Amazon.co.uk Review
Allies author, William Shawcross, first came to prominence with
Sideshow, a ringing condemnation of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon's actions in Cambodia. This time around, however, he heartily endorses the military actions of the American government as it invades Iraq and ousts the regime of Saddam Hussein. Preemptive war, says Shawcross, is not the anomalous tactic that some of George W Bush's critics might suggest but rather a necessary strategy in dealing with dangerous despots. Shawcross treads lightly on the dispute over the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the unsettled landscape of post-Saddam Iraq while describing at length the human rights crimes committed by Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay to make the point that that the war was justified. Germany and France are cast here as unappreciative opportunists for their opposition to Bush. Chirac, in particular, is on the receiving end of much enmity by Shawcross who never misses a chance to cite nicknames like "Super Menteur" (Super Liar) or "The Crook" to describe the French president. Oddly, given the book's title and cover photo of Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, there is little inside information on the relationship between the two men and the British and American decision makers that hasn't been well chronicled in mainstream news outlets' coverage of the war. This shallowness extends to the rest of
Allies as well. One hopes for some innovative analysis or revolutionary research but Shawcross mostly just presents his opinion: that Saddam was dangerous, the Americans were right to remove him and that the UN and much of Europe were wrong to object. Another problem with
Allies is how fluid the situation in Iraq was as the book went to press. As a result, Shawcross's analysis runs the risk of being outdated and irrelevant within a comparatively short period of time.
Allies is a quick read and Shawcross is a fine writer, but one wishes that he could have provided more depth to such a complicated situation. --
John Moe, Amazon.com
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
An enlightening analysis of the risks taken by the US, Britain and their coalition partners with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the ways in which the challenges posed by Iraq threaten to destroy the post-war Western consensus The United States, Britain and their coalition partners took enormous risks in invading Iraq in March 2003. They risked one of the most successful alliances in history. They risked damaging both the United Nations and themselves. And they risked creating a new swamp in which terrorists could breed and flourish. Allies is an analysis of the risks taken in Iraq, the reasons for them and the ways in which the challenge posed by Iraq was unlike anything faced by the post-war Western consensus. Perhaps for that reason, the decision to go to war in Iraq threatened, and to some extent still threatens, to destroy that consensus. William Shawcross, a distinguished foreign correspondent with an unrivalled perspective on international affairs, shows why America had to take the lead; why Britain - and many other countries - followed; and why Franco-German prevarication and obstruction had to be swept aside. Without minimizing the reality of the ongoing dangers or denying that mistakes were made along this most difficult of journeys, Shawcross argues passionately that going to war in Iraq was the right thing to do.
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