Inside The Mind Of George W. Bush

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The praise heaped on Bush for his handling of 9/11 also had to reinforce his faith in his instincts. Even the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung saw Bush growing into his role as world leader. "Before our eyes," the paper said a month after the attacks, "the 55-year-old former Governor has become grayer, more profound and more sure-footed." The attacks only deepened Bush's impulse to trust in strength for its own sake, particularly given that earlier al-Qaeda attacks had drawn only limited response and thus perhaps emboldened Osama bin Laden. "Al-Qaeda underestimated us, see," Bush told TIME aboard Air Force One in December 2001. "He [bin Laden] thought we're soft. He made a huge miscalculation, huge. And I'm sure he's now cowering in some cave, wondering, you know, what went wrong."

Strength and resolve were the warning to bin Laden, but they were also the message to the U.S.'s allies. "The more I look at those leaders who come to see me--and I look them in the eye and say, 'We're not wavering, and I expect you to be with us'--the more likely it is that we're going to rub terror out, and the more likely it is that the coalitions stay intact," Bush said in 2001. "I'm not going to relent. People may get tired of all this, but I'm not going to. Because I understand--I truly understand the call."

With allies, Bush saw his strength as creating a position of such clear leadership, it would draw the heads of other countries behind him. Almost until the very end of the diplomatic duel over a U.N. resolution supporting war in Iraq, many in the Administration believed that France and other countries opposed to the U.S.'s plans would fall under this spell. That remained true even as the war unfolded. "The way to win international acceptance is to win," a senior Bush aide said bluntly in the winter of 2003. "That's called diplomacy--winning." Being certain and strong was also necessary, Bush believed, to keep his team motivated. "A President has got to be the calcium in the backbone," Bush told author Bob Woodward. "If I weaken, the whole team weakens. If I'm doubtful, I can assure you there will be a lot of doubt."

The most damning charge against Bush may come from critics who share his view of the stakes in the war on terrorism but challenge his approach. In that view the Iraq war, with its high cost, was a diversion, not a necessity. It divided a country that was united as long as U.S. energy was focused on hunting down bin Laden, rolling up al-Qaeda around the world, upgrading security measures at home and trying to put Afghanistan on a road to stability. Now that country's President can scarcely leave home without risking being shot, while the occupation of an Arab country by a U.S. army, however well meaning, has further inflamed many Muslims and alienated U.S. allies. "9/11 taught us the costs of inaction," observes Democratic Senator Evan Bayh. "Maybe Iraq is teaching us the cost of action."