Blair's Wars [Paperback]

'The most perceptive book to appear about the Blair government since SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Understated, careful and illuminating ... Kampfner leads us to a set of compelling conclusions that will not inspire confidence [in Blair]' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'I strongly recommend BLAIR'S WARS to anyone who wants to try to understand the catastrophic mistakes of [Blair's] Iraq policy' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘The most perceptive book to appear about the Blair government since Andrew Rawnsley’s Servants of the People’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘I strongly recommend Blair’s Wars’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘Understated, careful and illuminating’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Assiduous and highly readable’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

No Prime Minister in modern times has led Britain into as many wars as Tony Blair. In seven years in office he has committed soldiers to action in Kosovo, in Operation Desert Fox against Iraq, in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan -- and, most controversially, in the final battle with Saddam Hussein in 2003. It has been a dramatic course of action for a man who, until he won the 1997 General Election, showed only a rudimentary understanding of the workings of foreign policy. Combining page-turning narrative and revelation with an analysis of the philosophy underlying his adventures abroad, BLAIR'S WARS shows how this government has sought to be at the forefront of a new and turbulent world order. Putting the reader into the 'smoke-filled rooms' of Whitehall and Washington where the real decision-making takes place, John Kampfner draws on his unparalleled contacts within and outside government to provide a compelling account of the tensions, rivalries, deal-making and back-stabbing that have accompanied inexorable acquisition of foreign-policy control.

Now updated with two new chapters on the Hutton Report and the latest developments in Iraq.

Tony Blair has committed British forces to action five times in six years. No British Prime Minister and few world leaders have come close in contemporary history. What is it about this deeply Christian man that has given him such a taste for war?

In Blair’s Wars, award-winning journalist John Kampfner gives the inside story of a man who came to office with no experience of -- and virtually no interest in -- foreign affairs but who quickly moulded himself into a man on a mission: to punish dictators and spread democracy across the globe. To do that he fell back on the basic tenets of British diplomacy, a yearning for friendship with the United States and a reliance on the armed forces, while proclaiming his vision in the more modern guise of liberal intervention.

This mission has taken Blair from the first air strikes against Iraq in 1998, at the time of Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, to the Kosovo conflict of 1999; from the deployment of troops in Sierra Leone to George W. Bush’s attack on the Taleban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after September 11 -- and then on to the final and decisive war against Saddam Hussein.

Through conversations with the main players across governments in London, Washington, New York and European capitals, Blair’s Wars details the processes by which the Prime Minister has prosecuted these campaigns -- and why. It reveals in riveting fashion the failure of diplomacy that preceded the showdown with Saddam. It shows how Blair decided from the beginning of Bush’s presidency that he would allow nothing to get in the way of their close alliance; how he reconciled himself to war on Iraq at a very early stage; how he willed the intelligence material to conform to his plans; and how he dismissed the warnings of his diplomats that his approach would alienate him from countries he had so assiduously courted. This is the story of a man who had convinced himself that his powers of persuasion could overcome all problems and defy all logic -- only to see those powers disappear. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

John Kampfner is currently Political Editor of the NEW STATESMAN. He is the author of one previous book, a critically acclaimed biography of the former Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook.