If what is shaping up to be the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history has an upside, it is that the war in Iraq should permanently settle a handful of questions about American conduct in the world. This work traces the recurring American bad habit of starting wars as tryouts for big ideas. "America's future will be one of endless war unless we can come to grips with the deceptions, the lies, the reckless doctrines, the politicized intelligence, and the dishonest accounting that brought us the Iraq war. Read this compelling set of essays and join the movement to prevent the next war." -Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Blood Rites, This Land is Their Land, and Nickel and Dimed "Assessing the wreckage caused by the Iraq War is an urgent national priority. This timely, immensely thoughtful, and justifiably angry collection gets that process off to an excellent start." -Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War "If a main reason our government went to war in Iraq was to reassert American authority after 9/11 exposed our vulnerability, the actual consequence-as these incisive and important essays make clear-has been just the opposite. Not only have we paid dearly in blood, in treasure, and in damage to American liberties, the decline of our credibility and prestige has led to a sharp reduction in American power. We tried to show that we are strong and made ourselves seem weak." -Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute