Rice: Woodward book has wrong timing

UPI ^ | 4-19-04

[Indy Pendance]

WASHINGTON, April 18 (UPI) -- U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice Sunday said the new book by Bob Woodward is wrong on exactly when the president said, attack Iraq.

Rice, on CBS' "Face the Nation," said, "That decision he made in March when he finally decided to do that," and not, as Woodward's book Plan of Attack" says, in January of 2001.

On "Fox News Sunday," Rice disputed another contention in the book, that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell are so far apart on the Iraq issue they don't even talk to one another. She said, in fact, they are "friendly."

Rice also said the book's account of Saudi Arabia ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan getting a briefing on the Iraq war plan even before Powell is incorrect. "It's just not the proper impression that somehow Prince Bandar was in the know in the way that Secretary Powell was not. It's just not right," she said on CBS. "He knew what the war plan was."

[MJY1288]

Alexander Haig said that Bob Woodward is famous for sucking at the sewer pipes of Washington D.C. :-)

[Young Rhino]

Never knew that Barney Frank's nickname was "sewer pipe."

[MJY1288]

LOL, Woodward does seem a little feminine

[AGreatPer]

When Bob Woodward did this research in the WH, I remember someone in the WH saying, "This guy has a reputation and we must give him a bone sometimes." The statement continues, "Not sure if it is all true or not". I have no clue of the source. I don't remember who it was. But I do remember the statement.

[man of Yosemite]

Woodward was on 60 Minutes tonight and did everything he could to treat our President with disdain. I wonder how many of our boys are going to get killed by the liberal, administration bashing leftists who are bent on bringing down our government? Can you imagine these kinds of attacks on our Commander in Chief during WWII?

[taxesareforever]

This from a Woodward speech in 2000. Sounds to me like he is talking just like Kerry. Flip/Flop. Or maybe it just might depend on who is President.

Clinton is brilliant, there's no question about it. Probably so smart that he, maybe more than any president, other than FDR in the 20th century, had the capacity to define the next state of good for a majority of people in this country. And I would say that's probably a president's job. What's the next state of good for a majority of the people? Define what that is, develop a plan and execute it. If it's conducting a war, if it's getting us out of a depression, if it's fixing social security, if it's fixing the economy, if it's civil rights legislation, whatever it is, that's the president's job.

[SouthCarolinaKit]

I wonder how the ratings were. . . seems to me that the audience is made up primarily of the 'hate USA' crowd.
I'd never watch it and haven't in a decade.

[tkathy]

It seems to me that countless things were discussed in the White House. Anyone could take casual words out of context and spin it either for or against just about anything.

[Mr Ducklips]

Didn't Woodward claim to interview a former CIA Director on his deathbed - which the Director's family said was an outright lie? He then refused to describe the hospital room layout to prove that he'd been there.

[boomop1]

Woodward is a pimp just like John Dean.

[hoosierpearl]

I believe you are right. It was the CIA director during Reagan's terms of office, Bill Casey. He died of brain cancer.

[hchutch]

Yeah, it was with Bill Casey.

That said, I think Powell and Rumsfeld do have disagreements on how to do things. At the same time, they often exchange the views candidly, but with mutual respect. They won't backstab each other.

I think that Bob Woodward has made stuff up again, and that's going to cause another tempest in a teapot.

[RayChuang88]

It seems to me that countless things were discussed in the White House. Anyone could take casual words out of context and spin it either for or against just about anything.

It sounds like Bob Woodward has succumbed to the Michael Moore method of doing things--twist facts WAY out of context and espouse it as the "truth," whatever that means.

Given the fact that Woodward supposedly did long interviews with a dying CIA Director when we know that's anything BUT the truth tells me that Woodward's new book will be shot down (literally) in a few weeks just like Clarke's book.

[Howlin]

Can You Trust Bob Woodward?
Reed Irvine
June 25, 1999

Bob Woodward's new book, "Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate," contains material that has given rise to new charges that revive old memories of how "Mortuary Bob" has relied on lies, fabricated stories and other ethical violations to produce the bestsellers that have made him rich. Mr. Woodward is famous for his ability to come up with what he presents as verbatim accounts of confidential one-on-one conversations. "Shadow" contains many of these.

When Mr. Woodward appeared on "Meet the Press" on June 20, Tim Russert asked him how it was possible to find out what President Clinton and his attorney, Bob Bennett, said when they were talking one-on-one. For example, Woodward describes them strolling on the White House grounds, discussing the rumors "connecting Clinton sexually with various women." He writes: "'If you're caught...in the White House,' Bennett said, 'I'm not good enough to help you.' 'This is a prison,' Clinton responded. 'I purposefully have no drapes on the windows.' As for women, 'I'm retired,' the president declared, repeating himself emphatically, 'I'm retired.'"

