The Secret History of the Iraq War Reviews

• Single Best Narrative/Analysis of Iraq, the War on Terror

  
  By on 2004-06-26
  If you've read Yossef Bodansky before than you probably know what to expect. Mr. Bodansky wrote about Islamists training to use hijacked airliners in suicide operations against American and Western targets in 1992 when barely anyone was talking about Islamist terrorism in general, much less specifically forecasting "spectacular" attacks using the techniques the world witnessed on Sept. 11th. Mr. Bodansky is easy to ignore because the subject material is so difficult to understand. This book, like his previous ones, is not a primer on the subject of the Middle East and Islamist terror--what is is deeply incisive, unique in its analysis and conclusions, and, thanks to the author's wide range of sources (often unnamed by necessity) it produces a number of genuine "exclusives" that you won't read anywhere else. As one reviewer critiqued, major claims, though sourced, are not necessarily footnoted. If this is an excuse to ignore his work, go ahead, but do so at your own peril--not enough people took note, after all, from Bodansky's 1993 clarion call about suicide plane hijackings or the burgeoning Islamist terror threat to the West. As opinionated as the tome may be, it is also strikingly apolitical--it bears out key rationales of the Bush Adm. for going to war, but aggressively shreds high-level decision-making by Washington and the intelligence community, at the same time.

  Did you know that US Marines turned up unnaturally high levels of cyanide and mustard agent in the Euphrates? Have you read Russian military intelligence (GRU) analysis of the American experience in Iraq? Do you know what captured Arab Liberation Front (ALF) operatives revealed to Israeli interrogators about Iraqi-al Qaida cooperation, subsequently confirmed by Turkish and British intelligence?

  Read the book.
  
  

• A Must Read for any one seeking the truth.

  
  By A1JQ75H90F21YV on 2004-08-10
  Bodansky did it again. And since he foresaw the rise o bin Laden and the attacks on America so accurately in the past, his revelations of the US intelligence failures before and during the Iraqi war and his conclusions should signal a wake- up call to us all. He closes not only the wide gap left by the 9/11 Commission's report regarding the Saddam- al Qaeda's connection, but also helps us understand why and how the US ended unnecessarily in a weaker position after the war in Iraq.
  
  In The Secret History of the Iraq War, Bodansky lays out in a meticulously researched and frightening page-turner, the details of the US intelligence failure in providing accurate information and analysis to the White House, the US defense forces and Congress. Every American should read this convincing book to fully understand the danger the US is facing today because of the failure of our intelligence services. Their dreadful performance put not only Americans in danger but also the people of the Middle East and beyond. His clear message, similar to the 9/11 Committee's conclusion is that unless we manage to revamp our intelligence services the US' future is rather bleak. The Secret History of the Iraqi War is a must read for anyone concern with US national security.
  
  Rachel Ehrennfeld, author of Funding Evil, How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It. Bonus Books, 2003.
  
  

• A Serious Work

  
  By A3DC3Y2H1XAT1E on 2004-07-14
  Folks that are inclined to write this book off as conspiracy, because its sources are not always referenced have a fundamental mis-understanding of how intelligence comes together. The scope and depth of this account is almost overwhelming, and its a cold glass of water in the face for those who still believe that 9/11 was going to lead to a "War" on Terror along the lines of the "War" on Drugs.

  Its been said that when one has been decieved it is never like a magic show where you laugh at the immediate realization that you've been tricked. It is a slow, creeping sense of dread when you begin to realize you've been had, and it quickly creates a bond between deceiver and deceived; one is reluctant to face the reality of the deception and the other is eager to reinforce that reluctance. The U.S. has been out maneuvered by our enemies plain and simple, and our naievete, our arrogance, the unwillingness of our adolescent-minded intelligentsia to put forth any case to the world for liberal democracy, and most significantly, the incredible failure of our risk averse intelligence apparatus are all to blame.

  There has been very little in the way of serious honest writing and analysis on the war against muslim fascism over the past 18 months, and in fact much of it has been agit/prop poison (M. Moore, Chomsky etc.). Only a ham-handed cliche of an endorsement will suffice -"if you read only one foreign policy book this year, make it Bodansky's!!"
  
  

• Dizzying array of factual information

  
  By on 2004-06-18
  This book is a must read for anyone that is trying to comprehend the complex dynamic of Middle Eastern affairs. Mr. Bodansky writes as someone with an intimate knowledge of the Middle East, terrorism and the political games played by participants around the world.

  If you are not one for detailed analysis, then don't read this book. If you are someone who wants to get the big picture PLUS countless pieces of specific information, then this is the book for you.

  In order to begin to understand the complexity of the current situation (including US involvement) in the Middle East, all you have to do is read the first few pages of Chapter 1 - dealing with the assassination of Abu Nidal. An event that appeared so straightforward is - in fact - much more complex than you would expect!

  A great, captivating, and detailed analysis.
  
