I'm on page 71 of "State of Denial" by Woodward.
Rumsfeld has managed to be a complete idiot once, and a partial idiot twice. Chronologically, we haven't even gotten to August, 2001.
Gonna be a long book.
(Oh, Woodward's usual pattern is to use lots of anonymous sourcing. He is breaking that pattern here. Lots and lots of people are either being quoted directly ("Fry said to Rumsfeld...") or quoted indirectly (as in, Bush is speaking alone to Prince/Ambassador Bandar from Saudi Arabia, and Woodward then quotes the conversation. Since it is clear that Bush didn't provide details of the conversation (he refused to participate in this Woodward project), that leaves the other guy in the room at the time as the source for Woodward, even though he isn't quoted directly. Bandar must be supremely pissed at Bush to be quoted so frequently, openly, and clearly while Bush is still in office.)
Full report later.
Posted by baltar at October 5, 2006 06:00 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Books | International Affairs | Iraq | Media