Adam's Apple
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- Apr 25, 2004
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What Bob Woodward Knew
By Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report
November 17, 2005
In yesterday's story, Woodward is quoted as saying that he told Post reporter Walter Pincus that he had heard that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Pincus is quoted as saying that he does not recall Woodward's telling him this and that he is sure he would have remembered if Woodward had. I have known Woodward for 32 years and Pincus for about 20 years, and I find it impossible to believe that either would consciously lie about such matters. Therefore, I am forced to believe that memory is playing tricks on one of them. Since memory plays tricks on me from time to time, I don't find that implausible.
But you could see this as a sort of partisan dispute. Woodward's reporting on George W. Bush, as is evident in his books, is seen by many critics as pro-Bush. In my view, he has taken Bush at face value, describing how the president makes decisions and taking Bush's own words seriously. Which is, in my view, the way it should be. Pincus's reporting, on the other hand, has relied heavily on critics of the Bush policies, including, it appears, sources in the CIA. It is obvious that cadres in the CIAthe folks around Valerie Plame who sent Joseph Wilson on his mission to Niger, the folks who authorized the publication of Michael Scheuer's "anonymous" bookhave been trying to discredit and undermine support for Bush's policy of liberating Iraq. I suspect that Pincus takes the same view, though he could argue that his reporting was justified regardless of his own views: He was just reporting what others, with some knowledge of what they were talking about, were saying. I don't want to say that Woodward is pro-Bush and Pincus anti-Bush. But I can see how readers who don't know these men as well as I do would so conclude.
for full article:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/baroneblog/home.htm
By Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report
November 17, 2005
In yesterday's story, Woodward is quoted as saying that he told Post reporter Walter Pincus that he had heard that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Pincus is quoted as saying that he does not recall Woodward's telling him this and that he is sure he would have remembered if Woodward had. I have known Woodward for 32 years and Pincus for about 20 years, and I find it impossible to believe that either would consciously lie about such matters. Therefore, I am forced to believe that memory is playing tricks on one of them. Since memory plays tricks on me from time to time, I don't find that implausible.
But you could see this as a sort of partisan dispute. Woodward's reporting on George W. Bush, as is evident in his books, is seen by many critics as pro-Bush. In my view, he has taken Bush at face value, describing how the president makes decisions and taking Bush's own words seriously. Which is, in my view, the way it should be. Pincus's reporting, on the other hand, has relied heavily on critics of the Bush policies, including, it appears, sources in the CIA. It is obvious that cadres in the CIAthe folks around Valerie Plame who sent Joseph Wilson on his mission to Niger, the folks who authorized the publication of Michael Scheuer's "anonymous" bookhave been trying to discredit and undermine support for Bush's policy of liberating Iraq. I suspect that Pincus takes the same view, though he could argue that his reporting was justified regardless of his own views: He was just reporting what others, with some knowledge of what they were talking about, were saying. I don't want to say that Woodward is pro-Bush and Pincus anti-Bush. But I can see how readers who don't know these men as well as I do would so conclude.
for full article:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/baroneblog/home.htm
