Book Says Top Aide Urged Bush to Fire Rumsfeld

"There's still time to rectify this," Garner said. "There's still time to turn it around."

But Rumsfeld dismissed the idea, according to Woodward. "We're not going to go back," Rumsfeld said.

A year later, Rumsfeld received even more blunt criticism from Steve Herbits, a longtime friend who, according to Woodward, has served as an informal adviser to Rumsfeld since he became defense secretary. In a seven-page memo in July 2004 titled "Summary of Post-Iraq Planning and Execution Problems," Herbits listed a series of questions for Rumsfeld:

· "Who made the decision and why didn't we reconstitute the Iraqi Army?"

· "Did no one realize we were going to need Iraqi security forces?"

· "Did no one anticipate the importance of stabilization and how best to achieve it?"

· "Why was the de-Baathification so wide and deep?"

He then described "Rumsfeld's style of operation," which he said was the "Haldeman model, arrogant," referring to President Richard M. Nixon's White House chief of staff H.R. "Bob" Haldeman. "Indecisive, contrary to popular image. Would not accept that some people in some areas were smarter than he. . . . Trusts very few people. Very, very cautious. Rubber glove syndrome -- a tendency not to leave his fingerprints on decisions."

Woodward does not say how Rumsfeld responded.

Misgivings in the Military

Some of the highest-ranking officers serving under Rumsfeld had similar misgivings about Iraq.

In March, Gen. John P. Abizaid, the senior U.S. commander for the Middle East, met privately with Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), who had criticized the Bush administration's approach to Iraq as "a flawed policy wrapped in illusion" and called for withdrawal. Murtha was attacked by the White House for "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."

According to Murtha, Woodward writes, Abizaid raised his hand, held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch from each other and said, "We're that far apart."