Bush at War is a 2002
book by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward recounting President
George W. Bush's responses to the September 11 terrorist attacks
and his administration's handling of the subsequent war in Afghanistan.
It is an example of creative nonfiction.
Much of the book recounts events in meetings of
the National Security Council (NSC), with the major players
in the story, aside from the President, being Dick Cheney, Colin
Powell, George Tenet and Condoleezza Rice. Woodward examined
notes from such NSC meetings and also interviewed administration
officials including President Bush.
Woodward especially focuses on the administration's
decision to go to war in Afghanistan and its strategic and tactical
decisions in that vein. 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.