Woodward Book: US Spied on Nouri al-Maliki
In his latest book, award winning journalist Bob Woodward claims that the United States spied on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Furthermore, he says in the book, top generals staged a “near revolt” over President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Woodward wrote four books on Bush’s presidency already, all containing fascinating revelations. His latest - which will be available Monday - is no different.
One of the sources that told Woodward about the spying program on al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials “recognized the sensitivity of the issue and then asked, ‘Would it be better if we didn’t?’”Another explained to him that “we know everything he says.”
The administration was more divides than most knew, according to Woodward. Top generals staged a “near revolt” over Bush’s desire to send more American troops to Iraq at a moment when the military was already overstretched and violence in Iraq continued to go up, rather than down.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed their advise was not reaching Bush, and ‘Admiral Michael Mullen, then chief of naval operations, feared the US military would “take the fall” for any failure in Iraq, according to the book.’
‘General George Casey, then commander of US-led forces in Iraq, and General John Abizaid, former head of US Central Command, strongly opposed the troop surge’ as did then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The internal debate about the surge caused Bush, Woodward says, to fire Rumsfeld. Although many Bush-critics claim that Bush is greatly influenced by Dick Cheney - the man who truly runs the show according to these progressives - he did not tell Cheney about his decision to let Rumsfeld go and replace him with Robert Gates until November 6, 2006. One day before the U.S. elections that would result in the Democrats winning control over Congress.
“Well, Mr. President, I disagree,” Cheney is quoted as saying, “but obviously it’s your call.”
About the surge Woodward claims that it has been less effective than the administration likes to pretend. According to the journalist who became a household name after he broke the Watergate scandal which forced President Richard Nixon to step down, the main cause for the decrease in violence in Iraq was not the surge but “groundbreaking” ‘covert intelligence operations that helped identify insurgent leaders and key figures in Al-Qaeda in Iraq.’
Sadly, however, he does not provide details about these operations; the U.S. government asked him not to disclose details for national security reasons. Woodward complied.
“The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008″ is available in shops Monday.