Here is Mr. Woodward's answer: "There are all kinds of avenues and sources where you can get information, documents, notes and figure out- - - and significantly no one has challenged any of those conversations." Figure out what? It appears that he started to say, "figure out what was said." That would have been an admission that he makes up the dialogue and puts quotation marks around it, but he caught himself and abruptly changed course. Larry King pressed him on the same issue and got essentially the same answer, minus the revealing slip.

Mr. Woodward told Larry King, "The only thing I'm interested in is no one has questioned any of the information. They're discussing, like you are, who, what, where? I think the significance is that the information is exhaustively reported. It's not challenged."

But that is not true. Many of the conversations Mr. Woodward included in earlier books have been challenged. Victor Lasky, veteran journalist and author, found 36 statements in an earlier book, "The Final Days," that were denied by the attributed sources or declared false by those in the best position to know. In his 1987 book, "Veil," Mr. Woodward quoted 19 words that he said William J. Casey, the CIA director, had spoken in an interview with him not long after Mr. Casey had undergone brain surgery. This was a complete fabrication. Bill Casey could never speak intelligibly after his operation, and Bob Woodward never entered his carefully guarded hospital room. Mrs. Casey accused Woodward of lying, a charge he never challenged.

Jane Sherburne, a former assistant counsel in the Clinton White House, in a deposition taken by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch on June 21, testified that Mr. Woodward had put words in her mouth in "Shadow" about a conversation she had with Hillary Clinton concerning a Newsweek article. She testified that the "dialogue does not resemble what I recall of the conversation."

She also testified that the interview was entirely off the record. She said Mr. Woodward called to tell her that when she saw the excerpts from his book that were to be published in The Washington Post she might think he had broken this agreement. He claimed there was no violation because he had heard of Hillary's reaction to the Newsweek article from many other people, and so he decided to put the words in her mouth.

Ms. Sherburne said that she had not expected to see anything she told Mr. Woodward in quotes because of their agreement and the fact that she had rejected a subsequent request that he be allowed to put some of it on the record. She testified that she sent a written apology to Mrs. Clinton, saying that "as she well knew, the dialogue was made up" by Mr. Woodward and that "to believe in Woodward's professionalism" was not good judgment.

Journalists have been fired for fabricating stories, lying and violating their commitments to keep material off the record. Bob Woodward's publishers and peers take no notice of his sins.

[Matchett-PI]

"I wonder how many of our boys are going to get killed by the liberal, administration bashing leftists who are bent on bringing down our government? Can you imagine these kinds of attacks on our Commander in Chief during WWII?"

Exactly.

When I sent a link to this article [ Gen. Tommy Franks Attacks Press/CNN ] to one of my friends over the weekend, she responded with these comments:

"I certainly have no trouble believe THAT'S the case. What the hell do they think? That we live in a vacuum? Do they think our enemy is not just listening to and watching everything?

The slightest inference that we're not solid is a gift to the enemy.

Back in WW II there were posters everywhere reminding people to be careful what they said, "The enemy is listening!" Even us widda kids were aware that "Little Pitchers have BIG ears!"

Am I wrong, but it seems people were more intelligent back then? The media was for sure!

As Walt Kelly put in Pogo's mouth, "We have met the enemy and he is US!" (Emphasis supplied by ME!")

Thanks. ~ G"

[Grampa Dave]

Woodward is like most left lunatics who pretend to be reporters and history writers, he is incapable of telling the truth.

He lied about Deep Throat, Casey of the CIA and now this entire book shows a mentally disturbed lunatic leftie who has pickled his brain.

Breslin and Woodward are just the tip of the iceberg of lying lunatic lefty mediots pretending to be writers and reporters.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your reply Howlin. Reed Irvine nails the lying, myth spreader and DNC fable maker with his first paragraph:

Bob Woodward's new book, "Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate," contains material that has given rise to new charges that revive old memories of how "Mortuary Bob" has relied on lies, fabricated stories and other ethical violations to produce the bestsellers that have made him rich. Mr. Woodward is famous for his ability to come up with what he presents as verbatim accounts of confidential one-on-one conversations. "Shadow" contains many of these."

[Howlin]

This time around, the recounting of the Bennett-Clinton conversations alone has raised a legal question that goes beyond parlor-room gossip about who the next generation of baby Deep Throats might be. On Wednesday, ABC News' Sam Donaldson asked White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, "If Bennett didn't violate attorney-client privilege, who would have said that? Because, as you pointed out in an earlier question, there might have been only two people in the room."

"Sam, maybe you should have Mr. Woodward on your program on Sunday and ask him that question directly," Lockhart replied. "The president did not talk to Mr. Woodward. I suggest you ask Mr. Bennett the circumstances of how Mr. Woodward may have acquired that information." The White House would have no further comment.

[Mr Ducklips]

Thanks, Howlin. I guess I haven't lost all my marbles yet.