Saddam Hussein
An American Obsession
Will be published approx. on 26. September 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
350 pages
978-1-85984-422-9 (ISBN)
Description
"The idea of direct invasion is the greatest threat to Saddam. It avoids the problems of securing local allies, inside and outside Iraq, which bedevil any indirect approach to get rid of him. But it has one immense disadvantage from the US point of view ... if the US invades Iraq to install its own government it will be taking direct physical control of an area containing more than half the world's oil reserves. It will look like the founding of a new American empire based on physical force and will be deeply resented ... It would outrage the Arabs at a moment when the Israel-Palestine conflict is in a particularly bloody phase. America could find that it has overplayed its hand, just as Saddam did when he invaded Kuwait twelve years ago."-From the new Prologue
At the outset of the 1991 Gulf War, US leaders resolved the 'Iraqis will pay the price', so long as Saddam Hussein remained in power. This book makes chillingly clear just how terrible that price has been. Eleven years ago Saddam was caught by surprise; his preparations since September 11 show that lessons have been learnt. In a substantial new prologue the authors analyse these preparations and the terrifying consequences of a military invasion of Iraq.
At the outset of the 1991 Gulf War, US leaders resolved the 'Iraqis will pay the price', so long as Saddam Hussein remained in power. This book makes chillingly clear just how terrible that price has been. Eleven years ago Saddam was caught by surprise; his preparations since September 11 show that lessons have been learnt. In a substantial new prologue the authors analyse these preparations and the terrifying consequences of a military invasion of Iraq.
Reviews / Votes
A seamless, cockpit-to-ground narrative written with pace and verve, researched with rigour, and telling in choice detail. * Financial Times * The Cockburns' book is a chilling tale of barbarity and betrayal. It documents the lethal mix of US cynicism and incompetence that established Saddam Hussein as the bully of the Gulf, encouraged him to invade Iran and Kuwait, and then allowed him to stay in power. * Irish Times * The most detailed book available at what has happened in post-Gulf War Iraq ... Because of Patrick Cockburn's contacts in Baghdad, [the book] brings light to a political system that most writing leaves shrouded in darkness. * Washington Post Book World *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 130 mm
Weight
610 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85984-422-9 (9781859844229)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Andrew Cockburn is the Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine. He is a regular opinion contributor to the Los Angeles Times and has written for, among others, the New York Times, National Geographic and the London Review of Books. He is the author of Spoils of War, Kill Chain, and Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy. Patrick Cockburn is a Middle East correspondent for the Independent and has worked previously for the Financial Times. He has written three books on Iraq's recent history, including the National Book Circle Awards- shortlisted The Occupation and Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession (with Andrew Cockburn), as well as a memoir, The Broken Boy, and, with his son, a book on schizophrenia, Henry's Demons, which was shortlisted for a Costa Award. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize in 2006, and the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2009. More recently he has been awarded Foreign Commentator of the Year at the 2013 Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards, Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year in British Journalism Award 2014, and Foreign Reporter of the Year in Press Awards 2014.