Synopses & Reviews
Russell Mead,New York Times Book Review) comes a timely and important account of the Bush administration's squandered foreign-policy opportunitieswhat it did and did not do during the run-up to the war in Iraq. John Newhouse describes the ways in which America's relationship with much of the world went wrong after the events of September 11, 2001, the moment when most nations were ready to accept U.S. leadership in a war against terrorism. Newhouse poses important questions: Why didn't the Bush administration exploit this rare opportunity to stabilize the Middle East, and Southwest and Northeast Asia? How have the administration's truculent behavior, misguided actions, and inaction at critical moments undermined efforts to curb the production of weapons of mass destruction? Why have Bush and his cabinet laid down edicts that have served chiefly to upset and sharpen the insecurities of other nations, including some of our allies? Newhouse discusses the reasons why Pakistan is probably the most dangerous country in the world. He devotes attention to the threats posed by Iran and North Korea, and the administration's bungled, dangerously inept attention to them. Woven through with illuminating anecdotes and vivid portraits of the playersBush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, Blair, Chirac, Putin, and othersImperial Americais a brilliantly clear, timely, and powerfully thought-provoking expose of recent American foreign policy: how it has been made and perilously mishandled.
Review
"[A] lucid and accessible account of how he says the administration has done more to imperil the United States than to enhance its security." Charles D. Kupchan, New York Times
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-181) and index.
About the Author
John Newhouse covered foreign policy for The New Yorker throughout the 1980s and early 1990s and wrote numerous profiles of world figures. He has served the U.S. government as assistant director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and was senior policy advisor for European affairs in the State Department during the second half of the Clinton administration. His books include Europe Adrift and War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. He is currently a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Opportunities lost -- Chapter 2: Iraq: a dubious war -- Chapter 3: Iran in a bad neighborhood -- Chapter 4: Red lines -- Chapter 5: Ties that bind? -- Chapter 6: Opportunities redux.