Circle in the Sand: Why We Went Back to Iraq

Editor on 12/26/06

I clearly admit that prior to 9-11 my knowledge of US history with respect to foreign policy was shaky at best. Like many, I was self-absorbed. When I saw the towers fall a mile from my home, smelled the burnt flesh and asbestos and basically survived for two years in a state of semi-shock only then did I awake and attempt to pay attention. Backdating consumed a major portion of my waking hours; it was a learning process to begin to comprehend how we arrived at that horrific point.

So many books sprung up along the way it became my personal challenge to qualify the author's position and agenda. Was the author a legitimate student of history or simply a cash hungry opportunist? It is often difficult to determine and more often accomplished only through research of an author's body of work. Attempting to discern sources and theories longevity requires some research time. Needless to say the vast majority of authors leave much to be desired in the area of legitimacy.

While making my bookstore rounds, a singular US-Iraq history hardcover volume seemed to keep catching my eye. That is quite an achievement as I have basically browsed through at least 95% of the books that are based upon Middle Eastern content since 9-11 . Well I finally picked up Christian Alfonsi's Circle in the Sand and have not been able to put it down yet.

As of today I am halfway through this fascinating book. For starters the author appears to be completely without a partisan agenda. He presents a detailed chronology of the events beginning from the first Iraq war through our present day circus. Along the way he adds fascinating details that both inform and peek further curiosity.

I continued to ponder "did the Bush administration know what it was getting itself into by removing Saddam? Did they understand the tribal histories of the peoples and the challenges they would face once Saddam was removed? How could they?" The answer is that they knew it exceptionally well. In fact, the driving force behind Bush Sr.'s absolute refusal to take out Saddam was that he did not want to drag the US into a long, unwinable Iraqi civil war. They knew all about the population and all about the possible consequences. Despite this awareness, they were eventually driven into a series of compromises to protect political capital from a very well intended but ignorant general public who could not stomach television footage pumped daily into their homes featuring Saddam and Republican Guard slaughtering thousands of Kurds, ultimately creating a terrible humanity crisis. As the media pounded home how we abounded the Iraqi people, in a campaign year public sentiment swiftly turned against a president and administration that had actually managed a tremendous achievement.

Newsweek Magazine framed the Bush Administration crisis with a cover article featuring a badly burned child under the caption "Why won't they help us." Once that topic became a national debate our mission went from removing Saddam from Kuwait, saving Saudi Arabia and the world's oil supply to one of missionary work. That led to no fly zones, partitioned sections of Iraq, an inability to leave Iraq, Turkey and most importantly Saudi Arabia.

(I will continue this fascinating book and finish the review after New Year's holiday) .