The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

by Steve Coll

The Iraqi leader had needlessly started one of the most costly and aimless wars in recent world history and, after eight terrible years, had ended up where he started. His nation had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, inflicted a comparable number on Iran, and spent more than $500 billion. When the war began, Iraq had at least $35 billion in foreign exchange reserves; when it ended, the country owed more than $80 billion—about twice the size of its economy— to various lenders, including Japan, France, West Germany, America, and the Soviet Union. Its two largest creditors were Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq owed them as much as $35 billion and $10 billion, respectively. Yet Saddam had no choice but to declare this fiasco another win in his series of glorious triumphs; to do otherwise would be to admit weakness and invite more attempts to overthrow him.