Ending the Iraq War: A Primer

Even before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, challenging questions were on the rise. Why did three separate U.S. administrations, so different in so many ways, all agree on maintaining crippling economic sanctions on Iraq? Was it really the United Nations that imposed those "international" sanctions? Why was the second Bush administration so determined to go after Saddam Hussein? What was Operation Iraqi Freedom all about? What did oil have to do with it? And what about those U.S. bases constructed across Iraq? Was Saddam Hussein really connected to the September 11 attacks? Was this really "Bush's war," and what does Congress have to do with it? Is the U.S. occupation of Iraq connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? With tens of thousands of U.S. troops bogged down in Iraq, is an attack on Iran even possible? Are those who oppose the war really anti-American and "soft on terrorism?"

Even if the mainstream press in the U.S. ignores many of those questions, independent analysts have examined them since before the war began. Phyllis Bennis was one of the many Middle East and UN-watchers who anticipated disaster long before the first U.S. troops crossed into Iraq. Here, in an easy-to-read, "Frequently Asked Questions" format, Institute for Policy Studies scholar Bennis provides clear, unambiguous and honest answers to those and many more queries. With the Bush administration and most Democratic presidential candidates for the 2008 elections agreeing that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq "indefinitely" this handy guide is a must-read.