remotely controlled insect-like flying robots equipped with cameras, microphones and tiny amounts of high explosives - sufficient to blow the head off of a terrorist if close enough. These have been in use in Iraq for at least the last 6 months.

[pcthor-2009]

kgwspoon,,,why did your friends and family sign up to fight??????No one was sent there without knowing possible out comes....

[boanerjeez]

There''s a saying in Washington; "If a secret is known by more than one person in Washington, it''s no longer a secret". I believe Bob Woodward showed remarkable tact in keeping what should be secret to himself, and provoking the right amount of angst from our imaginations in respect to this administrations blatant disregard of public and military sentiment as how we as a nation should be viewed by the rest of the world. No wonder 80% of the world hates us.
I have been jaded by the report from the New York Post alleging a disinformation campaign against the American people since 9/11 using top military advisors in the press. How can we really know what is going on in our government when they make a concerted effort to throw off the scent? They feed us so much *** causing so much confusion that when someone really knows what%u2019s happening, their voice gets lost in the din. What is the result? No one person seems to know what is really happening, and conspiracy theories abound, maybe just as they like it. Bob could be telling us absolute truth or being used as part of the disinformation campaign. They know who he is and how he loves to write books. I can just hear G.W.B. saying "hey, lets let some info leak to Bob so he can use it in his book to spread fear in Al-Qaida", a secret weapon as revolutionary as tanks? It sounds like they''re in league with the devil.

[lizzale]

information about the secret "weapon" that bob woodward touched upon in his 60 minutes interview on sunday sept 7 should be shared equally with the presidential nominees. and that equality shoud be recorded in the congressional record.no partisanship with any established party should be allowed.(or do they know it already?)

[lizzale]

information about the secret "weapon" that bob woodward touched upon in his 60 minutes interview on sunday sept 7 should be shared equally with the presidential nominees. and that equality shoud be recorded in the congressional record.no partisanship with any established party should be allowed.(or do they know it already?)

[lizzale]

information about the secret "weapon" that bob woodward touched upon in his 60 minutes interview on sunday sept 7 should be shared equally with the presidential nominees. and that equality shoud be recorded in the congressional record.no partisanship with any established party should be allowed.(or do they know it already?)

[lizzale]

information about the secret "weapon" that bob woodward touched upon in his 60 minutes interview on sunday sept 7 should be shared equally with the preidential nominees. and that equality shoud be recorded in the congressioal record.no partisanship with any established party should be allowed.(or do they know it already?)

[reaway66]

the surge was only putting those troops that should have been there in the beginning. this was would have been over by now if more troops had been sent then.

[vsg4]

" As far as the current war situation. There were more people murdered in Chicago last month than all of IRAQ !

Posted by HamiltonGRAD at 08:40 AM : Sep 09, 2008"

I did not know that 700,000 people dead in Chicago last month. May I ask for details please.

President Bush him self 3 years ago that 30,000 Iraqis are dead with was 20 times less than actual number of Iraqis dead ( source Johns Hopkins) . Be specific please.

[darnedsocks]

AS SOON AS THE TROOPS LEAVE, THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY STUDY ISLAM WILL TAKE OVER AND IMPLEMENTS IT''S SICK RULES OF OPPRESSION, VIOLENCE, AND DESRUCTION. ISLAM''S TEACHING DIRECTLY CONFLICT WITH DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. THIS WILL NOT WORK UNTIL THE PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY, WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED FOR THEIR APOSTACY, AS PRESCRIBED UNDER SHARIA LAW--THE LAW OF ISLAM.

[darnedsocks]

SO WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO CONVERT THESE PEOPLE TO CHRISTIANITY? DEMOCRACY CANNOT WORK UNDER ISLAMIC RULE. IT''S TEACHINGS ARE IN DIRCECT OPPOSITION TO THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE AND DOES NOT ADDRESS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.

[kgwspoon]

Republican''''s will not fool us again! People are going to come out in droves so that we don''''t have to put up with another 8 years of lies.I have along line of family members that are in Iraq or have been( 2 and 3 times) as well as a good friend who''''s 30 some year old husband was killed 2 years ago. I am praying that Bush & McCain are not playing games with our family''''s lives. When I here people say we have to win. I think win WHAT? stop playing politics with our family members!

[beehive21-2009]

What a info commercial,circus this is ? The advertisement runs everyday,what staying power,Bob,has.

[zykracosmos]

Does Woodward have a security clearance to receive secret classified material? ... did he have government approval to even talk about it?

Similarly, the mention of alleged spying appears to be a violation. Who gave him this information?
...One can only hope for indictment.


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Posted by Sashland1 at 03:32 AM : Sep 09, 2008
----------------------------

Duh! If you were paying attention, the president himself sat down with him, after three previous books which allowed Woodward inner circle access, and spilled the beans. Obviously Woodward was handed all the information with White House approval, because it casts a favorable light on Bush''s war legacy and his competance. Perhaps he was tired of people saying Cheney was running the country. Regardless of what you think of Bush, the book undoubtedly makes him look smarter than his generals and independent of the circle of neocons everyone thinks is running the country. Bush has not been above giving away a few secrets to score points with the public before, and greatly irrated the Brits by blowing a terrorist investigation with early arrests before the time was right. Woodward is being used by Bush to provide a late restructuring of his public image.