Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account of the Decision to Invade Iraq by Bob Woodward

Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account of the Decision to Invade Iraq

by Bob Woodward

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History & Foreign AffairsPolitics & Power

Seventy-two days after 9/11, George W. Bush privately told Donald Rumsfeld to draw up a new Iraq war plan, and even Condoleezza Rice wasn't told at first. Woodward rebuilds the roughly 16 months that followed from about 75 participants, Bush included, and you watch the military preparation run well ahead of the public case.

Core ideas
  • Money moved quietly: In July 2002 about $700 million shifted from Afghanistan war funding toward Iraq preparations without Congress being aware.
  • The weapons briefing: George Tenet's December 2002 assurance to Bush on Iraqi weapons became a key rationale for war.
  • Powell told late: Bush shared his January 2003 decision with Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar before telling Powell, who has disputed being cast as the reluctant one.
Published2004
Pages496
ISBN9780743255486
ReadJan 2026

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