  

• on the "conspiracy theory" shelf

  
  By A3SIWHXDZIU1ZA on 2004-07-08
  Someone once said, you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Reading this book may partly explain of why one sometimes feels huge ?disconnects? in political discussions: you meet people who not only don?t agree on what our policies should be, but who assume a whole different set of facts.
  What is annoying is that Bodansky doesn?t feel any need to substantiate any of his astounding claims. (Most of this long, rambling book actually covers territory familiar to us all from reading the newspapers, but there are a few amazing assertions)
  In one example of a startling-if-true story, Bodansky reports that a column of three hundred tanks, one hundred rocket launchers and ?Iraq?s entire WMD arsenal? supposedly left Baghdad, around the time the Americans were taking control of the airport, and made its way all the way across the country, some two hundred miles, to Syria. This was at a time when by other accounts American forces were searching from the air and effectively destroying every Iraq unit that came out into the open.
  Bodansky made no effort to get a response to this story from any of the Americans, either troops, officers, or even spokespeople, on this huge failure to control the territory we had already gained. Supposedly this very long column of vehicles was seen by Apache helicopters, who were fooled by friendly markings, and the presence of a few captured American tanks, but, Bodansky makes no effort at all to pursue that aspect of the story. He claims to get much of his material from personal contacts, and yet he never seems to approach the people who we want to hear respond and comment on an episode like that. Imagine what a real investigative reporter would have done with a story like that!
  Bodansky defends his avoidance of footnotes and references by claiming the need to protect his sources from being tortured to death. That might make some sense, but the problem here isn?t the lack of a footnote, it?s that the story is simply incredible. If it is true, it is mind-boggling. With no supporting detail, no follow-up or context, it sounds all too much like one of the false rumors that always spring up, complete with ?eyewitnesses?, on every battlefield, and are then bandied around for a while, now-a-days on the internet. Bodansky gives us no reason to believe it.
  And in fact, nobody else believes it. Many people have discussed the ?missing? WMD, since this book appeared, who would have loved to claim that they had all been taken to Syria. In fact, John Keegan, in his book on the war (he is a strong supporter of the war) mentions that David Kay referred in his report to some evidence that some WMD may have ended up in Syria. But he refers to this only in passing, not as an important factor in understanding the war. In his discussion of the Battle of Baghdad, Keegan mentions episodes involving columns of fifteen or so Iraqi tanks (they get destroyed), but no column of three hundred (and a hundred rocket launchers, etc) And the British and American administrations have not made any big deal out of this at all, as they would clearly want to do if there was any remotely substantial evidence.
  In spite of its bulk, none of the rest of the book is any more substantiated than this episode. This book belongs on the conspiracy-theory shelf. If you believe Bodansky, you have to beleive that everyone else, in the media and in government, including enthusiastic supporters of the war, is systematically lying, and that Bodansky alone is giving you some teasing glimpses of the truth. I guess there are people who find that paranoid world-view attractive.
  
  
• Great historical prophecy on the future of Middle East
  By A1845IJB63D5H7 on 2004-07-26
  The book vividly describes the intricate historical development of the way of thinking of Islamic and Arabic population of the Middle East and the failure of the western invaders to predict the outcome of a poorly planned occupation of a country of deep roots in history.
  
  The failure of the American army to capitalize on the great achievement of toppling Sadam's statues illustrates the ignorance of westerns on Islamic philosophy which had been established on riding of idols and worshipping the heavenly God instead of bowing to human tyrants. Instead of stressing on such great moral accomplishment of the Christian army that is in congruence with the highest principles of Islamic dogma, the army went on to insult the core believes of the occupied nation. The army dressed Sadam's pictures in women's clothes, showed the two dead cadavers of sons of Sadam embalmed in Christian manner, against Islamic tradition, dropping massive explosives on cities in both Iraq and Palestine while accusing Sadam of possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction, which all showed the arrogance of the invaders and their close similarities to the infamous Mongolian tartar invasion of the middle east in the 13th century.
  
  The fact that America got no grateful welcome from the majority of the liberated people of Iraq is well explained in this book by the analogy between the Mongol-tartar invasion of the middle east in the 13th century and their defeat in Ain-Galoot (currently in Israel), on the hands of Ibn Taimyia, with the American invasion of the same region, for protecting Israel, with Usama Bin Laden playing the role of Ibn Taimyia. This long and old history is kept alive in madrasses allover the Islamic world. It is well enforced by the long track of records of western bias against Islamic interests. Even with the most friendly president to the Palestinians, Bill Clinton, America sided with Israel to deny the right of return to the Palestinian refugees, most of whom are Moslems, while granting any Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. With George W. Bush, Arafat was denied any opportunity of negotiation or respect (which transformed him into real hero among his own people) while Arial Sharon was welcome to the White House whenever he desired a visit.
  
  The old historic facts about ruthless armies of infidels invading, destroying, and humiliating the population of the Middle East has overshadowed all propaganda campaigns of portraying the war as liberation, democratization, or civilization of a third world region. Instead, the spirit of Ibn Taimyia was resurrected in many young volunteer fighters, from all kinds of religious and political creeds who rushed to sharing the glory of fighting an army the raises the flags of racism, capitalistic ruthlessness against the poor and minority, and western moral decay.
  
