'Bush at War' reveals a young President's passion

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist
I just finished reading "Bush at War" by Bob Woodward, who cut his journalistic eye teeth bringing down another Republican president, the late, mostly unlamented Richard Nixon.
From my reading of the biographies by Robert Caro of Nixon's predecessor, the late President Lyndon Johnson, one would have to say LBJ was far crookeder than Nixon, but LBJ was dead and gone before the dirty political dealings of his life ever came to light.
But if you're expecting to find a Nixonian treatment of President George W. Bush in Woodward's latest book, you'll be disappointed. Woodward has either turned Republican or we have an entirely different type of President in office than has been widely reported.
Far from the image most pundits paint of "W" as an immature, fumbling, tongue-tied nitwit, Woodward tells the story of a young president who rises to the challenges of war.

Inside look at the war on terror

Woodward gives us an inside look at the first round of the war on terror inside the Bush administration, from Sept. 11, 2001, to the beginning rumbles of the war on Iraq.
It's the rather stunning story of the quick downfall of the Taliban and al Quaeda in Afghanistan, a campaign of about 100 days that put Osama bin Laden's thugs on the run.
All the key Bush players granted Woodward interviews, including the President himself.
Secretary of State Colin Powell's profile is probably the most surprising, as Woodward finds he spent the first year or so of service pretty much "in the deep freeze" of the Bush administration. But beginning with 9-11, he stepped more into the limelight and gained more access to Bush, who had apparently viewed Powell as a possible political adversary.
Powell is seen as the "reluctant warrior," virtually the sole voice in the administration urging caution in prosecuting a war with Iraq, while Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are the "hawks" urging Bush to war with Iraq.
National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice seems to occupy the ground somewhere between the two camps on Iraq, and often encourages Powell to step forward with his views and sits in on meetings between Powell and Bush, according to Woodward.

'Bush at War' in first year after 9-11

But the book is not about the Iraq war, which will probably commence by month's end.
It's about what happened behind closed doors in the Bush administration during the first year after 9-11. And the strongest theme of the book is how Bush has taken personal charge of the war on terrorism, beginning in the Afghanistan campaign and continuing on.
And far from the common view of Bush as an out-of-his-depths lightweight manipulated by Cheney, Rumsfeld and others, Woodward reports a strong President very much in charge.
One scene reveals a previously unreported fact. Before the first CIA team of secret paramilitary soldiers was sent into Afghanistan, Bush signed an intelligence order on Sept. 17, 2001, authorizing the assassination of Osama bin Laden and al Quaeda leaders.
Cofer Black, head of the CIA's counterterrorism center, tasked the team leader, identified only as "Gary" by Woodward, with very direct orders. "Go and find the al Quaeda and kill them. We're going to eliminate them. Get bin Laden, find him. I want his head in a box."
Gary asked Black, "You're serious?" Black responded, "Absolutely," repeating that he wanted bin Laden's head in a box. "I want to take it down and show the president."
The CIA team took Black's order literally, and after landing, Gary sent back a cable to request these items: "heavy-duty cardboard boxes and dry ice, and if possible some pikes."
Since then, several top al Quaeda leaders have been either captured or killed in battles.
The CIA is still looking for Osama, who vowed not to taken alive. I suppose the boxes and some dry ice are still ready, and they've had plenty of time to find some pikes to use, too.