I think the most important issues raised in SoD, beyond the snippets and "eye bites," are actually not being talked about.
I have now read this book cover to cover and think one of the most remarkable, yet unremarked, issues is the civilian politicians meddling with the military. This is in direct contravention to what Bush REALLY wants to put out--that he is guided by reports and recommendations from commanders on the ground. He's not--Whats really obvious is how Rumsfeld controls the information getting to Bush. It all goes through his filter.

When Rumsfeld took the job, his big keyword was Transformation--he was going to take the military establishment on head to head. As a matter of fact, in a speech, he called the entrenched military establishment the worst threat America faced--this was(I'm not making this up) said on 9/10/01. It looks like he did--and won. There's many items to cover here, not all from Woodards book.
One of the most significant things he did was downgrade the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from advisor to the President to under Rumsfeld in the chain of comand. There's a story in it about how Adm Vern Clark (CNO) was turned down for the job because Rummy didn't think he would be pliable. He told Rummy that regulation required he report to the President and Rummy didn't like it. Then-Chmn JCS Myers and current Chairman Pace are now Rumsfelds creatures, echoing his thoughts and kissing his ass. Myers complains about this cosiderably in the book, you could see him getting an ulcer from dealing with Rumsfeld. This cuts Bush out of anything Rummy doesn't want him to hear.
The last books I read before this were Fiasco and Cobra II who cover the war in a lot more detail so I knew a lot about this already--Rummy trashing the Tipfiddle (TPPFL) is in both the other books in greater detail. What this was was the Army's all purpose plan--logistics, especially for any evetuality. This can be customized as needed but its basically the Army's perception of what it needs to go to war.
This is where Shinseki got the numbers he was quoting when he said it would take 450,000 troops to secure the country. Shinseki was run out the door for going with the Army's own numbers but it turns out the numbers were spot on. Rummy tossed the tipfiddle out, coming up wiht his own numbers. This is why we went into Iraq with as few troops as we did (basically 2 reinforced combat divisions)when we went into Gulf War 1 with 3 times as many and weren't trying to acomplish so much. The sole reason we did was Rumsfeld--he browbeat the Pentagon into it.
What this is really remisiniscent of is Hitler's invasion of Russia. His generals pogued the numbers to make it work for him too, against their better judgement. Thegy changed their numbers to meet his fantasies about Russia, not the reality on the ground. It was just plain wishful thinking on their parts, just like this war. They knew better and ultimately paid the price. Need less to say that ended up disastrously.
This War has Rumsfeld written all over it, especially the fuckups.
I already knew that the Coalition Provisional Authority was a Defense Department thing--Bremer was chosen by Rumsefeld but then proceeded to act as if he reported to the President only. This teed Rummy off considerably and had a considerable to do with the poor way the CPA and the military interacted. Evryone claimed the others were responsible for security--and no one was.
The CPA was a disaster. We now know that applicants were vetted primarily on their party loyalty; that former Repoublican political envelope stuffers were given huge responsibilities they had no training or experience in. We know that better qualified people were kept out for political cosiderations. Is there ANYTHING left of the billions they sunk into Iraq?
This book shows once again (Fiasco does it better)how Rumsfeld pretty much blew off "Phase IV" planning (after the war) Rummy was captive to the Neocon myth that we would be treated as liberators--this myth permeated the whole runup to the war. Even though Phase IV plaining was supposed to be done, when Jay Garner went into Iraq to start reconstratuction he had nothing on paper at all. He had to make up his own objectives--which then became Administration's plans.
Where this myth came from was Ahmed Chalabi and the INC, another thing Fiasco does a better job of reporting.. On thing this book and Fiasco do is nail down the Neocon infatuation with Chalabi and all the BS he was putting out. It is plain now that virtually eveything the BUSh administration "knew" about Iraq they got from Chalabi. ALl of it was fabricated.
The Democrats have really missed a good thing, not nailing Chalabi to the Republicans--he was their creation--they set him up, even flew him in with his private army, although no one on the ground ever trusted him. VOTE REPUBLICAN--VOTE CHALABI! There's a huge atory about this waiting to be told
WHat this book makes clear is that Rummy and the Neocons thought it would be over quick--and it wasn't--that's the biggest fuckup of all--how they misled and were misled into an endless war based on Chalbi's claims.

Oneof the buiggest conservative knocks on the way the Vietam War was fought was that civilian politians were constantly meddling with the military--yet Rumsfeld has done it here in spades and fuicked it up to a fare thee well.!
I have never seen or studied a case where one civilian so dominated the Pentagon. He has shaped it to his own liking--and it has degraded it like never before. You have to retire to dissent and thats why there are so many retired generals dissrnting. Ive never heard so many retired generals trash a sitting SecO Def.
This is the hidden story of State of Denial AND Fiasco--the way Rumsfeld fucked it up and the way he's trying to get out of responsibility for it. If you didn't think Rumsfeld has to go befrore reading this book, you sure will after

On another note, you can see why Condoleeza Rice is so upset about this book--it flat out calls her the worst National Security Advisor in history--and shows you why.

This book is not as detailed as Fiasco or Cobra II but what it is important for is the inside "fly on the wall" view from inside the WH--and its not a flattering view. Woodwards books won't be rccommended on Republican websites any more but this book makes it worth it. Ive read other of his books and think this one is the best