This book will fascinate anyone with a deep interest in the Gulf War. The Cockburns show us what was happening on the other side, within Iraq. We're given a rich portrait of what life is like in Hussein's inner circle, the functioning of the various anti-Hussein factions, and the CIA's unsuccessful efforts to foment Hussein's overthrow. Hussein's atrocities are fully documented, as is the incompetence of the CIA - no one comes out of this book smelling like a rose. The Cockburns argue that the US should have pushed on to Baghdad during the Gulf War, and they're harsh toward the US for its naive hope that somehow, against all odds, someone will overthrow Hussein. The most shocking part of the book is an account of an attempted CIA-backed coup in 1996, in which the CIA allowed the coup to go forward in spite of hard evidence that Iraqi authorities had advance knowledge. The result was that many Iraqi dissidents, working under the CIA's leadership, were sent to their imprisonment and death.

The Cockburns harshly criticize the US's ongoing blockade of Iraq, despite their own account of Hussein's determination to develop biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. The Cockburns end their book with the prediction that somehow the Iraqi people will rise up against Hussein. Yet the authors spent most of the book criticizing the US for taking exactly that same stance - naively hoping for an uprising. This glaring inconsistency is an incredible flaw in an otherwise fascinating book.

If you are looking for one book to give you a thorough background on Iraq and its relations with the US, this is it. The Cockburn brothers have refused to dumb down the information, and yet have written a book that is accessible to all curious readers. Their lively account of the rise of Saddam and his Baath party held my attention throughout, reeling me in with good stories, while at the same time communicating the highly complex workings of the Iraqi government over the past several decades. Operating in ignorance of historical context is a dangerous game. The Cockburns go deep beneath the surface of Iraqi politics to give us the tools to understand the present situation. It's too bad that the administration apparently failed to read this book before barrelling ahead with war. Don't make the same mistake! Read the book, get the facts, and draw your own conclusions.

It is hard to imagine how a better book on the subject of Iraq since the Gulf War could be written. Andrew Cockburn - based in Washington, DC and Patrick - based in Jerusalem - are able to make use of an incredible assortment of inside sources to take us step-by-step through the US's (in most cases the CIA's) disastrous non-strategy of the past decade. Illogical and inconsistent policies, the betrayal of allies, lost opportunities, a continued failure to support viable oppostion movements - it's all here, crisply narrated.

What really sets this book apart is the authors' astounding ability to elicit surreal humor from the most evil of situations - for example a first-hand account of Saddam's murdurous son Uday (who is also Chair of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, which has its own prison) discussing with his very fat and very drunk Armenian tailor (known as 'the philosopher') the relative merits of Liberace and Engelbert Humperdinck.

I read this book this weekend at a single sitting, and I am proud to add it to my extensive library of Middle East policy studies. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

In this book, two journalists give a vivid and well-informed picture of Iraq's recent history. They play the role of friends at court, gently warning the US government that invading Iraq would be 'overplaying its hand'. Their book illustrates how international journalism produces intrusive judgements on the internal affairs of other countries, assisting imperialism to prepare its attacks on sovereign states. But whatever Iraq does inside its own borders is no justification for international aggression and preventive war.

But on the other hand, the authors do remind us of some important facts. The US/British sanctions against Iraq have killed an estimated 500,000 children under five, and another 500,000 people. Aren't peacekeepers supposed to save hostages, not massacre them? The Pope called the sanctions 'biological warfare against a civilian population' - but that can't be right, because our rulers say that only Iraq uses biological weapons! They note that the USA shipped large stocks of its chemical weapons to the Gulf in 1990 - so it would not be too surprising if Iraq, fearing a repeat, protected its soldiers against chemical attack.

Far from Iraq being in league with the Al-Qa'ida terrorists, the mujehadin in Afghanistan sent fighters to assist the USA in its 1990-91 war against Iraq. Afterwards, the CIA gave captured Iraqi arms and ammunition to the mujehadin - so far the only proven arming of terrorists! War against Iraq would not weaken the terrorists; it is far more likely to recruit for them.

The authors point out that an International Atomic Energy Authority official said, "We have closed down all their nuclear facilities and activities." Dick Cheney, now Vice-President, agreed, saying in 1991, "Saddam Hussein is out of the nuclear business" - unlike the USA and Britain, which still threaten to use them.

The critical issue over Iraq is not Saddam Hussein, not even greed for oil or White House dreams of world domination, but whether the genuine superpower in the world - the working class - says, "No war".