Bob Woodward: Bush
Misleads On Iraq
From CBSNews.com from
the Web, September 28, 2006
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Bob
Woodward tells Mike Wallace that the Bush administration has not
been honest about the level of violence in Iraq. The veteran
reporter also reveals to Wallace that H Kissinger advises the Bush
White House. CBS Photo |
NEW YORK -- Veteran Washington
reporter Bob Woodward tells Mike Wallace that the Bush administration has not
told the truth regarding the level of violence, especially against U.S. troops,
in Iraq. He also reveals key intelligence that predicts the insurgency
will grow worse next year.
In Wallace’s interview with Woodward, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday,
Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT, the reporter also claims that Henry Kissenger is among
those advising Mr. Bush.
According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on
average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret.
"It’s getting to the point now where there are eight-, nine-hundred attacks a
week. That's more than 100 a day. That is four an hour attacking our
forces," says Woodward.
The situation is getting much worse, says Woodward, despite what the White House
and the Pentagon are saying in public. "The truth is that the assessment
by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in
public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon [saying], 'Oh, no,
things are going to get better,'" he tells Wallace. "Now there’s public,
and then there’s private. But what did they do with the private?
They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know," says Woodward.
"The insurgents know what they are doing. They know the level of violence
and how effective they are. Who doesn't know? The American public,"
Woodward tells Wallace.
Woodward also reports that the president and vice president often meet with
Henry Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as an
adviser. Says Woodward, "Now what’s Kissinger’s advice? In Iraq , he
declared very simply, ‘Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy.'"
Woodward adds. "This is so fascinating. Kissinger’s fighting the
Vietnam War again because, in his view, the problem in Vietnam was we lost our
will."
President Bush is absolutely certain that he has the U.S. and Iraq on the right
course, says Woodward. So certain is the president on this matter,
Woodward says, that when Mr. Bush had key Republicans to the White House to
discuss Iraq, he told them, "I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are
the only ones supporting me."
Woodward reported for two years and interviewed more than 200 people, including
top officials in the Bush administration, to learn these and other revelations
that he makes in his latest book, State of Denial, published by Simon &
Schuster, part of the CBS Corp.
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