  
  
• Another winner by Bodansky
  By A35ZCMAV2HPOUT on 2004-07-13
  For those whose sole source for news and analysis is from the media -- don?t read this book -- as it extensively relies on human intelligence, private sources, and many years of proven experience in reliably predicting events of existential import for the U.S. and its allies.
  Bodansky?s prescience accurately forecast the Bin Laden attack on the U.S. two years prior to September 11 and even then we found some rather dense people scoffing at the absurd thought of a Bin Laden attack on the U.S.

  Bodansky?s information is for the most part confirmed by the July 7, report of the Senate?s Select Committee on Intelligence or not addressed at all due to admitted inadequate intelligence. This highlights, by the current and past U.S. administrations, the salient question of unsatisfactory attention to details, perhaps subordinated to perceived political necessities.
  Bodansky elucidates the specter of an imperial Iran engaged in combat with the U.S. for control of the Levant and ultimately the energy producing Gulf countries. He clarifies the trap that the U.S. has entered and the predictable coalescing of Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq into a Shiite force reminiscent of ancient Persia.
  Reacting to Bodansky, the ultimate word smith, is not to emulate an ostrich but to understand the jeopardy facing the U.S. and act, not politically nor subject to election campaign pressure, but with pragmatic solutions that offer hope to this catastrophe in which we are engaged.
  
  

• So Secret He Can't Reveal His Sources
  By AD1MRUOBFE8FG on 2004-12-25
  At 570 pages, The Secret History of the Iraq War weighs in as one of the larger works published to date on this subject. Yossef Bodansky apparently finished writing in the first half of 2004, so this book is able to offer commentary on the year of fighting that had passed since President Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1, 2003.
  
  To his credit, Bodansky has provided a generous index (very helpful when dealing with places and people that are largely unfamiliar to most Americans), and has consulted a huge number of sources. Unfortunately, he fails to provide footnotes, and (even though many of his quotes are from the press and other publicly available sources) explains his failure as necessary to protect the lives of his (anonymous) sources. This makes it very difficult assess the validity of some of Bodansky's more controversial claims -- such as that the Iraqis sent a huge convoy of weapons and personnel to Syria during the course of the main fighting in 2003.
  
  The "Race to Baghdad" chapters provide a detailed, and gripping account of the invasion from Kuwait, and show that this campaign was much harder fought (and its outcome much less certain) than is generally believed. On the other hand, a major source of Bodansky's more pessimistic pronouncements on this phase of the war appear to be based on Russian GRU (Russian military intelligence organization, which maintains a public web site) reports, which generally cast the performance of the American forces in the worst possible light, while praising the Iraqis.
  
  Much has gone wrong since May 1, 2003, and in Bodansky's view, the Americans are incapable of doing almost anything right, the CIA continues to provide inadequate intelligence. According to Bodansky, American successes come mostly from following Israeli intelligence, weapons, and tactics. If Bodansky is right, it's small wonder that the Islamic world considers the Americans and the Israelis to be its enemies.
  
  I find convincing Bodansky's assertions of Syrian/Iranian complicity in attempting to make the American occupation of Iraq as difficult as possible. It's hardly surprising that these two countries, which feel surrounded by American forces, would engage in what can be regarded as defensive strategies to decrease the chances of success by their enemies. It seems likely that much of the Islamic world sees Iraq as an opportunity to inflict the sort of humbling defeat on the Americans in Iraq that was inflicted on the Russians in Afghanistan 20 years ago.
  
  There is a wealth of information in The Secret History of the Iraq War, but without footnotes, it's difficult to separate fact from fiction. I suspect this book includes large amounts of both -- and the reader will need to weigh Bodansky's claims carefully against what is known from other sources, such as Anthony Cordesman's Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics, and Military Lessons.
  
  
• WMDs are there and in use.
  By A22P3M4TOEN7D9 on 2004-08-27
  Im a little concerned about the review by the "Defense Editor" in Germany. Having only the basic tool of the internet I was able to find that his primary reason for dis-counting the quality of the factual evidence in this book was wrong. He claimed that US and other experts have found no evidence of WMDs, program or otherwise. This is a false claim. David Kay (a former UN weapons inspector) said that he found evidence of a strong dual use chemical program less than a year ago. US troops were attacked earlier this summer (May) with a sarin (nerve agent) shell and one month before that a shell containing mustard gas (a blister agent) was discovered. In June, Polish troops recovered multiple chemical weapons containing cyclo-sarin (a more modern and deadly version of sarin nerve agent) in Iraq. You dont need secret sources to know that Iraq had WMDs at the time of the invasion or that these weapons still pose a threat to US and coalition forces. MR. Charles Thibo "The Cat" can browse the anti-war US media for the facts about WMDs if he likes. That is where I found all the cases I stated above. These cases are also why I am inclined to believe the assertions in this book.
  
