Following President Bush's response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and his declaration of war against terrorism, many critics feared the president's motives in seeking retribution. The loss of civil rights and the fear of war for many seemed to outweigh the loss and suffering brought about by the attacks. A crisis the size of the strikes is not an easy matter to dissect. There is, on the one hand, the need for slow and …showed first 75 words of 1949 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1949 total…served U.S. national security interests, in part because the establishment of democracy in Iraq may yet prove beyond U.S. capability. In both books it seems as though Woodward attempts to exploit the Bush administration's failure to educate the public regarding its policies on the war on terror - specifically where Operation Iraqi Freedom is concerned. However, what cannot be denied is the reasoning behind the decision to engage terrorists on their own soil.