From Voice of America News:
“A new book says Vice President Dick Cheney informed the Saudi ambassador to the United States of the president’s decision to go to war in Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell was told of the decision.
“The book, entitled Plan of Attack, was written by Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward. It says President Bush ordered military plans to be drawn up to invade Iraq just months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but the plans were kept secret, even from some of his own top cabinet members.
“In an interview Sunday with CBS, Mr. Woodward laid out details of a meeting in January, 2003, when he says Mr. Bush told Mr. Powell he had decided to go to war, and Mr. Powell asked if the president understood the consequences. Mr. Woodward says the president had given Mr. Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld permission to inform Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan about his decision to invade Iraq two days earlier, and that they even showed the prince a top-secret map of the war plan.
“The New York Times reports today that the book, based on interviews with 75 people, including President Bush, has given a new jolt to the White House and may aggravate long-standing tensions within Mr. Bush’s cabinet.”