Watergate to Iraqgate: Bob Woodward At It Again

When many thought that the greying Robert Upshur “Bob” Woodward, one of the best-known investigative journalists in the United States, was leading a comfy life away from the harsh realities of the world, here comes his new book State of Denial. His ‘investigative’ spirit is probably still alive.

Thanks largely to Woodward’s work (in a historical partnership with Carl Bernstein while working as a reporter for The Washington Post) in helping uncover the Watergate scandal, the then President Richard Nixon had to resign. Woodward crowned the success of his mission by writing the book All the President’s Men

But that was 1974. Woodward was 31-year-old then, and President Bush 28. Although today it is a changed United States of America, the cardinal issues remain the same — obstruction of justice, abuse of power and freedom of expression. At the moment it may appear that President Bush is managing well by steam-rolling over any dissenting voices. However, the day of reckoning cannot be wished away.

Woodward’s recent book State of Denial comes exactly 30 years after he wrote All the President’s Men. Interestingly, he wrote The Final Days two years later in 1976. Will he be also writing about President Bush’s ‘final days’ two years hence?

Now about his new book. “It’s getting to the point now where there are 800-900 attacks a week (in Iraq). That’s more than a hundred a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces,” Woodward told CBS television in an interview to be aired tomorrow night, says The Guardian.

“In this, his third book on the administration, Woodward relies on the off-the-record interviews with US officials that have become his trademark. But unlike his earlier chronicles of the White House, Woodward did not have access to Mr Bush or Mr Cheney.”

Reacting to the book, Mr Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, was at his ambivalent best in his convoluted remarks perfectly reverberating His Master’s Voice: “Look, this is a war, and you are going to have a lot of really smart people with completely different opinions,” said at a briefing on Friday afternoon.

“In Washington, Mr. Snow said, ‘you’re going to see people who are on the losing side of arguments being especially outspoken about their opinions.’ He added, “The average Washington memoir ought to be subtitled, If they only listened to me.

“But Mr. Snow had difficulty explaining why President Bush had failed to listen to such a broad range of officials who had called for more troops, including Robert D. Blackwill, the former top Iraq adviser, and L. Paul Bremer III, the senior American official running the occupation.

“Nor did Mr. Snow explain why Mr. Bush’s upbeat assessments of a ‘Plan for Victory’ in Iraq, laid out in speeches late last year, contrasted so sharply with the contents of classified memorandums written by officials who warned that failure was also a significant possibility.”

Newsweek has this to say: “There are few journalists in Washington who can throw the White House off its stride: Bob Woodward is one of them. Woodward’s new book, State of Denial, paints a damning picture of White House policy in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.

“The arrival of a Woodward Tome has become a kind of biennial ritual in Washington. The last two, which detailed the Afghan war and the successful early invasion of Iraq, were fairly kind to the president and his staff. But this was a different kind of book, and the administration was already bracing for a rougher ride.”

You can find out more about State of Denial and buy it here.