Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East? [Paperback]

Dilip Hiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 25, 2003

The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, masterminded by U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, is the single most important event since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Just as that break-up ushered in a new era in international relations following the end of a bipolar world system, this war has given a new twist to the present global order. Secrets and Lies tells in detail how Operation Iraqi Freedom came about, what it means and where it is likely to lead the Middle East and the world at large. It reveals the scope of the "dirty tricks" used by the Anglo-American alliance to sell the war through the phony intelligence reports and the exaggeration of Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction. It examines the media campaign to win hearts and minds—including the stage management and spin surrounding the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch. Picking up from the author's recently celebrated essay in the New York Times, "Why the Mullahs Love a Revolution," this leading authority on the Middle East provides us with his skeptical view of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and his examination of the future in Middle East.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Journalist Hiro, a frequent commentator on the Middle East for CNN and the BBC, has gained a deep understanding of Iraq's people, politics, and culture over the past 25 years. His examination of Operation Iraqi Freedom and its aftermath is often riveting, if also wildly inconsistent. Hiro is at his best in describing the covert war the U.S. waged in southern Iraq well before the "actual" hostilities commenced in March 2003. He also offers some superb insights into the political divisions within post-Saddam Iraq and the chances for the emergence of a genuine pluralistic democratic society there. Unfortunately, Hiro's determination to show both George Bush and Tony Blair in the worst possible light leads him to some rather gross, unfair distortions. What may have been honest intelligence errors, for example, are portrayed as cynical lies, without any attempt to present alternative explanations. A large audience awaits a fair and soberly presented case against the prosecution of this war. This isn't it, but the book will still attract considerable attention, both from readers who know Hiro's work and from those who share his opinions. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Extraordinary... Hiro has fashioned a well-rounded, thought-provoking story about the Bush administration's bellicose preparations, the invasion and postwar headaches..." -- Los Angeles Times

"Meticulously documented... a major contribution to the understanding of what is sure to remain a primary focus of international affairs." -- Noam Chomsky

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books (December 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560255560
• ISBN-13: 978-1560255567
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,159,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the topic, May 1, 2004

By 

SPM "scott_maykrantz" (Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East? (Paperback)

This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know why the US military invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Dilip Hiro has compiled a very detailed history of the lead-up to the invasion, the first four weeks, and the aftermath.

He starts with the post-9/11 White House, where the neoconservative Bush administration shifted their focus from fighting terrorism (and fundamentalism in south central Asia and the Middle East) to Iraq. The neocons were dedicated to removing Saddam Hussein, but no one else was. They had to convince Colin Powell, the US population, and the rest of the world. Dilip Hiro shows how the upcoming invasion was marketed using carefully-selected intelligence reports, creating a false crisis. From the yellowcake from Africa to the lies about ongoing inspections by the UN, Dilip Hiro documents it all.

But the invasion takes place anyway. He shifts his focus to the war, using detailed maps and newspaper sources to describe the battles, the setbacks, and the strategies the US military used. He covers the first month of the invasion, ending with the occupation and Bush claiming 'mission accomplished.'

This is a devastating critique of a US foreign policy completely divorced from democracy and world opinion. Every fact in this book, stacked up in page after page, creates a chilling picture of the wrong war for the wrong reasons. If you are only going to read one book on the invasion (and occupation) of Iraq, make it this one. You'll end up referring to it over and over in the next few years, reminding yourself of how we got into this mess.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! One of the most surprising books of the year, February 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East? (Paperback)

Who would have thought a book about a war so fresh in our minds from the around the clock TV coverage would be so surprising, refreshing and revealing? I'd bet that half the things that HIro discloses in Secrets and LIes the average reader who takes an interest in world politics would find new and shocking. Hiro details stuff about the covert war leading up to the "hot" war that I'd never heard of. Hiro, a meticulous and elegant historian, is also at times prosecutorial in his method, revealing Operation Iraqi Freedom to be a shabby dirty little war, predicting that post war Iraq aint going to be as easy for the Anglo-American coalition.

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Most Scholarly Documentation of Bush-Blair Deceit, February 13, 2004

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East? (Paperback)

In some ways, this book is a great deal more distressing than the various pundit books slamming Bush (Moore, Hightower, Frankel, Krugman, Carville, etc.) because there is not a single caustic turn of phrase, not a single line of satire, not a single double entendre in the entire work. This is a brutally straight-forward, earnestly researched, ably footnoted, totally credible review of all of the secrets and lies that led to the war in Iraq.

It did not quite bring me to tears, it did very nearly make me want to throw a chair through the garden window.

According to this book, and its incontrovertible documentation, we were lied to. We were deceived. Untold fighting men and women, not just from the US but also from other countries, have died and been wounded and according to this book the number of wounded is CLASSIFIED. It is a secret, an official secret from the American public, how many of their sons and daughters have died to support this ideological conquest, this extremist religious crusade. We must also acknowledge the thousands of dead Iraqis and the hundreds of thousands of displaced and impoverished Iraqis.

Another official secret from the American public are the results of the open survey by the Department of State of how the Iraqis feels about the US invasion and occupation--classified AFTER we discovered that Chalabi had lied to Cheney and there were no hearts and flowers, only hostility.

Yet another official secret from the American public is the estimate of the damage done by US forces to the Iraqi infrastructure, and how much it will cost the US taxpayer to pay for this mindless destruction in the heart of the Middle East.

Not discussed by the author, but very much on my mind, is the jungle drum word from the retired veterans with access to Bethesda and other military hospitals---on the basis of the 250,000 disabled veterans from Gulf 1, and the "word" filtering out from the wards, we are looking at upwards of 25,000, perhaps as many as 100,000 disabled veterans from this war--all from depleted uranium, a killer of our own making. Worse, this disability is multi-generational and will lead to blind and maimed children among those veterans who are able to have children.

This book is a cold-hearted look--so cold-hearted it ignites a flame of righteous anger in any careful reader--at how America has destroyed its credibility and its ability to have a positive influence in the Middle East.

If I have one small criticism, it is that the author, a stellar authority with solid sources to call upon, did not do an appendix that laid out an entire timeline of what Bush and Blair said that was false, and then the counter-vailing truth. Although the author makes a number of these points clear throughout the book, for example, the UN never passed a resolution calling for the removal of Saddam Hussein from power, an opportunity has been lost here.

Truth matters. Paul O'Neil is correct to speculate that we will heal ourselves, and equally correct to point out that this will happen only if we speak and hear the truth about these grievous circumstances in which great evil was done "in our name." This book, more so than the others that I cited above, is perhaps the first serious building block toward righting our ship of state.