  
• ignore these reviews
  By on 2004-06-25
  the preservation of some semblance of intellectual integrity compels me to note for readers of these reviews that the lengthy and glowing review of bodansky's book by greg copley is a serious disservice to amazon's system for rating books. copley and bodansky are very close friends and work together. bodansky writes regularly for copley's publication, and his review scarcely qualifies as impartial. the personal relationship between the two makes copley's review the equivalent of bodansky reviewing himself. caveat emptor.
  
  
• Copley protests too much. This book is bad.
  By A3THGS6EQT5166 on 2004-06-26
  Gregory Copley clearly wants this book to be successful--he's posted three long reviews now. But leave aside his bickering with another reviewer and assess the book on its merits (or lack thereof): the book is overly long, insufficiently or vaguely sourced, a mix of rumor and innuendo with fact (and it's nearly impossible to tell which is which because of Bodansky's vague sourcing). Bodansky obviously knows a lot about these issues, but his willing opaqueness--and his poor writing--make this book practically worthless. Don't waste your time. You won't learn anything from this doorstop of a book.
  
  
• A good book, but...
  By A2A5IP15YDG8JO on 2004-09-11
  I would say that this is a good book. It has a lot of fascinating information that I wish our nation's leaders would make our citizens fully aware of. Most specifically, the role of Iran and Syria in all of this. I would recommend this book, but I must take some exceptions to the book:
  
  1) Bodansky thinks that the US has done a horrible job in Iraq, and will continue to. He even thinks that a Russian-supported coup would have been better, which I strongly disagree with.
  
  Look, the US has made mistakes in the war, no doubt about it. But the author consistently blasts the US throughout the book. The war and reconstruction weren't executed perfectly, yes, I agree - but I think he went over the top. Sir, you don't have to say it every four pages - we get the point.
  
  The author is quite pessimistic in another way. Not only has the US made "colossal" blunders and made a mess of things, he says, but also that almost the whole country hates us. If I was blinded to the outside world, I would think that most of Iraq's 25 million inhabitants were either terrorists or terrorist-supporters. Yet Iraqi polls and soldiers home from the war tell a story that is completely opposite.
  
  The author was very pessimistic about whether the transfer of sovreignity would take place before July 1. It did, and it even went better than I expected. And no terrorist attacks when power was transferred.
  
  Overall, I just think that the author is too overly pessimistic. If things are really as bad as he says, then I could accept that. But they're not. I mean, think about it - we're bringing democracy to a nation in the Middle East. I'm not sure democracy will take root in Iraq. The American Experiment is a smashing success. Yeah, Iraq is in downtown of the Islamic world. But they are also humans. More than 200 years ago, democracy itself was a radical idea. Perhaps it still is.
  
  One last thing. This book is VERY long. I had to really push myself to finish the last 200 pages. And I've literally fallen asleep dozens of times trying to read it. The book is both fascinating and boring.
  
  I recommend this book, but be aware the author doesn't stick solely with the facts, he mixes in his opinion. This book is great from a factual perspective. But you really need to commit yourself to read it through.
  
  
• poor journalism
  By A8URMCX4TN4SW on 2005-04-07
  Read this book to get a feel how the Arab media thinks, how Muslims think, how insurgencies are confusing and hard to figure out. Do not read it for facts. He has multiple obviously wrong assertions stated as facts and never acknowledges his sources nor does he corroborate the "facts" that he puts forth. This book read like the typical Arab media... blatantly exaggerated statements, huge conspiracies etc. etc. very hard to read for anyone reasonably educated in proper academic writing and reasonably knowledgeable of recent history and world events.
  
  
• Where is the evidence? Where are the sources?
  By A3EQQP0LD4Z375 on 2004-10-03
  As a book on history, this one is atypical, for the reason that no references are given nor are any sources quoted. The author believes that revealing his sources will put them in grave danger, and so he refrains from doing it. Readers will therefore have to take his word on the accuracy of the content of the book, which may be difficult to do given the extreme (and justified) skepticism that accompanies any discussion of the war in Iraq. The author has written an interesting and engaging book, but one must leave to future analysis whether what he puts down in print is accurate.
  
  There are many surprises in the book if a reader compares its contents with what is being reported in the American news media. Some of these include: 1. The plan by Iraq and Syria to proactively thwart the war on terrorism. 2. The move by Syria to expand military assistance to Iraq by creating a network of fictitious companies. 3. The visit to Syria of Kim Yong-Nam to forge an alliance with Syria, Iraq, and Iran. 4. The pre-war strike (by many months) on Iraqi air defense installations. 5. The pre-war arrival of 150 al-Qaeda terrorists in northern Iraq as preparation for operations in Western Europe. 6. The plan by Hussein for a counterattack across the whole Middle East, involving ballistic missiles that had chemical and biological warheads (this is one place where the reader is dying to know what the author's proof of this is). 7. The plans by Moscow to launch a preemptive coup against Hussein, and its consequent rejection by the American government. The author describes the administration as being "horrified" by these plans, who would have to face the political consequences of "somebody else taking credit for toppling Hussein's regime." The author claims that Washington deliberately tried to foil the Russian plan via a leak to Egyptian intelligence, and the Russians retaliated by refusing to give Washington any intelligence on Iraqi opposition. The author believes that this "hands-off" stance was a clear detriment to the United States.
  
