By Bruce Wolpe
POLITICS
WAR
Bob Woodward
Simon & Schuster, $55
Over a reporter’s lifetime of 20 books, Bob Woodward is a grandmaster of American journalism because he always, as Lin-Manuel Miranda did in Hamilton, takes us into the room where it happens. From the Oval Office in All the President’s Men and the Final Days, which chronicle the constitutional scandal that felled president Richard Nixon, to his latest, WAR, what Woodward reports through his meticulous craft is often verbatim between just two people in the room. It is stunning.
Woodward has focused most especially on presidents at war in Bush at War and Plan of Attack and Obama’s Wars, and how they dealt with the catastrophic attacks and aftershocks of 9/11. What is different about WAR is that this is not about a president prosecuting a war but a president – Joe Biden – who is determined, after immersion in five decades of American military tragedy and triumph – to keep two raging conflagrations, Ukraine and Israel, from spiralling out of control. Woodward reaches a judgment about Biden and how he has acted under extreme pressures to avoid nuclear war between Russia and NATO in Europe and prevent regional war between Israel and Iran in the Middle East.
WAR was published a month before the US election. Headlines were made. His October Surprise was that General Mark Milley, the highly respected chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s presidency, stated on the record that Trump is a fascist. John Kelly, Trump’s longest serving chief of staff in the first term, agreed. Vice President Kamala Harris publicly concurred, and the 2024 election campaign was in part a referendum on Trump – that Trump, as we all know, won.
On Ukraine, Woodward takes us through the astonishing intelligence that showed Russia about to invade Ukraine with dominant military force. President Volodymyr Zelensky did not believe it – until the last moment. Russia’s military threat could not be countered immediately with countervailing force – that would come through NATO – but by splashing the top-secret intelligence on Russia’s plans all over the media, removing Vladimir Putin’s element of surprise.
Pulitzer prize winning author Bob Woodward.
Woodward takes us to the edge of our seats as Putin plays with triggers on his tactical nuclear weapons. There is a clinically terrifying call between Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defence, and Sergei Shoigu, his equivalent in Putin’s regime. “I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” Shoigu responded after Austin let him know what would befall Russia if their nuclear weapons were used. “I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world,” Austin said. “I don’t make threats.”
An awkward greeting between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu following the US President’s arrival in Tel Aviv last year. Today there is virtually no trust between them.Credit: NYT
There are equally shocking passages on the wars that involve Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and its agents. Yes, Biden has a lifetime of commitment to the Jewish State. Yes, Biden will not hamper Israel’s ability to defend itself. But underneath, just a few days into Israel’s response to the horrors of October 7, are bitter and profound differences between Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu.
From the beginning, Biden made clear he did not want a broader war, that Israel should not pursue the occupation and degree of destruction unleashed on Gaza. Netanyahu is determined to destroy Hamas no matter the lives lost in Gaza. Today there is virtually no trust left between Biden and Bibi.
Many will be surprised at the constant presence of Kamala Harris in the Situation Room and in missions across the globe. Woodward also parses whether Biden should – or could – wage his re-election campaign. He concludes that Biden is a fully capable, fully fit commander-in-chief. But not able to campaign effectively. In the most poignant passage in the book, it is Antony Blinken, who has worked with Biden for decades, who asks his mentor and president, “Can you see yourself doing it for another four years? You’ve got to answer that question.”
There is a great benefit in reading this book after the election. A year before beginning his presidential run, Biden remarks, “I feel I just have to do this. Trump represents something fundamentally wrong about politics. This guy just isn’t really an American president.”
When Trump announced his campaign in 2022, Biden’s staff believed that Trump was finished. Biden and Harris knew better. And they found out they were right.
Bruce Wolpe is author of Trump’s Australia (Allen & Unwin).
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