Studies in Intelligence 67, No. 3 (Extracts, September 2023)

Review—Confronting Saddam Hussein

Reviewed by Michael J. Ard

Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq

Melvyn P. Leffler (Oxford University Press, 2023), 346 pages, preface, acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, index.

In Confronting Saddam Hussein, distinguished Cold War historian Melvyn Leffler delivers a balanced and penetrating analysis on why President George W. Bush took the United States to war in 2003. Leffler relies on numerous interviews with key participants to supplement his careful examination of the written record. This new history will satisfy anyone interested in a compact and dispassionate treatment of what brought the United States to war and why it went awry.

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