  The author lays the blame of the debacle in Iraq on the intelligence community. If by `intelligence' he means a reasoned measure of the attitudes of the Iraqi people as well as an awareness of the military capabilities of Iraq, then he is correct. The current administration had the capability of finding out just what kind of weapons the Iraq regime possessed, but they chose unfortunately to not been exhaustive in their search. They completely ignored, or perhaps did not even think to consider, the thoughts of the Iraqi people on the conflict they were to face. It is becoming more apparent as time goes on that the Iraqi people view the war as an invasion and occupation, that the Americans are invaders and not liberators. They are rejecting completely the notion of a pro-American Iraq.
  
  The author does not discuss any alternative reasons the war in Iraq, no doubt because he is a historian and wants to concentrate on the actual historical events in the war. It would seem though that he would believe that the war was justified if only the intelligence were valid. When reading the book, it would be difficult to view the action in Iraq as one that was driven by the energy needs of the United States. The author does not outline any evidence that might support this view. One should not conclude however that the lack of evidence in this book for this view supports the position that this war was not a "war for oil". It is very difficult for some, possibly this author, to believe that the United States would engage in such a brutal attack for this reason. For others though, including this reviewer, the belief that Iraq was a war for oil, but masked cleverly behind "national security" needs, is one that sounds highly credible and possesses a large amount of evidence.
  
  
• Interesting theories abound, but little proof leads this book nowhere
  By A2UTLJJWNBL4YS on 2006-01-16
  Yossef Bodansky can certainly spin a yarn, and his knowledge of the Middle East is quite impressive, as are his credentials. As a student of history, however, I can put little credence into a book whose entire thesis is based entirely on unnamed sources without ANY supporting references whatsover. Any book that takes that road and claims to be "truth", regardless of the thesis is automatically suspect.
  
  Bodansky makes numerous claims about how WMD was really in Iraq, but was smuggled away and hidden in Syria and Iran. He writes well and makes the theories sound plausible. I am sure that is what many would like to believe, but to date there has been absolutely no proof of any kind, at least none publicly referenced, to support any of these theories. Written in the aftermath of a ground campaign, and with the anticipation that WMDs were bound to be discovered anyday, Bodansky jumped way out on a limb writing a book that supported his personal position on the war. Unfortunately for him, the last two years have completely demolished his suppositions. Of course hindsight is twenty twenty, and the future will tell the real truth. But for now, based on all information, this book is little more than pure speculation. Treat it accordingly.
  
  
• 4 stars as in B- Theories in line with my experience
  By AO9EBY44JOA43 on 2005-11-27
  I spent 2004 in Iraq as an Army Intelligence Officer and much of Mr. Bodansky's theories about the war ring true. I saw nothing that directly contradicted them. Much of this book is like a lot of intelligence in the Middle East - not quite proveable, but every indication points that way. My sense when I read this book is that Mr. Bodansky is either a good guesser or he has a lot of connections in the Mossad who provided him information but declined to go on record. He does not prove his assertions, but they are logical and the evidence since has not contradicted them. Only Sadam and his close inner-circle could prove them.
  
  The thesis of the book is that Sadam planned to regain his manhood and leadership role within the Arab world by leading a united front against Israel. To do so, he would have to mend fences with Syria -- something which the author claims he was close to accomplishing. The author claims that Sadam met with Assad on the border and basically they agreed to a plan to work together against Israel. Israeli and American agents discovered his plans -- then America and Britain stepped in to prevent Israel from nuking or bombing Baghdad.
  
  This thesis begs the question: was the loss of American life worth the cost to protect Israel? Or, by protecting Israel, were we protecting The West and the rest of the world?
  
  I don't know. I can say that some aspects of the invasion were botched and poorly planned. And that had we planned the aftermath or reconstruction better, the loss of life would have been much less.
  
