Woodward: Obama's Directing Afghan War

President is 'strategist-in-chief'
By Emily Rauhala,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2010 4:01 AM CDT

President Obama is personally directing the course of the war in Afghanistan, author Bob Woodward tells ABC News. While chatting with Diane Sawyer about his new book, the famed investigative reporter calls the president "strategist-in-chief" and says, unequivocally, that Afghanistan is "Obama's war"—so much so that the president personally dictated a 6-page, single-spaced 'terms sheet' ahead of last year's troop surge.

His attention to the conflict makes sense, Woodward says, because it may define his legacy. "If it turns out" that the situation improves in Afghanistan, "he's going to be a geo-strategic genius," Woodward says. "If it doesn't work, you've got all kinds of people—generals, Republicans, Democrats—who are going to say, 'Wait a minute…'" Click here for the latest on the conflict.
(More Bob Woodward stories.)

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