The achilles trap : Saddam Hussein, the United States and the Middle East, 1979-2003 / Steve Coll.

London : Allen Lane, 2024.

576 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

'The Achilles Trap' untangles the people, ploys of power and geopolitics that led to America's disastrous war with Iraq and details America's fundamental miscalculations during its ruinous, decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein. Beginning with Saddam's rise to power in 1979 and the birth of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme, Steve Coll traces Saddam's motives through understanding his inner circle. He brings to life the diplomats, scientists, family members and generals who had no choice but to defer to their leader - a leader directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as the torture or imprisonment of many more. This was a man whose reasoning was impossible to reduce to a simple explanation, and the CIA and successive presidential administrations failed to grasp critical nuances in his paranoia, resentments and inconsistencies.

9780241686652 (hbk)

956.7'04431
956.7'0443
956.704431

English

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