A single-volume reference containing analysis and commentary on the 2003 war with Iraq that cuts through media hype and government spin with the aim of providing a balanced picture of the conflict. Despite the torrent of coverage, woefully little attention has been paid to the history of the region; the policies that led to confrontation; the complex problems affecting decision-making in the Middle East; and the daunting challenges that will confront America and the Middle East following the crisis. In this collection, the co-editors of the acclaimed "Gulf War Reader" have assembled essays and documents that present an eminently readable guide from every perspective. Contributors include Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, Arundhati Roy, Terry Jones, Thomas Friedman, Susan Sontag and many more. They offer an engrossing saga of how oil economics, power politics, dreams of empire, nationalist yearnings and religious fanaticism - not to mention naked aggression, betrayal and tragic miscalculation - have conspired to bring about the fateful collison of the West and Arab world over Iraq.