Bush's wars /

Of the countless books on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terror, few attempt to bring these conflicts together into a single volume. This work by historian Anderson (Texas A&M Univ.) does just that. In this comprehensive examination, the author offers one of the first attempts to connect the origins, history, and outcomes of these post-9/11 US wars initiated by President George W. Bush. Anderson nimbly does so in a compelling narrative, guiding readers through the history of Iraq and Afghanistan, the origins of al Qaeda, and the events of 9/11, to Operation Iraqi Freedom and the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. The author weaves together the experiences of members of the Bush administration and those fighting on the battlefield to give readers the full spectrum of firsthand accounts. An epilogue discusses the Obama administration's impact upon these wars. The conclusion brings the history to the present and offers a thorough synthesis of a broad range of comment on the short- and long-term legacies of Bush's wars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers and all levels/libraries. W. T. Allison Georgia Southern University

Anderson (The United States, Great Britain and the Cold War, 1944-1947), a professor of history at Texas A&M University, draws primarily upon published, secondary sources to tell what he calls the "first history of Bush's Wars" that turns out a familiar account of an "unreflective" and unseasoned president, an administration obsessed with Saddam Hussein promoting a reckless war with Iraq, bungling reconstruction, and sitting back helplessly as Iraq disintegrates into insurgency and sectarian war. Anderson credits the 2007 surge with reducing violence in Iraq, but remains skeptical about the future. While he acknowledges that his examination of Bush's wars might be "premature," he betrays little caution in concluding that war with Iraq will likely be blamed for any future "decline of American economic and diplomatic influence." Moreover, Anderson risks overstating his case with claims such as that Bush was unique in eschewing "firm intelligence and analysis" when conducting foreign policy. Other assertions go unchecked-it's not true that recession was in "full swing" during the 1992 presidential campaign-and readers won't find much help in the cursory "Notes." Anderson's concise history of Bush's wars might be the first, but it won't be the last word. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A historian harshly assesses the Bush Administration's efforts to combat terrorism and wage war in Afghanistan and Iraq.Brushing aside the former president's claim that he cannot be fairly judged until after his death, Anderson (History/Texas AM Univ.; The Pursuit of Fairness: A History of Affirmative Action, 2004, etc.) insists that the legacies and lessons of the Bush presidency are already ripe for appraisal. After supplying useful potted histories of Iraq, "the Improbable Country," and Afghanistan, "the Graveyard of Empires," and a 30-year review of U.S. policy toward and battles with al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, the author brings the reader up to 9/11. From there, he focuses on George W. Bush's presidency, an account of unrelieved hubris, malfeasance, deceptions and incompetence. The short version, widely available prior to this book's publication, is as follows: Having ignored signals that should have alerted them to al-Qaeda's attacks, Bush officials pressed for laws that curbed domestic civil liberties, even as they engaged in extra-legal methods to fight a misguided and certainly misnamed "war on terror." Then, taking advantage of a traumatized electorate, an incurious, revenge-minded president, aided by Cheney, Rumsfeld and a brace of Pentagon neocons, abetted by a pliant CIA and a duped Colin Powell, cherry-picked evidence, lied to the country and rushed into a disastrous war for oil in Iraq against an unsavory dictator, easily demonized because he possessed WMDs, an accusation never proven. This horribly wrong turn in Iraq squandered the world's good will, allowed Osama bin Laden to escape capture and the Taliban to regroup in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a mismanaged, bloody Iraq occupation depleted our treasury, depressed our military and robbed us of any moral credibility. Untroubled by the succeeding administration's adoption of many of the Bush policiesGuantnamo remains open, the Patriot Act was extendedor by recent upheavals in the Muslim world that have demonstrated once again the difficulties of a properly calibrated American diplomatic and military response, Anderson approvingly cites a fellow professor's judgment that, when it comes to Bush, there may be "no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history."A relentlessly tendentious account sure to delight Bush critics and infuriate admirers.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.