Includes bibliographical references and index.

Pt. 1. Sins of the Fathers -- 1. Roots of Conflict: 1915-1989 -- Imperial Legacy / Phillip Knightley -- The Rise of Saddam Hussein / Judith Miller and Laurie Mylroie -- What Washington Gave Saddam for Christmas / Murray Waas -- The Men Who Helped the Man Who Gassed His Own People / Joost R. Hiltermann -- 2. The First Gulf War -- Realpolitik in the Gulf: A Game Gone Tilt / Christopher Hitchens -- U.S. Senators Chat with Saddam -- The Glaspie Transcript: Saddam Meets the U.S. Ambassador -- The Experts Speak on the Coming Gulf War / Edited by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky -- How Saddam Misread the United States / Kenneth Pollack -- Pt. 2. Aftermaths of the Gulf War -- 3. Saddam Survives -- "We Have Saddam Hussein Still Here" / Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn -- Why We Didn't Go to Baghdad / George Bush and Brent Scowcroft -- Why the Uprisings Failed / Faleh A. Jabar --

How Saddam Held On to Power / Kanan Makiya -- 4. Casualties of War -- What Bodies? / Patrick J. Sloyan -- Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait? / John R. MacArthur -- "Thank God for the Patriot Missile!" / Edited by Christopher Cerf and Victor Novasky -- Did Iraq Try to Assassinate ex-President Bush in 1993? A Case Not Closed / Seymour M. Hersh -- 5. Sanctions and Inspections -- A Backgrounder on Inspections and Sanctions / Sarah Graham-Brown and Chris Toensing -- The Inspections and the U.N.: The Blackest of Comedies / Richard Butler -- The Hijacking of UNSCOM / Susan Wright -- Behind the Scenes with the Iraqi Nuclear Bomb / Khidhir Hamza and Jeff Stein -- 6. New Storms Brewing -- An Open Letter to President Clinton: "Remove Saddam from Power" / Project for the New American Century -- Statement: Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders / World Islamic Front --

Televised Address to the Nation: "The Costs of Action Must be Weighed Against the Price of Inaction" / Bill Clinton -- Pt. 3. War with Iraq -- 7. The Impact of September 11th -- Reflections on September 11th / Susan Sontag -- Voices of Moral Obtuseness / Charles Krauthammer -- Against the War Metaphor / Hendrik Hertzberg -- An Open Letter to President Bush: "Lead the World to Victory" / Project for the New American Century -- A Year Later: What the Right and Left Haven't Learned / Marc Cooper -- Better Safe Than Sorry / Mona Charen -- The Enemy Within / Daniel Pipes -- "First They Came for the Muslims ..." / Anthony Lewis -- Not the War We Needed / Barbara Ehrenreich -- 8. The Bush Doctrine -- What to Do About Iraq / Robert Kagan and William Kristol -- State of the Union Speech: The Axis of Evil / George W. Bush -- The Next World Order / Nicholas Lemann --

No Meeting in Prague / Robert Novak -- Remarks at West Point: "New Threats Require New Thinking" / George W. Bush -- The New Bush Doctrine / Richard Falk -- Inside the Secret War Council / Mark Thompson -- 9. The Country Debates Going to War -- War on What? The White House and the Debate About Whom to Fight Next / Nicholas Lemann -- Don't Attack Saddam / Brent Scowcroft -- Remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars: "The Risks of Inaction Are Far Greater Than the Risk of Action" / Dick Cheney -- Drain the Swamp and There Will Be No More Mosquitoes / Noam Chomsky -- Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq / Ron Paul -- The War Party's Imperial Plans / Pat Buchanan -- Speech to the UN General Assembly: "I Stand Before You Today a Multilaterialist" / Kofi Annan -- Speech to the UN General Assembly: "A Grave and Gathering Danger ..." / George W. Bush -- Peace Puzzle / Michael Berube --

