The Iraq War: Hidden Agendas and Babylonian Intrigue

The fallout from the Iraq War in 2003 has been widespread. The US finds itself under siege in Iraq; the Iraqi State is ruled by chaos, corruption and terrorism; and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has been relentlessly debated in the media. Through the prism of the three major conflicts during Saddam's reign: The Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War (1991) and the climax to Middle East tensions, the War on Iraq (2003); Raphael Israeli exposes the tyranny, deception and terror synonymous with the Ba'ath regime. Focusing on Iraq's demographic populations -- the Shi'ites in the south, the Kurdish north, and the Sunni ruling minority -- the author documents the difficulties America faces internally as rulers of an occupied land, and internationally as a perceived unilateralist aggressor. The Impact of the Iraq War contains revealing insights into Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological programs, his sponsorship of terrorist groups, and his collaboration with other countries, including Syria and France. Testimonies of scientists, along with Israeli's intelligent analysis, expose the true scale of WMD proliferation in Ba'athist Iraq. The term Babylonian intrigue' is used to describe the confusion, chaos and misinterpretation of language that has taken hold in the aftermath of the war. The author provides a penetrating analysis of the social, political, economic, and strategic ruptures the Iraq War has caused in inter-Arab relations and the Islamic world. The book concludes with an evaluation of who won and who gained from this war, and what the future holds for Iraqis, Muslims, and the West.

Raphael Israeli has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1974 as a Lecturer and then Professor of Chinese History and Islamic Civilization, and has also been Visiting Professor in the History Department at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. He is the author of well received books on Islamic history, and regularly lectures at major universities in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and other Asian countries.