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Bob Woodward has made his career with his carefully crafted exposes
of the murkier sides of power politics. His latest book The Commanders (Simon
& Schuster, pp 398, £15.99) looks at the the chains of command
between the military power bloc of the Pentagon and the final authority
of the White House. He has attempted to unravel ‘how President Bush and
his military high command made their decisions’ by piecing together the
events of the past two years. Since his brief covers the invasion of Panama
and the decision to opt for a war in the Gulf rather than continue the economic
sanctions against Iraq, it makes for fascinating reading. Woodward’s analysis
is absorbing but he drowns it in detail. The reconstruction of General Colin
Powell’s frame of mind as he decides to accept his appointment as the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is intriguing, as he is a likely presidential
candidate; who had what for lunch is not.