Bob Woodward has published a book, and Washington stops in its tracks.

* Bob Woodward has published a book, and Washington stops in its tracks. Woodward's latest, Plan of Attack, examines the run-up to the second Iraq War. Agitating the capital at press time are these claims: The Bush administration diverted money appropriated for emergency military spending to planning the invasion of Iraq (considering the fumbles that have occurred there, perhaps they should have diverted more money); Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, agreed that Saudi Arabia would lower gas prices to help the American economy, and incidentally Bush's re-election (Saudis doing something in the Terror War besides producing terrorists would be news indeed); Bandar learned that the Iraq War was a go before Colin Powell did (wouldn't it be more interesting to know why our secretary of state was fooled by Dominique de Villepin, and stonewalled by the Turks?). Journalism is the first draft of history, and Woodward is an impressive draftsman. But his books are also the last word in hoopla and finger-pointing. Could our governing classes bear down on the war they are now waging, and the ones ahead?