The War Over Iraq: Saddam s Tyranny and America s Mission - Hardcover

Lawrence F. Kaplan; William Kristol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1893554694 ISBN 13: 9781893554696

Publisher: Encounter Books, 2003

Synopsis

As the crisis with Iraq continues, Americans have questions. Is war really necessary? What can it accomplish? What broad vision of U.S. foreign policy underlies the determination to remove Saddam Hussein? What were the failures of the last couple of decades that brought us to a showdown with a dictator developing weapons of mass destruction? What is the relationship between war with Iraq and the events of 9-11? The answers to these questions are found in this timely book by two of America's leading foreign policy thinkers. Kristol and Kaplan lay out a detailed rationale for action against Iraq. But to understand why we must fight Saddam, the authors assert, it is necessary to go beyond the details of his weapons of mass destruction, his past genocidal actions against Iran and his own people, and the U.N. resolutions he has ignored. The explanation begins with how the dominant policy ideas of the last decade--Clintonian liberalism and Republican realpolitik--led American policymakers to turn a blind eye to the threat Iraq has posed for well over a decade. As Kristol and Kaplan make clear, the war over Iraq is in large part a war of competing ideas about America's role in the world. The authors provide the first comprehensive explanation of the strategy of "preemption" guiding the Bush Administration in dealing with this crisis. They show that American foreign policy for the 21st century is being forged in the crucible of our response to Saddam. The war over Iraq will presumably be the end of Saddam Hussein. But it will be the beginning of a new era in American foreign policy. William Kristol and Lawrence Kaplan are indispensable guides to the era that lies ahead.

About this title

About the Author

Lawrence F. Kaplan is a Senior Editor at "The New Republic." William Kristol is editor of "The Weekly Standard" and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel.

From Publishers Weekly

Between the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the current crisis over Iraq, neoconservative thinkers such as Kristol (editor of the Weekly Standard) worked to keep Saddam Hussein at the center of the U.S. foreign policy agenda. In this slim, well-argued book, Kristol and Kaplan, a senior editor at the New Republic, cogently make the case for a U.S. invasion of Iraq. The rationale behind the Bush administration's preemptive strategy, they write, is that Saddam Hussein is a dictator who threatens both his own people and the world, and therefore must be stopped before he does further harm. The weaknesses in the authors' case are the same as many find in the administration's-such as that the ties between Saddam and al-Qaeda are unclear, which Kristol and Kaplan acknowledge. But, they continue, "we do know that Saddam is a terrorist." Just as importantly, the book criticizes the policy of both the latter years of the first Bush administration and the Clinton years for allowing the Iraq threat to fester. Both governments had their reasons-Bush I's pragmatism and Clinton's focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict-but the world is much worse off, say Kristol and Kaplan. The background for a case for a U.S. strike is articulated well here.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1893554694
• ISBN 13: 9781893554696
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 170