Secrets and Lies: Operation Iraqi Freedom and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East?

by Dilip Hiro

The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, masterminded by U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, is the single most important event since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Just as that break-up ushered in a new era in international relations following the end of a bipolar world system, this war has given a new twist to the present global order. Secrets and Lies tells in detail how Operation Iraqi Freedom came about, what it means and where it is likely to lead the Middle East and the world at large. It reveals the scope of the "dirty tricks" used by the Anglo-American alliance to sell the war through the phony intelligence reports and the exaggeration of Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction. It examines the media campaign to win hearts and minds -- including the stage management and spin surrounding the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch. Picking up from the author's recently celebrated essay in the New York Times , "Why the Mullahs Love a Revolution," this leading authority on the Middle East provides us with his skeptical view of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and his examination of the future in Middle East.

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle East

496 pages, Paperback

First published December 24, 2003

Reviews

[Rhuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book still stands as one of the most important analyses of the second Iraq war, its leadup and aftermath: neither the "fall of US power in the Middle East," nor a "successful prosecution of nation-building." Rather it was the ballyhooed "surge" - co-opting native collaborators to do the dirty work while the US chased off into Afghanistan -that made it seem to work (as long as one ignored the results). All the facts and lies one needs to understand Dubya's dirty little war are here between the covers. One of the first and best, and should be read first.