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Obama's Wars (Abridged) Audiobook
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Publisher Description
2011 Audie Award Finalist for Nonfiction
In Obama’s Wars, Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
At the core of Obama’s Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War.
“So what’s my option?” the president asked his war cabinet, seeking alternatives to the Afghanistan commander’s request for 40,000 more troops in late 2009. “You have essentially given me one option...It’s unacceptable.”
“Well,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates finally said, “Mr. President, I think we owe you that option.”
It never came. An untamed Vice President Joe Biden pushes relentlessly to limit the military mission and avoid another Vietnam. The vice president frantically sent half a dozen handwritten memos by secure fax to Obama on the eve of the final troop decision.
President Obama’s ordering a surge of 30,000 troops and pledging to start withdrawing U.S. forces by July 2011 did not end the skirmishing.
General David Petraeus, the new Afghanistan commander, thinks time can be added to the clock if he shows progress. “I don’t think you win this war,” Petraeus said privately. “This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.”
Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American city—which Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time.
Verbatim quotes from secret debates and White House strategy sessions—and firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president, his war council and his generals—reveal a government in conflict, often consumed with nasty infighting and fundamental disputes.
Woodward has discovered how the Obama White House really works, showing that even more tough decisions lie ahead for the cerebral and engaged president.
Obama’s Wars offers the reader a stunning, you-are-there account of the president, his White House aides, military leaders, diplomats and intelligence chiefs in this time of turmoil and danger.
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"Great insights. No way to know if everything he said was accurate, but he's done it plenty of times before. Its books like this that convince me that reading books written 3 years out is better than reading a newspaper 20 hours out, even if they're by the same guy. "
— Timothy (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Bob Woodward uses his nearly unrestricted access to the key players to paint an authoritative portrait of the process that led to President Obama’s decision to deploy increased military might in the Afghanistan War…Those who enjoy hearing about political interplay, with its occasionally dry tactical and strategic details, will find this an excellent choice.”
— AudioFile
Awards
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#1 New York Times bestseller
Obama's Wars Listener Reviews
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" Typical of Woodward's behind-the-scenes-of-the-Presidency books of recent years. What leaps out here is the appalling attempts by the military establishment to undermine the authority of a new President. Very ominous in a democracy. "
— Raimo, 6/20/2011 -
" It amazes me how Woodward gets access to so much classified materials, and frankly why a lot of the people he quotes tell him all the information they know will get published in the book. "
— Leonardo, 6/15/2011 -
" Gripping and maddening. The president needs better staff work than he got here. "
— Michael, 5/27/2011 -
" This is a view of the President that we don't get through the news media. Read this, and you'll be most impressed. "
— Steve, 4/14/2011 -
" The narrative if this book focuses on the troop count sent to Afghanistan. While interesting, it sometimes has all the drama of an accounting textbook. In the end, I'm not sure I understand much more than mere personalities of the Obama cabinet. "
— Brett, 4/7/2011 -
" learned a lot, if you're outside the community can be hard to keep track of the cast of characters. "
— Molly, 3/12/2011
About Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward is an associate editor at the Washington Post where he has worked for forty-nine years and reported on every American president from Nixon to Trump. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first for the Post’s coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second twenty years later as the lead Post reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
About Boyd Gaines
Boyd Gaines is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and an actor whose many film credits include Second Best, I’m Not Rappaport, Heartbreak Ridge, Fame, and Porky’s. He’s won two Tony Awards for performances in the The Heidi Chronicles and the musical She Loves Me. On television he has appeared in A Woman Called Jackie, A Son’s Promise, and in the popular series One Day at a Time.