In the tradition of The Wise Men, the first group portrait of the inner circle of George W. Bush's team — Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, Armitage, Rice, and Wolfowitz.

When George W. Bush campaigned for the White House, he was such a novice in foreign policy that he couldn't name the president of Pakistan. But he was advised by a group that called themselves the Vulcans — a group of men and one woman with long and shared experience in government, dating back to the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and first Bush administrations. After returning to power in 2001, the Vulcans — including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, and Condoleeza Rice — were widely expected to restore U.S. foreign policy to what it had been in past Republican administrations. Instead, they put America on an entirely new course, adopting a far-reaching set of ideas and policies that changed the world and America's role in it.

In this revelatory and newsworthy volume, James Mann narrates the hidden story of these six history makers, their early careers and rise to power, the interactions and underlying tensions among them, their visions, and their roles in the current administration. Along the way, he offers a wealth of new information (about how Rumsfeld schemed in the Nixon White House, how Cheney toiled as Rumsfeld's doorkeeper, how Wolfowitz first warned of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East in the 1960s) to complete a remarkable look at George W. Bush's inner circle.

"Intricately shaded and scary profile of President George W. Bush's foreign policy team....[A] steady voice that likes to hew to the facts." Kirkus Reviews

"[L]ucid, shrewd and, after so many high-decibel screeds from both the right and left, blessedly level-headed....[N]ecessary reading." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"This well-written, serious, evenhanded effort should be essential reading for anyone interested in American foreign policy." Publishers Weekly

"[An] exceptionally evenhanded and well-written book. Highly recommended." Library Journal

In the tradition of The Wise Men comes the first group portrait of the inner circle of George W. Bush's team — Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, Armitage, Rice, and Wolfowitz.

James Mann is the senior writer in residence at the CSIS International Security Program and the author of two critically acclaimed books: About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China from Nixon to Clinton and Beijing Jeep. Previously, he was a long-time correspondent with the Los Angeles Times, and his writing has also appeared in The New Republic and The Atlantic Monthly. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Contents

Introduction ix

ONE: A Rising Politician Amid War and Dirty Tricks 1

TWO: The Intellectual as Protg 21

THREE: A Soldier and a Sailor 37

FOUR: Combating the Soviets, Dtente and Henry Kissinger 56

FIVE: Enter the Persian Gulf 79

SIX: Transitions 95

SEVEN: Camelot of the Conservatives 112

EIGHT: Of Dictatorships and Democracy 127

NINE: In the Midst of Armageddon 138

TEN: A Scandal and Its Aftermath 150

ELEVEN: A New Republican President, a New Foreign Policy Team 165

TWELVE: Use of Force 179

THIRTEEN: Death of an Empire, Birth of a Vision 198

FOURTEEN: Vulcans in Exile 216

FIFTEEN: A Vulcan Agenda 234

SIXTEEN: The Campaign 248

SEVENTEEN: Who Runs the Pentagon? 261

EIGHTEEN: Warnings and Signals 277

NINETEEN: History Starts Today 294

TWENTY: A New Strategy 311

TWENTY-ONE: Toward War with Iraq 332

Conclusion 359

Acknowledgments 373

Notes 377

Index 411