As the crisis with Iraq continues, Americans have questions. Is war really necessary? What can it accomplish? What broad vision of U.S. foreign policy underlies the determination to remove Saddam Hussein? What were the failures of the last couple of decades that brought us to a showdown with a dictator developing weapons of mass destruction? What is the relationship between war with Iraq and the events of 9-11?

The answers to these questions are found in this timely book by two of America's leading foreign policy thinkers.

Kristol and Kaplan lay out a detailed rationale for action against Iraq. But to understand why we must fight Saddam, the authors assert, it is necessary to go beyond the details of his weapons of mass destruction, his past genocidal actions against Iran and his own people, and the U.N. resolutions he has ignored. The explanation begins with how the dominant policy ideas of the last decade - Clintonian liberalism and Republican realpolitik - led American policymakers to turn a blind eye to the threat Iraq has posed for well over a decade.

As Kristol and Kaplan make clear, the war over Iraq is in large part a war of competing ideas about America's role in the world. The authors provide the first comprehensive explanation of the strategy of "preemption" guiding the Bush Administration in dealing with this crisis. They show that American foreign policy for the 21st century is being forged in the crucible of our response to Saddam.

The war over Iraq will presumably be the end of Saddam Hussein. But it will be the beginning of a new era in American foreign policy. William Kristol and Lawrence Kaplan are indispensable guides to the era that lies ahead.

Co-author Kristol (editor of The Weekly Standard) was intimately involved, along with current Bush administration figures Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, in pushing proposals to militarily attack Iraq and project American military power for a "New American Century" (seen by much of the world as an attempt to establish a globally- hegemonic American Empire). Here, working with fellow neoconservative Kaplan (editor of The New Republic) he presents the justification for that stance, including the idea that Saddam Hussein is the preeminent danger to world civilization. They criticize the policies of the Bush I and Clinton administrations as leading to a grave crisis from which only the full implementation of the Bush doctrine (which they helped formulate) of preemptively preventing the rise of regional powers can extricate the world. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"Anyone who harbors doubt about the imperative of regime change in Iraq for the vital security interests of the United States should read this book." Senator John McCain

"Brilliant and definitive. Kristol and Kaplan run right at the 'narrow realists' of Bush I and the Clintonian 'wishful liberals' and break all tackles. At stake is far more than the future of Iraq: the authors show us why ? in the age of terror, rogue states, and weapons of mass destruction ? we can only make the world safe for democracy by finishing the job of democratizing it." R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence 1993-95

Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-146) and index.

Lawrence F. Kaplan is a Senior Editor at The New Republic.

William Kristol is editor of The Weekly Standard and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel.