Journalist Bob Woodward At Ohio University: I Blew It On Iraq War

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Washington Post's big gun and journalism guru Bob Woodward tells a crowd at Ohio University that he originally was a supporter and promoter of the Iraq War. He seems to think that was a mistake. He also is described by the the student newspaper saying he should have personally gone to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction before the invasion.

First up, Richard Heck in The Athens Messenger, who reports:

"Early in his speech, Woodward acknowledged that journalists sometimes make mistakes. He admitted that initially, he wrote stories and opinion pieces supportive of the war in Iraq, but has since realized that his viewpoints may have been in error."

Also:

"Woodward told the OU audience that various insiders in the current administration admitted to him that the reasons for the Iraq war were doubtful. As in the Nixon presidency, which conducted various practices in secret, Woodward hinted that the current administration is doing the same. In researching his books, Woodward said, several senior-level administrators in the White House would not confirm various reasons for the current administration's reasons for going to war."

Next, in the student newspaper, The Post, Woodward says he should have gone to Iraq with a team of reporters to hunt for the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration claimed were present.

"'Stakes are high, particularly in time of war. Accountability is the issue.' Even at 64-years-old, Woodward said he's still learning. He wishes he would have been 'more aggressive' in his investigation on Iraq and in retrospect would have led a team to the Middle East before the Iraq invasion to look for weapons of mass destruction.'"

And in Ohio University's JSchool Bloggers journalism school blog Woodward says he wakes up each morning worried about government secrecy.

"When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you worry about? I'll tell you what I wake up worrying about: the secrecy of government. I'm concerned about the difference between what a person says he is and what he really is."

He said:

"We need to shine a light when democracy is dying in the dark."