"The idea of direct invasion is the greatest threat to Saddam. It avoids the problems of securing local allies, inside and outside Iraq, which bedevil any indirect approach to get rid of him. But it has one immense disadvantage from the US point of view ...if the US invades Iraq to install its own government it will be taking direct physical control of an area containing more than half the world's oil reserves. It will look like the founding of a new American empire based on physical force and will be deeply resented ...It would outrage the Arabs at a moment when the Israel-Palestine conflict is in a particularly bloody phase. America could find that it has overplayed its hand, just as Saddam did when he invaded Kuwait twelve years ago." -- From the new Prologue At the outset of the 1991 Gulf War, US leaders resolved the 'Iraqis will pay the price', so long as Saddam Hussein remained in power. This book makes chillingly clear just how terrible that price has been. Eleven years ago Saddam was caught by surprise; his preparations since September 11 show that lessons have been learnt. In a substantial new prologue the authors analyse these preparations and the terrifying consequences of a military invasion of Iraq.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A seamless, cockpit-to-ground narrative written with pace and verve, researched with rigour, and telling in choice detail." -- Financial Times "The most detailed book available at what has happened in post-Gulf War Iraq ... Because of Patrick Cockburn's contacts in Baghdad, [the book] brings light to a political system that most writing leaves shrouded in darkness." - Washington Post Book World "The Cockburns' book is a chilling tale of barbarity and betrayal. It documents the lethal mix of US cynicism and incompetence that established Saddam Hussein as the bully of the Gulf, encouraged him to invade Iran and Kuwait, and then allowed him to stay in power." -- Irish Times
About the Author
Patrick Cockburn has been a senior Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times and the Independent since 1979. Among the most experience commentators on Iraq, he was one of the few journalists to remain in Baghdad during the Gulf War. Andrew Cockburn is the author of several books on defence and international affairs. He has written about the Middle East for The New Yorker and co-produced the 1991 PBS documentary in Iraq, The War We Left Behind. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uncritical analysis of USA/Iraq standoff,
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This review is from: Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession (Paperback)
In this book, two journalists give a vivid and well-informed picture of Iraq's recent history. They play the role of friends at court, gently warning the US government that invading Iraq would be `overplaying its hand'. Their book illustrates how international journalism produces intrusive judgements on the internal affairs of other countries, assisting imperialism to prepare its attacks on sovereign states. But whatever Iraq does inside its own borders is no justification for international aggression and preventive war. But on the other hand, the authors do remind us of some important facts. The US/British sanctions against Iraq have killed an estimated 500,000 children under five, and another 500,000 people. Aren't peacekeepers supposed to save hostages, not massacre them? The Pope called the sanctions `biological warfare against a civilian population' - but that can't be right, because our rulers say that only Iraq uses biological weapons! They note that the USA shipped large stocks of its chemical weapons to the Gulf in 1990 - so it would not be too surprising if Iraq, fearing a repeat, protected its soldiers against chemical attack. Far from Iraq being in league with the Al-Qa'ida terrorists, the mujehadin in Afghanistan sent fighters to assist the USA in its 1990-91 war against Iraq. Afterwards, the CIA gave captured Iraqi arms and ammunition to the mujehadin - so far the only proven arming of terrorists! War against Iraq would not weaken the terrorists; it is far more likely to recruit for them. The authors point out that an International Atomic Energy Authority official said, "We have closed down all their nuclear facilities and activities." Dick Cheney, now Vice-President, agreed, saying in 1991, "Saddam Hussein is out of the nuclear business" - unlike the USA and Britain, which still threaten to use them. The critical issue over Iraq is not Saddam Hussein, not even greed for oil or White House dreams of world domination, but whether the genuine superpower in the world - the working class - says, "No war".
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