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Woodward Charges Bush With 'Odd Detachment'

<em>The War Within</em> is Bob Woodward's fourth book about the Bush administration.
The War Within is Bob Woodward's fourth book about the Bush administration.

The war in Iraq has been President Bush's war, but Bob Woodward's new book, The War Within, charges that the commander in chief has maintained "an odd detachment from its management."

Woodward says that Bush delegated key strategy decisions — including the number of brigades to send in the surge — to Stephen Hadley, his assistant for national security affairs. He add that while the troop surge has helped to stabilize the situation in Iraq, it isn't solely responsible for the reduction in violence.

"Top secret operations [were] going on that really had a tremendous impact in the drop in violence," says Woodward.

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Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.