{"product_id":"the-wmd-mirage","title":"The WMD Mirage","description":"Features the official report from the bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction -- named by President Bush to try to prevent similar policy debacles in Iran and North Korea. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It also includes the official speeches, United Nations reports, and declassified government investigation reports that show, step by step, how the United States got the crucial question of arms in Iraq so terribly wrong. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The documents show that: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The CIA concluded in 2002 that Iraq had reconstituted its WMD programs, but in fact Saddam had dismantled them; \u003cbr\u003e American policymakers consistently assumed the worst case: regardless of his denials, if there was intelligence that Saddam might be making weapons of mass destruction then he had them and was hiding them. UN inspectors, by contrast, assumed that thorough inspection and insistence on complete Iraqi documentation could determine what the truth was; \u003cbr\u003e UN inspectors were frustrated by Saddam's refusal to cooperate freely and thwarted by American military impatience just as they thought themselves on the verge of success; \u003cbr\u003e American inspectors sent in after the war in 2003 found no weapons of mass destruction and how they--and Washington insiders--began to question the basis of the prewar intelligence. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e editor and contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe 9\/11 Investigations\u003c\/i\u003e (PublicAffairs, 2004) Craig R. Whitney has scoured the documents surrounding the search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In \u003ci\u003eThe WMD Mirage,\u003c\/i\u003e he has assembled the most revelatory and pertinent of these. The result is a startling narrative trail that leads readers through the intelligence and misinformation leading into Iraq -- and a telling portrait of how the Bush administration, whether deliberately or unintentionally, with scant evidence and largely against the will of the international community, convinced the American people and their few allies of the urgent need for war. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A must-read for scholars, voters, and anyone interested in the goings-on in Iraq, the growing threats perceived elsewhere, and the truth behind our frayed international reputation, \u003ci\u003eThe WMD Mirage\u003c\/i\u003e offers the real story of the missing weapons of mass destruction. In offering such a clear-eyed and documented picture of how we got it wrong in Iraq, \u003ci\u003eThe WMD Mirage\u003c\/i\u003e is the first widely-available book that also includes the new conclusions of the Presidential Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission.","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41518671069362,"sku":"9781586483616","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0536\/7418\/0786\/files\/O_43032922-2e9a-447a-8c13-92484d68dd43.jpg?v=1755581058","url":"https:\/\/shop.hachettebookgroup.com\/products\/the-wmd-mirage","provider":"Hachette Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}