<<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30384-2004Apr21?language=print er>>
That Woodward Magic By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com Wednesday, April 21, 2004; 10:18 AM How does he do it? That's one of the questions you hear a lot as Washington conversation continues to be consumed by Bob Woodward's new book about President Bush's march to war in Iraq. How does Woodward get these tight-lipped Bush administration types (including Bush himself!) to talk to him in the first place -- and then to open up? The Defense Department on Monday Web-published the transcripts of two on-the-record interviews Woodward conducted with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld late last year, offering up a revealing look at how Woodward works his sources. But even more revelatory is the fact that someone over there deleted some of the most important bits! Apparently, part of the experience of being interviewed with Woodward is having some regrets afterward. Mike Allen writes in The Washington Post today: "The Pentagon deleted from a public transcript a statement Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made to author Bob Woodward suggesting that the administration gave Saudi Arabia a two-month heads-up that President Bush had decided to invade Iraq. . . . "Woodward supplied his own transcript showing that Rumsfeld told him on Oct. 23, 2003: 'I remember meeting with the vice president and I think Dick Myers and I met with a foreign dignitary at one point and looked him in the eye and said you can count on this. In other words, at some point we had had enough of a signal from the president that we were able to look a foreign dignitary in the eye and say you can take that to the bank this is going to happen.' " This is a big deal because one of the most eye-popping scenes in the book takes place in January 2003 in Vice President Cheney's West Wing office, where Rumsfeld and others show Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, a top-secret map showing how the war plan would unfold. "You can count on this," Woodward quotes Rumsfeld as saying, pointing to the map. "You can take that to the bank. This is going to happen." That's about two months before the White House previously acknowledged it had decided to go to war and, according to Woodward's book, it's even before Secretary of State Colin L. Powell got the word from Bush. The Post helpfully reprints, from Woodward's transcript of the on-the-record interview, some of the missing bits. ... <<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28866-2004Apr20?language=print er>> --- The Deleted Text Wednesday, April 21, 2004; Page A15 The Pentagon removed the following text from Bob Woodward's Oct. 23 interview with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld before posting the transcript on the Web: Question: Because these countries, Jordan particularly, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait needless to say made giant commitments and you know hung it all out and I think there are times in the last week where I think March 14th the Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar came up here to talk to you because he was worried. I think he had seen the President, that we weren't going to go. You recall that? Rumsfeld: I met with him on occasion. Q: And I think the President said don't start -- not you. Rumsfeld: Have you met with the Vice President? You're not going to meet with the Vice President are you? Q: Well I hope so. Rumsfeld: I doubt it. Q: You know better than I. Rumsfeld: I remember meeting with the Vice President and I think [Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] and I met with a foreign dignitary at one point and looked him in the eye and said you can count on this. In other words at some point we had had enough of a signal from the President that we were able to look a foreign dignitary in the eye and say you can take that to the bank this is going to happen. Q: Do you remember when that was? Rumsfeld: I do not. But I can't tell you who it was but I remember it was the Vice President, Dick Myers and me. Q: [Was] that when Myers gave the briefing to Bandar in Cheney's office because I think you were there. Rumsfeld: When was that? Q: I have the date -- it was in February I think or maybe it was late January. Rumsfeld: Sounds early. Q: Sounds early yeah. It struck me as early too and it could be later in February. I don't have it on my list here. Rumsfeld: We're going to have to clean some of this up in the transcript when you publish it. We'll give you a -- I mean you just said Bandar and I didn't agree with that so we're going to have to -- I don't want to say who it is but you are going to have to go through that and find a way to clean up my language too. ---- <<http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/21/rumsfeld.woodward/>> Pentagon deleted key comment from Rumsfeld transcript Woodward 'surprised' by move >From Jamie McIntyre CNN Washington Bureau Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was interviewed by Bob Woodward for his new book. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Wednesday it deleted a key section from a transcript of an interview that reporter Bob Woodward conducted last year with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That edited transcript was posted this week on the Pentagon's Web site. But a spokesman said Rumsfeld had been unaware of the deletions when he made statements Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing that turned out to be inaccurate. At the briefing, Rumsfeld was disputing a passage in Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack," alleging that Saudi Prince Bandar was told by Rumsfeld two months before the invasion of Iraq that it was "going to happen," and he could "take that to the bank": "I don't remember saying it, to be perfectly honest," Rumsfeld said. Woodward contends he got that information directly from Rumsfeld. "Don Rumsfeld is on the record, if you look on the Pentagon Web site, saying that he said, 'This war plan, you can take it to the bank. It's going to happen,'" the reporter said in a CNN interview earlier this week. But he was wrong. The transcript of the October 23 interview posted by the Pentagon had been edited -- and that quote had been deleted with no reference on the Web site that any deletions had been made. As of late Wednesday, the Pentagon transcript still did not have the controversial quote on its Web site. Aides to Rumsfeld said Wednesday that he was unaware of the deletions until he was handed a note just before the end of the briefing, and that, in the confusion of the moment, Rumsfeld misunderstood what it said. He then stated flatly that nothing relevant had been removed: "I can say of certain knowledge that nothing was taken out that would naysay what I just indicated in my response to the question." "No 18-minute gap?" a reporter asked. "And you can take that to the bank," Rumsfeld responded, eliciting laughter. Pentagon officials said the transcript was edited by "mutual consent" with Woodward after a meeting last Friday, because, they argued, the deleted section did not directly confirm Rumsfeld spoke to Prince Bandar or when the conversation took place. Woodward denied he agreed to the deletion, and The Washington Post published the full text of the deleted section Wednesday. "I was surprised that it was deleted," Woodward was quoted as saying "because it obviously dealt with a critical issue." In a CNN interview, Woodward added, "It is inconceivable that I would have agreed." Rumsfeld's chief spokesman said that, in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to have deleted a key passage from the transcript without -- as is usually done -- including a disclaimer that some material had been put off the record. And he admits Rumsfeld should have been advised of the deletions before he faced reporters' questions. But he insisted Rumsfeld did not knowingly make misleading statements, and disputed the suggestion Rumsfeld said anything to indicate President Bush had decided by early January to go to war. He also insists Rumsfeld did not knowingly make misleading statements to reporters, and disputes the suggestion Rumsfeld said anything to indicate President Bush had already decided by early January 2003 to go to war. ------- I Pledge Impertinence to the Flag-Waving of the Unindicted Co-Conspirators of America and to the Republicans for which I can't stand one Abomination, Underhanded Fraud Indefensible with Liberty and Justice Forget it. -Life in Hell (Matt Groening)
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