  
• Exahustive Study of the War with All the Players
  By A3CX9ZSEFCDXX4 on 2005-02-04
  This book weaves an amazing amount of analysis into a single volume concerning the Iraq War. The author does implicate Saddam with WMD and indicates that he not only has a realtionship with terrorists but he is prepared to launch them not just in Israel but Europe and the US. The book has extraordinary detail on Saddam's plans, his plan of insurgency after the fall of Bagdad and his reliance on Syria to spirit away his weapons, materials, money and providing a hiding place for his familiy and sons. Besides the role of Syria providing cover for Saddamm and his forces, Iran is a major player in the sponsor of terrorism and the three countries along with Arafat plan a massive attack against Israel. The attack would include pentrating Jordan to intiate an attack that they hoped would spark a major attack by Israel that would inflame the Arab world causing a coordinated strike at Israel. With a blow by blow account of the US attack on Iraq covertly before the start of the war and after, the author captures the details of the fighting including inside Saddams command virtually ruined buy his son Qusay. The most interesting part of the book is Iran's role in fueling Islamist terrorists to Iraq to lead to a Shiite sympathetic Iraq government and Iran's role in hosting terrorists such as Osoma Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi to plan and supply terroriists into both Iraq and Saudia Arabia. Chalabi is also implicated in secret meetings in Terhan. The book is depressing in the fact that even Murbarak is covertly involved in resisting the US, although propped up by billions of US dollars, and he is also involved with Arafat who creates a face of peace while planning violent terrorist acts. At the end, the author is critical of the US's foray into Iraq and its failure to recognize the power of Islamist extremists but his alternative does not ring very clear because the extremists seem beyond rational negotiations. The entire middle east comes across as a complicated maze of strong arm leadership by a few combined in areas of mutual distrust and hatred. Kurds hate Saddam but hate the Turks more and vice versa. The only criticism is a lack of maps, I would recommend downloading a map that will fit into the book and there is a need for a quick reference page for all the charcters. There are so many players that an easy reference page would help keep the average reader up on who all the parties are. I do have to agree with an earlier reviewer that footnotes would provide more creditability particularly when referencing such episodes such as Saddam's being drugged and virtually held capative by his own disillusioned supporters when discovered by US troops based on a tip.
  
  
• Regional Issues and Failures of U.S Intelligence
  By A2IOL2YL1V2N67 on 2005-03-13
  I picked up Yossef Bodansky's "The Secret History of the Iraq War" to get a better feel for what happened than I'd been able to get from CNN and the newspaper headlines. He does do an excellent job of discussing the regional issues: Kurds and Turks, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He discusses the complications with Israel - used as a focus of hatred by the fanatics and the sometimes contradictory actions of the U.S. toward Israel, acting on the one hand to do everything possible to forestall SCUD attacks and on the other restraining Israeli actions. He explains the view of the U.S. as the successors to the Mongol-Tarter invaders who occupied Baghdad in 1258.
  
  Bodansky paints a bleak picture of the U.S. effort and lays the blame with the American intelligence community: "The war in Iraq is thus a story of interaction between a convinced, strong-willed administration and an emaciated, ignorant, but still arrogant intelligence community . . ." I have trouble accepting his arguments when he makes sweeping statements without giving supporting evidence. For example: "Before the ware, Washington was convinced that the Shiites would be largely grateful . . ." without any notes or attribution. He explains that he can't include notes for fear of endangering sources and then proceeds to make all knowing pronouncements.
  
  I was surprised to find not a single map in the book, the detailed descriptions of regional issues would have benefited from including maps. Acronyms are rarely spelled out in the text nor in the index. Bodansky does include a detailed listing of periodical sources.
  
  "Secret History" did show me how to view the conflict in broader terms than a Bush - Saddam confrontation but I will keep looking for a more robust treatment of the issues.
  
  
  
  
  
• An Interesting View that Should be Read
  By A1M8PP7MLHNBQB on 2004-11-30
  The more about Iraq that I read, the more I have to admit that I simply don't have any idea about what's really going on over there. In fact, in this book I find some major contradictions. On the one hand he discusses the American involvement as being fundamentally flawed by a failure to understand the overall situation. But he also says that America had a viable, urgent, imperative to go to war with Iraq when it did. He states that the Iraqi populace is willingly embracing traditionalist radical Islam as the sole power capable of shielding them against American encroachment. Yet, the divisions of Kurd, Shiite and Sunni seem so large as to prevent any legitimate use of the term "the Iraqi populace."
  
  The author's bringing to the fore a litany of facts, most of which I've confirmed from various web sites, that are indeed "secrets" so far at our television media seem to cover the story, are worth the price of the book by themselves. But I would have liked to have seen a little more supporting evidence on these points.
  
  It's certainly clear that winning the peace after the war is proving more difficult than planned. (Or was it planned at all?) But it isn't clear just why. In talking to some recent Iraqi visitors to this country, they are asking only why it took the US so long to come in and wipe out Saddam. They say that the troubles are only being caused by a handful of fringe groups who are afraid of losing power themselves.
  
  This is a book you can't afford to miss, yet don't make this the only book you read.
  
  
• Fiction Not Truth
  By A3TYPTXWLR5EEW on 2005-11-07
  Although the author claims to provide a complete documentation of the "secret" Iraq war he fails to provide any source, reference, or interview partner. The books became a real disappointment for me. The book includes several typos and the books "reference list" is basically a compilation of newspaper names and websites which are available for everyone capable of spelling the word Google.
  The theories developed within the book therefore belong in the fiction category which is unfortunate because a more serious work and research (by someone else) could have made the book much better.
  
