Washington ? The White House on Friday disputed several elements of a new book detailing internal administration battles over Iraq, saying that a news story about the book wrongly portrays President Bush as detached from decision-making and misleading in his public statements about the war.

The book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward, “The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008,” depicts an administration riven by dissension and slow to confront the deterioration of its strategy in Iraq during the summer and early fall of 2006. The book, due for release Monday, also says Bush privately believed U.S. efforts were failing during that period, even while declaring publicly that the war was being won.