Product Description

The invasion of Iraq by American, British and other coalition forces has indeed transformed the Middle East, but not as the Bush and Blair administrations had imagined. It is Iran, not Western-style democracy, that has emerged as the big winner, creating a Tehran-Baghdad axis that would have been unthinkable before the war. THE END OF IRAQ is the definitive account of the US and UK's catastrophic involvement in Iraq, as told by America's leading independent expert on the country. Peter Galbraith reveals in exquisite detail how US policies -- some going back to the Reagan administration -- have now produced a nearly independent Kurdistan in the north, an Islamic state in the south, and uncontrollable insurgency in the centre, and an incipient Sunni-Shiite civil war that has Baghdad as its central front. Iraq, Galbraith argues, cannot be reconstructed as a single state. Instead, a sensible strategy must accept that it has already broken up and focus instead on stopping an escalating civil war. Unflinching, accessible and powerful, THE END OF IRAQ explores and explains the myriad mistakes and false assumptions that have brought the country to its current pass, and what must be done to prevent further bloodshed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23314 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
The End of Iraq is very informative, thought-provoking and well written. The author uses his first hand experience of Iraq over the past decades, as well as reminding the reader of the events before and since 2003 and adding analysis.

Galbraith describes in detail all of the terrible mistakes made by the Americans and how this has created a complete mess that has led to civil war and could lead to a regional war. He argues convincingly that a unified Iraq is impossible and a three-state solution is possibly the only way to deal with the civil war.

Brilliant overview
Although this book is now a couple of years out of date, it remains a wonderful, and readable, account of the quite unbelievable American (and British) incompetence in Iraq. (The man who was to be in charge of the whole of the country following the invasion was trying to read up on Iraqi history while he was on his way there!) Galbraith knows his subject very well and is able to provide the necessary background history to the conflict. It makes a wonderful companion to Imperial Life in the Emerald City.