Jay Nordlinger of National Review has a good sit-down discussion with President Bush that mostly presents him in his own words. He is about as coherent and articulate as I have ever seen him, and he gives some rationale for his actions in the post-9/11 world. Check it out. A sample:

[Bush] said, “I’m comfortable that I have made principled decisions for eight years — that I was unwilling to sacrifice those principles for the sake of short-term approbation, approval, or whatever you want to call it. It was in [the Oval Office] that a prominent member of my political party said, ‘You must remove troops from Iraq, because it could cost us elections if you don’t.’ And it was in this room that I looked at him and said, ‘You must not understand George W. Bush, because I understand that success in Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of America, and therefore I will make decisions based upon victory in Iraq, not victory in the polls.’”