Stuck to the U.N. Tar Baby / George Will -- Against a Doctrine of Pre-emptive War / Al Gore -- Why We Hate Them / Ann Coulter -- What's Missing in the Iraq Debate / Peggy Noonan -- Wars Are Never Fought for Altruistic Reasons / Arundhati Roy -- We Don't Need No Stinkin' Proof! / Arianna Huffington -- The President's Real Goal in Iraq / Jay Bookman -- The Imperialism Canard / Andrew Sullivan -- 10. The Debate in Congress -- Of Pre-emption and Appeasement, Box-Cutters and Liquid Gold: Excerpts from the October 10, 2002 House Debate / Charles Rangel, Howard Berman, Dennis Kucinich, Nancy Pelosi, Tom DeLay and Richard Gephardt -- Letter to Senator Bob Graham / George Tenet -- Iraq's Disarmament is Impossible Without Regime Change / John McCain -- No Place for Kings in America / Robert C. Byrd -- Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 --

11. Regime Change: Why and Why Not -- Two Faces, One Terror / Fouad Ajami -- Deciphering the Bush Administration's Motives / Michael T. Klare -- Can We Really Deter a Nuclear-Armed Saddam? / Kenneth Pollack -- Why Saddam Wants Weapons of Mass Destruction / Charles A. Duelfer -- An Unnecessary War / John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt -- Suicide from Fear of Death? / Richard K. Betts -- Bring Back the Draft / Charles B. Rangel -- The United States Has Gone Mad / John le Carre -- Why I Am for Regime Change / Christopher Hitchens -- An Unacceptable Helplessness / Edward Said -- Why We Know Iraq Is Lying / Condoleezza Rice -- I'm Losing Patience with My Neighbors, Mr. Bush / Terry Jones -- 12. Last Dance at the U.N. -- A Case for Concern, Not a Case for War / Glen Rangwala, Nathaniel Hurd and Alistair Millar -- Iraq Has No Interest in War / Saddam Hussein --

Presentation to the UN Security Council: A Threat to International Peace and Security / Colin Powell -- MI6 and CIA: The New Enemy Within / Paul Lashmar and Raymond Whitaker -- "Sleepwalking Through History" / Robert Byrd -- The Second Superpower / Micah L. Sifry -- The Yes-But Parade / William Safire -- Hawks Have My Head, Doves Have My Heart, Guess Which Wins? / Ian McEwan -- Promises Abroad, While at Home Promises Go Forgotten / Derrick Jackson -- The Long Bomb / Thomas L. Friedman -- U.S.-British Draft Resolution On Iraq -- Iraq's Disarmament Can Be Achieved By Peaceful Means / The Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, and Germany -- The War Begins: "The Tyrant Will Soon Be Gone" / George W. Bush -- Pre-emptive Defeat, or How Not to Fight Proliferation / Jonathan Schell -- Pt. 4. Through a Class Darkly -- 13. The Future of Iraq -- Iraq: The Imperial Precedent / Charles Tripp --

The Fifty-first State? / James Fallows -- Speech at the American Enterprise Institute: "Iraq Is Fully Capable of Living in Freedom" / George W. Bush -- The Post-Saddam Problem / Dilip Hiro -- Saddam's Real Opponents / Frank Smyth -- In Iraqi Kurdistan / Tim Judah -- Post-Saddam Iraq: Linchpin of a New Oil Order / Michael Renner -- Our Hopes Betrayed: The U.S. Blueprint for Post-Saddam Government / Kanan Makiya -- 14. The Future of Pax Americana -- The Unipolar Moment Revisited: America, the Benevolent Empire / Charles Krauthammer -- America's Mission, After Baghdad / Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol -- America's Dreams of Empire / Pervez Hoodbhoy -- Catastrophe as the Generator of Historical Change: The Iraq Case / Richard Butler -- Regime Change / Lewis H. Lapham -- Hegemony, Hubris and Overreach / Kevin Phillips -- App. 1. Key U.N. Resolutions --