The purpose of this book is to present the reasons why the Bush
administration sent U.S. military forces to Iraq in
2003. To gather
material for the book Bob Woodward interviewed more than a hundred
people, including the
president himself. Woodward spent four hours with
him, listening to his explanation for his decision to fight Saddam
Hussein on his home ground. Working together with his close
circle of national security advisers, Bush followed a line of reasoning
which led him to the conclusion that invading Iraq was in the best
interests of the United States. Among those who offered advice to him
were his vice president, Dick Cheney, his secretary of defense, Donald
Rumsfeld, his secretary of state, Colin Powell, and his national
security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.Based on the interviews he
conducted, as well as his review of governmental documents he was able
to acquire, Wood presents in this book his findings about why Bush led
the United States to war in Iraq. It is a compelling story, especially
in light of the fact that two years after the United States first began
military operations in the country, no weapons of mass destruction have
been discovered there.