  
• Good book, read it and change your paradigm
  By A1S6RV8D4RMX8T on 2004-11-22
  This book is extremely good, however the author should use more bookmarks on his sources and resources. I was able to validate many of his assertions through nexis and the internet, however it would of been nice to have. That being said, I can see why he didn't, it would of been another 150 pages of footnotes. The big takeaway I got from the author's book was that we tend to think of developing countries through a paradigm of that countries in this area act like our country. He clearly shows how countries like Iran, Egypt, Syria, etc have many,many automous intelligence agencies that have zero oversight. Add in the tribal/religious factions all over the region, and much of the population have no "national identity." So our country's media that report the news clearly don't understand this reality. Mr Bodansky shows in great detail how our fixation on "nation blaming" is so near-sighted. These networks of terrorists have two common enemies. The U.S. and Israel. Their "jihad" is no different than Hitler's "jihad" against jews and his version of "infidels." He shows so well how Libya/Sudan and other countries with these networks have become weapons warehouses of WMD and conventional weapons for Saddam and other anti-jewish jihadists.
  People that write off the author's detailed work as "conspiracy theory" obviously think that every country in the world has checks and balances and other democratic self-checks like the United States. We are so self-critical of our country and our policies, yet if you check Transparency International's website, you'll see how openly corrupt 100s of countries are and how they really have no concern or regard for their people. These nations turn a blind eye to their internal "goings on", allowing the countless offenses the author described so well in his book to go on unchecked (ie, covertly.)
  
  
• Only one star
  By A3L406R0SXXZEV on 2006-04-10
  because thats the lowest grade Amazon allows me to give for this book. The book is has a strong conspiracy background, its sometimes fun to read, but the many mistakes and factual errors are really annoying.
  
  
• Common sense, massive detail, and convoluted conspiracies
  By A2AU7EFI21JONP on 2006-06-22
  This is a long and often painful book, which reads like a detailed digest of secret intelligence reports from many nations. Bodansky compiles a convincing case that US intelligence has misunderstood the whole Middle East, including all its allies and all ethnic communities within Iraq. He also claims to expose numerous secret plots spun by inner circles of the Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, or Israeli governments, the Palestinian Authority, and various Iraqi insurgent groups. He reports, for example, that Saddam's spies fed the West false information that its army would collapse on contact with US forces - in order to sucker the Americans into attacking with too few troops. He says that Iran is supporting terrorism against Iraqi Shi'ites, in order to prevent their emergence as rival leaders of Shi'ite Islam.
  
  Bodansky clearly shows that the US government has trusted the wrong information. But the reader must wonder if Bodansky is a more trustworthy source. He repeatedly describes the counterproductive results of one group trying to control others by blunt force. But he concludes the answer is smarter force. Bodansky calls the present struggle "World War III." He informs us that "The conflict to come will be a total war for all involved: a fateful clash of civilizations and religions for the future of the respective peoples."
  
  --BG, author of "Different Visions of Love" and "The Gardens of Their Dreams"
  
  
• Just Plain Asinine
  By A6GGITV1281KM on 2006-08-01
  I was attracted to this book by the dust jacket cover, knowing nothing about Mr. Bodansky starting out. Like many other reviewers I was at first annoyed and then flabbergasted by the lack of reliable citation or follow up on incredible stories (some guy in a Muq'ha told me so it must be true). Based on this book alone, I would recommend against ever purchasing or reading any of Bodansky's other books. I quit reading the book about halfway through, you would be wise never to start.
  
  
• Big questions still remain...
  By A3KSOAJTT17I1A on 2006-08-21
  The Secret History of the Iraq War covers the period of mid-2002 to the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. The edition I read had an afterword that included (briefly) some of the events to May 2004. Therefore, the book leaves us mid-stream and a lot of things that have happened since are not covered (for example, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, the 2004 election, etc).
  
  The main value of this book is the explanation of the Arab point of view, and Bodansky does a good job of explaining why the Arab world and Iraqi people didn't support the US more in our efforts to topple Saddam, as hated as he was. The American perspective is almost totally ignored, except to say where Bush & Co. got it wrong and misread the situation. The evidence presented by Colin Powell to the UN is not analyzed (and is barely even mentioned), and the administration are portrayed as single-minded warmongers.
  
  To read the book, it makes it sound like Iraq was practically dripping with chemical weapons, which magically disappear without a trace. Bodansky's explanation for this is less than satisfying. Furthermore, Bodansky expects us to believe that he knew all this, but somehow US intelligence did not (or chose to ignore it).
  
  Read it for a glimpse of the Arab perspective, but wait for a more authoritative history to answer some of the bigger questions.
  
  
• The Real Story of the Iraq War
  By A12J8IOXYPTKUL on 2007-03-30
  The problem with trying to ascertain what's actually happening with any national story is that the information received is filtered through the biases and agendas of the people disseminating it. Any political entity will put a favorable "spin" on the issue, while the mainstream media will report only those parts that align with its liberal left-wing worldview. One has to find a source that is both objective and complete.
  
