Circle in the Sand: Why We Went Back to Iraq

Circle in the Sand challenges the widely-held notion that Saddam Hussein's survival was the result of a spur-of-the-moment decision by the first President Bush and his inner circle (especially the Reluctant Warrior Colin Powell) to call off the war one day too soon.

Review :
" I've read a score of books on Iraq and America, Saddam Hussein and the George Bushes, but not until "Circle in the Sand" has such a powerful light been thrown on the missing link in the chain of events that led from the first Gulf War to the second. Here is a riveting, can't-put-it-down account of how history kicks back and we keep getting it wrong." -- Bill Moyers " "Circle in the Sand" could as well be called ' debacle in the sand.' It goes to the heart of a national tragedy -- how two generations of Bush family mis-management and inept strategy in Iraq may have doomed early-21st century American policy in the Middle East." -- Kevin Phillips, author of "American Theocracy" and "Wealth and Democracy" " The roots of the Iraqi tragedy start long before 9/11, and Alfonsi shows -- through his use of newly declassified documents, extensive interviews, and rather remarkable records of official conversations -- how Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others fatally misread the lessons of the 1991 Iraqi war to produce the debacle of the 2003 Iraqi invasion. This account is necessary for understanding that tragedy." -- Walter LaFeber, Tisch University Professor, Cornell University " "Circle in the Sand" is an important, exhaustively researched, and fluidly written analysis of the impact of the conduct of the first Gulf War on the outbreak of the second. Alfonsi argues, based on remarkable first hand interviews with the participants, that the misguided invasion of Iraq in 2003 was driven less by fear of WMD and terrorism than by fear that Saddam Hussein might onceagain triumph over a Bush national security team." -- Louise Richardson, Executive Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and author of "What Terrorists Want" " This fascinating and well-documented book shows how the decisions made by the Administration of George Bush senior about Iraq and Saddam Hussein failed to meet its expectations and thus opened the way for the spectacular policy reversals carried out -- sometimes by the same men -- after George W. Bush came to power. Alfonsi demonstrates that very different definitions of the national interest can be profoundly flawed." -- Stanley Hoffmann, Buttenwieser University Professor, Center for European Studies, Harvard University "I've read a score of books on Iraq and America, Saddam Hussein and the George Bushes, but not until "Circle in the Sand" has such a powerful light been thrown on the missing link in the chain of events that led from the first Gulf War to the second. Here is a riveting, can't-put-it-down account of how history kicks back and we keep getting it wrong." -- Bill Moyers ""Circle in the Sand" could as well be called 'debacle in the sand.' It goes to the heart of a national tragedy -- how two generations of Bush family mis-management and inept strategy in Iraq may have doomed early-21st century American policy in the Middle East." -- Kevin Phillips, author of "American Theocracy" and "Wealth and Democracy" "The roots of the Iraqi tragedy start long before 9/11, and Alfonsi shows -- through his use of newly declassified documents, extensive interviews, and rather remarkable records of official conversations -- how Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others fatally misread the lessons of the 1991 Iraqi war to produce the debacle of the 2003 Iraqi invasion. This account is necessary for understanding that tragedy." -- Walter LaFeber, Tisch University Professor, Cornell University ""Circle in the Sand" is an important, exhaustively researched, and fluidly written analysis of the impact of the conduct of the first Gulf War on the outbreak of the second. Alfonsi argues, based on remarkable first hand interviews with the participants, that the misguided invasion of Iraq in 2003 was driven less by fear of WMD and terrorism than by fear that Saddam Hussein might once again triumph over a Bush national security team." -- Louise Richardson, Executive Dean, RadcliffeInstitute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and author of "What Terrorists Want" "This fascinating and well-documented book shows how the decisions made by the Administration of George Bush senior about Iraq and Saddam Hussein failed to meet its expectations and thus opened the way for the spectacular policy reversals carried out -- sometimes by the same men -- after George W. Bush came to power. Alfonsi demonstrates that very different definitions of the national interest can be profoundly flawed." -- Stanley Hoffmann, Buttenwieser University Professor, Center for European Studies, Harvard University --Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, April 7, 1991 * ""Circle in the Sand" could just as well be called 'debacle in the sand.' It goes to the heart of a national tragedy--how two generations of Bush family mismanagement and inept strategy in Iraq may have doomed early-twenty-first century American policy in the Middle East." --Kevin Phillips, author of "American Theocracy" and "Wealth and Democracy ""The roots of the Iraqi tragedy start long before 9/11, and Alfonsi shows--through his use of newly declassified documents, extensive interviews, and rather remarkable records of official conversations--how Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others fatally misread the lessons of the 1991 Iraqi war to produce the debacle of the 2003 Iraqi invasion. This account is necessary for understanding that tragedy." --Walter LaFeber, Tisch University Professor, Cornell University