War
By Bob Woodward
Simon & Schuster, 2024
Beginning on February 24, 2022 and October 7, 2023 the United States has dealt with two significant international conflicts, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran. Veteran Journalist Bob Woodward took on both in “War,” his 23d book (dating back to the 1970s) focusing on noteworthy domestic and foreign events. “War” provided useful insights into the story’s protagonists and a deep dive into the complexities of the foreign policymaking process that are too often overlooked and/or smothered by politics’ need for simplicity. Woodward wrote in his usual accessible style, not providing much overt analysis, thus giving the readers the opportunity to use the “hundreds of hours of interviews” (Note to Readers) as the basis for their own. His willingness to occasionally stray from the main story line, covering other aspects of the same period (see Trump, Former President Donald J.) undermined but did not diminish the overall product.
Woodward began his story in the chaotic weeks before President Joe Biden’s inauguration and ended it in early 2024. The new president was dealing with COVID 19 and extricating, messily, the US from Afghanistan, then was hit by the hammer blows of Russia invading Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel. Biden’s foreign policy team went to work, bolstering Ukraine’s defenses to help maintain its independence and seeking to prevent Israel’s legitimate need for retaliation from spilling over into humanitarian catastrophe. Neither issue was resolved by story’s end.
Complicating the mission were the personalities of two of the “names above the title,” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The former, according to the US Intelligence Community, was a blend of extreme insecurity and imperial ambition (19) who steadfastly deniedUkraine was an independent entity. The latter needed a massive victory over Hamas to atone for the policy failures before and on the day of October 7, to mollify the ultra-religious parties in his coalition and to stay in power so as not to face prosecution. Neither, whether ally or foe, made life easy for the US.
Then there were the 2 elephants in the room, Biden and Trump. Given what we now know about Biden’s mental state, one would expect readers to scour “War” for signs of what was to come. They actually wouldn’t have found much. For the first half of “War,” Biden comes off as in charge, well informed and decisive, albeit with the occasional Bidenesque gaffe and some salty language. Then, almost out of the blue: (Biden) “was like your 87-year-old senile grandfather wandering around the room” (180) and “he never completed a sentence” (181). Next came a return to the “good” Biden, which eventually segued into his presidency-ending 2024 debate performance. As with all of Woodward's books, sources speak with him on “deep background;” they provide material without direct attribution. Given this, it would have been easy for one or more of them to discuss Biden’s decline, either in their original interviews or in followups after Biden withdrew from the 2024 race. Most likely they were protecting Biden; “War” was also relatively kind to Vice President Kamala Harris. But before anyone screams “election interference,” the book’s release date was too close to election day to make any significant difference in the outcome.
The real stars of “War” were the traditional big three of US foreign policy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director William Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, as well as their Russian, Ukrainian and Israeli counterparts. It is at this level that the real work of foreign policy gets done, and it is here that the reader understands all the complicated issues that pure politics seeks to simplify or ignore. There were German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s concerns about the negative historical reminders related to German Leopard 2 tanks being introduced into Ukraine (147), and, much more graphically, the discussion whether Israel killing every member of Hamas (Netanyahu’s goal), with the inevitable collateral civilian death and destruction in Gaza (the US’s fear), perpetuates the idea of Hamas among the survivors and solves nothing long term.
Another key player was the US Intelligence Community (IC). For example, Biden et. al. had such a clear picture of Russian military capabilities as it gathered its forces around Ukraine that it was able to pass along a warning to Ukraine of Russian intentions to invade even in the face of Russian denials. Later the IC had to deal with a truly modern problem: Israel, influenced by social media reporting of Hezbollah drone and paraglider attacks,almost attacked into Lebanon despite (the correct) US assurances that no attack was happening (211).
Donald Trump hovered around the periphery of “War,” a predator waiting for the opportunity to strike and advance his personal interests, coherence and consistency be damned. For example, he called Putin “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine in February, 2002 (122), mused about putting Chinese markings on US combat aircraft and attacking Russia in March (137) to opposing additional aid to Ukraine in May (144). It was essential for Woodward to include Trump in the narrative; he’d had significant (positive and negative) interactions with Ukraine and Israel during his first administration, was clearly running for president again and was absolutely incapable of following the traditional former president role of quietly allowing his successor room to operate.
Still, there was much Trump-related information in “War” that seemed superfluous, starting with the Prologue covering Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s 1989 “lost” interview with Trump and continuing with January 6, his legal issues and the assassination attempt against him, etc. Given Woodward’s multiple short chapter style it was easy to slip these little vignettes into “War” without disrupting the story, but they, along with the Hunter Biden saga, still distracted from the book’s central foci and would have been better left out. One would argue their inclusion was more a marketing - any Trump material sells - than an editorial - Woodward disrespects Trump - decision.
The Woodward style is not universally beloved, but “War” provided an important public service, giving the readers stories behind the story in ways that inform and humanize, for good and bad, the people involved therein. As the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts have not ended, we can reasonably expect and eagerly await “War 2,” in which the outsiders become insiders and vice versa.