Not a book review, as I’m not clever enough to write one, at least of a book so widely discussed. But an observation is within anyone’s grasp.
The first chapter lays out the players, the dramatis personae of the war’s instigation and prosecution. The roots of the current war lie in the previous one, as often happens. Hard to tell from how it’s been managed but the underlying desire that drove the warheads was remorse and guilt over having abandoned the Kurds and Shia after the 1991 war, coupled with good old-fashioned greed over the oil reserves, and a leavening of revenge over Saddam’s attempt to assassinate Bush 41.
If Wolfowitz, Perle, et al felt guilty about what Iraqis suffered in the post Gulf War era, I wonder how they can sleep now? Wolfowitz is head of the World Bank, of course, and Perle is now carping at how poorly the administration has prosecuted his war.