WAR OF NECESSITY; WAR OF CHOICE: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars

A president of the Council on Foreign Relations compares the reasons behind the two Middle-East wars during the Bush administrations, drawing on senior-level interviews to argue that the first war was warranted while the second was not, in a critical assessment that examines U.S. policy today and what the author believes that policy should seek.

Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher. Until June 2003, Richard Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell.Previously, Haass was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at The Brookings Institution.  He was also special assistant to President George Bush and senior director on the staff of the National Security Council from 1989 to1993.  Haass is the author of The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course.  A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University.