Iraq War: The Essential Reference Guide

This invaluable resource offers a comprehensive overview of the Iraq War, with more than 100 in-depth articles by leading scholars on an array of topics and themes and more than a dozen key primary source documents.

This book provides everything the reader needs to know about the Iraq War, from the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq, through the U.S. troop surge in 2007, to the rise of the Islamic State. It offers insight into the war through the events, organizations, and people who have had a major impact on the conflict. It also explains the inadvertent consequences of the conflict including worsening regional sectarian divisions, the Arab Spring, the increase in Iranian influence in the Middle East, and the expansion of international terrorism.

The book begins with a sweeping overview of the Iraq War that provides context for each of the reference entries that follow. The introductory material also includes detailed essays on the causes and consequences of the war. The bulk of the book consists of more than 120 reference entries on such topics as Saddam Hussein, the battles of Fallujah, and private military contractors such as Blackwater and Halliburton. In addition, the book includes more than a dozen curated and contextualized primary source documents along with a comprehensive chronology and extensive bibliography.

Explores how the Bush Doctrine was employed to justify the US decision to invade Iraq

Illuminates the key leaders and the military strategy they implemented in conducting the Iraq War

Explains how a series of flawed military and political decisions created a dysfunctional government in Baghdad

Informs readers of the disruptive influence the Iraq War has had on the entire Middle East