Everyone who wants to understand why the war in Iraq happened should read this book and think about it very carefully. Dr. Mylroie, trained as a political scientist, is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the thinktank that has most influenced the George W. Bush administration. Miller wrote for the New York Times, with all the prestige that this brought to her byline. (As this review goes to press, she continues to work for the NYT, though for how much longer is anyone's guess).
Dr. Mylroie's later book, Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America (American Enterprise Institute Press, 2000)-- published in paperback as The War Against America (HarperCollins, 2001)-- was perhaps even more influential than this earlier co-production with Miller.
But by understanding the relationship and cooperation between the two writers-- Mylroie the expert and Miller the scribe, we get a full understanding of how ideas and information are created and diffused in Republican Washington. Key policy-makers like Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, perhaps even Donald Rumsfeld himself, apparently believed Mylroie's certifiably nutcase theories that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for everything from 9/11 to the Oklahoma City bombing, notwithstanding all the overwhelming contrary evidence. And by sharing her expertise with the journalist Miller (presumably in the form of leaks), Mylroie and her colleagues at the AEI succeeded in communicating her tinfoil hat conspiracy delusions to the whole world, all with the imprimatur of the New York Times. When the history of the Bush II administration is written, Mylroie and Miller will take a prominant place as key inspirations behind the most ill-conceived war of the last 100 years.
So for all you political scientists slaving away at scholarly monographs, never quite sure whether your ideas will make any real impact on policy-makers, this book should give you hope. If this little book-- written in only 21 days-- could bring about the worst military and political fiasco of modern times, your work too may someday have a chance to change history. Soldier on, you underappreciated academics!