  Yossef Bodansky's "The Secret History of the Iraq War" is one of those complete and objective sources. In excruciating detail, Bodansky conveys the real story of the Iraq War behind the filtered headlines. He presents evidence to suggest that:
  
  - Iraq did indeed have connections with al Qaida before 9/11, and WMDs before the Iraq War.
  - Iran and Syria were sponsors of terrorists groups gearing up for more attacks on Israel before the invasion.
  - Iraq's WMDs were moved to Syria before the invasion, therefore Bush did not lie about them being there.
  - Poor intelligence and a fatal misunderstanding of Iraqi culture and social structure, along with arrogance and denial by the Bush administration led to the current problems America has now in Iraq.
  - The war did, in fact, act as a magnet for terrorists around the globe to fight American forces in Iraq instead of planning attacks on American soil.
  - That Syria and Iran are key agitators in Iraq to this day.
  
  However incompetently the intervention has been in Iraq by the Bush administration, the overarching message of Bodansky's book is that the invasion was sufficient to upset the grandiose plans of Saddam Hussein, as well as terrorist groups and their state sponsors, Iran and Syria, to develop nuclear weapons and threaten Israeli and American interests. In that sense, the invasion did its job.
  
  This book is uncited, and those who don't like what they're reading may dismiss his accounts out-of-hand since they can't be corroborated by the reader. Bodansky explains that "precise notation of all sources is inadvisable in this kind of writing, specifically because doing so could endanger the safety and survival of the human sources." Given the sensitive nature of the information he presents, "The omission of precise source notes is the least one can do." The reader will simply have to trust the reputation and credentials of the author.
  
  This book is not a fun read. It's long, the details can be mind-numbing and the reader needs a program to keep track of all the al-Whosits (thus the three-star rating.) But the reader who successfully completes the book will have an unblemished understanding of all the machinations and drama that form the real story of the war, and if that's your goal, then this is the book for you.
  
  
  
• Difficult but Worthwhile
  By A2HMB1IEBSGSHJ on 2006-08-19
  A labyrinth of detail, Bodansky's book is a tour of all the rivalries that constitute the complex middle-eastern jigsaw. Yes, it is a complicated read, so if you are looking for a simple analysis like the one the White House relies on, you will be disappointed. "Oh," the critics are saying, "Bodansky's assertions are unsupported." Funny how in July of 2006 CBS news reported the Russians playing both sides and feeding battlefield intelligence to the Iraqis, something Yossef Bodansky's "unsupported" work reported two years earlier! It's a convoluted work, but there is nothing in the middle east that isn't convoluted.
  
  The author, Yossef Bodansky, isn't some conspiracy wonk, he has been the director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare for more than a decade. He is the director of research at the International Strategic Studies Association, and senior editor for the Defense and Foreign Affairs group of publications: and the list just goes on. It is Bodansky's naysayers who are unsubstantiated. "The Secret History of the Iraq War" is a complete deconstruction of US policy in Iraq, the invasion, and its aftermath. It is a study in the larger Islamic picture that deserves to be heard above the din of Bush apologists.
  
  
• A knowledgeable reviewer
  By A1AYQLDL0K6Y7G on 2004-06-26
  A "reviewer" of Bodansky's book, only identified as being from Silver Springs, Maryland, failed to review the Bodansky book, The Secret History of the Iraq War, but merely based his star-rating of the book on the fact that my own review (shown on this page)endorsed it. This fairly cowardly approach -- failing to acknowledge the critic's name -- noted that Bodansky had written for my own publications, which is true. It was for that reason that I identified myself in the review; and Bodansky noted in his book that he also wrote for my Defense & Foreign Affairs group of publications.
  The reason I have published articles by Bodansky, and the reason I read thoroughly his new book, and rated it so highly, is because I have seen first-hand how diligently he researches his topics, and how ruthlessly honest he is in his assessments.
  Perhaps it would be best if reviewers admitted whether or not they have read the books in question, and whether they have any competence to judge the content.
  
  
• If you don't get IT, you won't get IT
  By A1PN0Z9HW2D17M on 2007-01-17
  Mr. Bodansky, in stunning detail, reveals the nature what we face in the Middle East. After years in pursuit of insight into the true nature of the Middle Eastern Terrorism threat this book provides the best source ever for thoughtful people to absorb and think through what we face. Yes, the book addresses a variety of issues not the least of which is the many mis-steps our political and intelligence leadership made. But the real value of the book is the sense of context that results from a careful reading. If your interested in "Gettin It" in terms of the dynamics and threats that are present in tbe Middle East, this book is a MUST.
  
  
• Very Interesting
  By ALXPWO7W7CLUA on 2007-03-08
  This is an interesting book. Anyone who is interested in an alternative to the right wing talk radio and tv news should seriously consider checking out the Thom Hartmann radio show opposite Rush Limbaugh weekdays at: thomhartmann dot com / showlisten.shtml
  
  Whether democrat, republican, or indepedent, so many of the facts out there are completely ignored by the mainstream media and talk shows. This show is one strong example of an examination of the facts regardless of your political affiliation. I am not affiliated with the show in any way, just struck by the facts so many seem to ignore.
  
  
  

• Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America
• Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror
• Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
• Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror
• Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq