Bush at War
2002 non-fiction work by Bob Woodward
Bush at War is a 2002 book by The Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward recounting President George W. Bush's responses to the September 11 attacks and his administration's handling of the subsequent War in Afghanistan.
Much of the book recounts events in meetings of the United States National Security Council (NSC), with the major players in the story, including the President, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, George Tenet and Condoleezza Rice, developed from NSC meeting notes and Woodward's interviews with administration officials.
Woodward especially focuses on the administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and its strategic and tactical decisions. As one of the first detailed accounts of these decisions, prior to inside accounts like Richard A. Clarke's Against All Enemies, Woodward's book was widely acclaimed, getting praise from The Times and other major papers. The book was criticized by Michael Scheuer, former CIA chief of the Bin Laden station, in his book Imperial Hubris for offering a platform for government leaks, which he deemed harmful to national security: "After reading Mr. Woodward's Bush at War, it seems to me that the U.S. officials who either approved or participated in passing the information—in documents and via interviews—that is the heart of Mr. Woodward's book, gave an untold measure of aid and comfort to the enemy."
External links
The Times discussion[link removed] of the book.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bush at War” is 2002 non-fiction work by Bob Woodward. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bush, non-fiction and work, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2002 non-fiction work by Bob Woodward” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5001429. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bush at War”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bush at War primary sources, Bush at War archive and Bush research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bush at War”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bush at War” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.