Secret History of the Iraq War

In The Secret History of the Iraq War, bestselling author Yossef Bodansky offers a stunning new account of the war and its aftermath, arguing that the war was doomed from the start by massive and systemic failures of the American intelligence community. Bodansky reveals how nearly every aspect of America’s conflict with Iraq has been misunderstood, by the public and the White House. The Secret History of the Iraq War is filled with surprising revelations, including Saddam Hussein’s active cooperation with al-Qaeda, the role of North Korea, Syria and Libya in maintaining Iraq’s WMD program, and dramatic details of Saddam’s final days on the run. Bodansky presents a sobering indictment of an intelligence system that failed the White House, the American military, and the people of the Middle East. Yossef Bodansky, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, has been the director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare for more than ten years. He has written for many periodicals, including Global Affairs, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Defense and Foreign Affairs: Strategic Policy, and Business Week. He is a former senior consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State. “Intriguing ... a microscopically detailed portrait of the byzantine politics of the various Iraqi factions and their regional sponsors, along with a vigorous critique of the chaos, intelligence failures, political ignorance and military overkill that characterize the American occupation.” — Publishers Weekly troops and the stunning revelation that Saddam was already in custody at the time of his capture—and was probably betrayed by members of his own Tikriti clan The definitive account of the anti-U.S. resistance and uprising in Iraq, as the American invasion ignited an Islamic jihad and Iran-inspired intifada, threatening to plunge the region into irreversible chaos fueled by hatred and revenge Revelations about the direct involvement of Osama bin Laden in the terrorism campaigns in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the Middle East—including the major role played by Iran and HizbAllah in al-Qaeda's operations Drawing upon an extraordinary wealth of previously untapped intelligence and regional sources, The Secret History of the Iraq War presents the most detailed, fascinating, and convincing account of the most controversial war of our times—and offers a sobering indictment of an intelligence system that failed the White House, the American military, and the people of the Middle East.