War by Bob Woodward - Book Review
This is the third book by Bob Woodward that I have read over the last decade, and slicing through the pages made me realise just how much I have changed over these years in terms of how I see reality and what I find authentic anymore.
War is based on extraordinary research, evidence, and direct interviews/quotes that would have made this book a gold standard in journalism; unfortunately it is not, in fact far from it.
War reads like a commissioned work—part Biden legacy-building, part election propaganda instead of a serious journalistic endeavour. Released a month before the 2024 election, its timing & tone make its objectives clear:
1. Defend Biden's legacy
2. Viciously Attack Trump before the elections
3. Reinforce US foreign policy biases Reading War makes me wonder about the sheer depth of confirmation bias and intellectual dishonesty the plagues the American intellectual discourse.
If this is NYT Bestseller/Pulitzer-level journalism, I'm concerned about the future of journalism and commonsense in America. The book doesn’t just exhibit strong biases about the world—it also reflects equally strong biases against a large chunk of American population that doesn't support a particular liberal worldview and has been conveniently put on mute by the mainstream media and intelligentsia.
In pursuit of defending Biden's legacy, Woodward has really jeopardised his own. Read on as I dissect the biases in this book.
Biden vs Trump
Throughout the book, it's hard to miss Woodwards soft, empathetic and humanised approach towards Biden, his team and his presidency, despite when the Biden admin went about wreaking havoc around the world and inside the US.
For instance, Biden is a family man, concerned deeply for his son, is an exceptionally great leader with extensive background in public service, who knows the art of decisive decision making. As for Trump, he is 'indifferent to public and national interest', 'unfit to lead the country', easily manipulated by Putin, and Woodward didn't find his achievements, and family life particularly worth mentioning so as to not humanise him accidentally.
Biden listens & encourages to contrary views in meetings and is 'refreshing' according to his peers. Trump on the other hand is hated by everyone he has ever worked with, and is 'reckless' and 'impulsive' who could start a WWIII.
One would imagine a little more subtlety in character assassinations, and propaganda but given perhaps the urgency of elections, Woodward really took off the gloves. Tsk.
On Putin and Ukraine War
I was really hoping here to read something more insightful than a standard American Cold-War era propaganda on foreign adversaries, especially Russia.
Where Biden is presented by Woodward as this deeply thoughtful and well intentioned philosopher king who wanted to protect lives around the world, Putin on the other hand, very much like Trump, is a family-less, erratic and simply an evil being that barely qualifies to be a human.
For instance, Putin is presented as essentially an autocratic leader with "extreme insecurities and imperial ambitions and that his war on Ukraine was out of his " fever dream" during Covid isolation that turned him into a paranoid and monstrous character who didn't care having the entire Russian population killed in the battlefield or using a nuclear bomb to achieve his ambitions.
The fact that Woodward doesn't present a counter view or challenge to this view on Putin is a big shame and indicative of reinforcing American biases on foreign adversaries and leaders. Basically, a reader is supposed to believe that Putin is mentally unstable, like Trump, and his war on Ukraine is out of no rationale thought or concerns over Russian insecurity.
On Gaza War
One thing stands out throughout the chapters on Gaza, is the strangest relation that Biden had with Netanyahu.
Every few pages, Biden is shown to have lost his patience with Netanyahu and cursing him, yet there is very little explanation why Biden kept giving out billions of dollars of aid to Israel and also jeopardising the US national security and interest around the world.
It appears that Woodward tried super hard through this book to cleanse Biden from all the mess in Gaza, and give his legacy a clean slate, because really by the end of Biden's term, the entire conversation was about his legacy.
Therefore, by the time you'll finish the book, Woodward would have you feeling that Biden was actually the most pro Gaza US President since Carter who tried for peace throughout the war by saying "no" to Bibi, who kept doing what he was doing anyway.
Highly unlikely that anyone would buy this, especially given how President Trump got the ceasefire in Gaza and hostage deal done before he assumed the office, putting all the claims in Woodward's book to a question mark.
There is a lot more that I can unpack in this book, especially on Biden's team, and Woodward's strange fascination with their competence and integrity, both to me which are seriously doubtful given the data and evidence.
But these are some additional interesting insights that came out of the book that I find worth mentioning:
1. Almost the entire Arab leadership including Saudi, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and UAE fully supported Israel's war campaign against Hamas in Gaza. They only pressed on Israel to limit civilian casualties.
2. Biden's finest moment during Gaza War was to mobilise several countries including Saudi and Jordan to defend Israel against Iranian missile attacks.
3. Even at the peak of Gaza War, MBS was willing to normalise Saudi relations with Israel, something that Biden's team was eager to facilitate. But Saudi's had a condition over a pathway to Palestinian statehood that didn't fly with Israelis.
Overall the book is a great read if you wish to explore the confirmation bias that plagues the American intellectual class and journalism. Beyond that, it can only be read for its very useful data and quotes to understand what and how the Biden White House was thinking on serious policy issues around the world.
