'Obama's Wars': The gang that couldn't shoot straight -- or shut up

WASHINGTON POST, 9/30/2010 by Eliot A. Cohen (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - Senior Washington officials, in this administration or its predecessors, talk to Bob Woodward for all kinds of reasons -- to fluff up their vanity, to avenge slights, to neutralize rivals, to gratify egos or, most laughably, to shape the historical record. Their bosses may even instruct them to blab. But the leakers do not control their audiences, and the following fictional interior monologues, as plausible as any recorded by the author of "Obama's Wars," suggest some of the unintended consequences that may result. Read more at Washington Post...

Eliot A. Cohen is a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime." Read More......

More on Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars"

THE WASHINGTON POST has book excerpts, op-eds, maps and video coverage from Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars" HERE. Learn what Woodward uncovered in the White House.

Book: Obama's Wars Read More......

Morning Bell: What is Obama President of Again?

HERITAGE FOUNDATION/FOUNDRY, 9/22/2010 - On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced his new Afghanistan policy after months of delay, Denise Young of Kokomo, Ind., who has a 22-year-old son serving in the war, told The Wall Street Journal what she wanted to hear from the commander in chief: "That he is going to let the generals make the decisions. They have asked for more troops. They should get them. There is safety in numbers." Today, we learned from a sneak preview of Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War, that President Barack Obama completely failed Mrs. Young. Read more at Heritage...

Related: LA TIMES: Woodward Book Says Afghanistan Divided White House Read More......

Morning Bell: What is Obama President of Again?

HERITAGE FOUNDATION/FOUNDRY, 9/22/2010 - On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced his new Afghanistan policy after months of delay, Denise Young of Kokomo, Ind., who has a 22-year-old son serving in the war, told The Wall Street Journal what she wanted to hear from the commander in chief: "That he is going to let the generals make the decisions. They have asked for more troops. They should get them. There is safety in numbers." Today, we learned from a sneak preview of Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War, that President Barack Obama completely failed Mrs. Young. Read more at Heritage... Read More......