America and Iraq Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics

This edited volume provides an overview on US involvement in Iraq from the 1958 Iraqi coup to the present-day, offering a deeper context to the current conflict. Using a range of innovative methods to interrogate US foreign policy, ideology and culture, the book provides a broad set of reflections on past, present and future implications of US-Iraqi relations, and especially the strategic implications for US policy-making. In doing so, it examines several key aspects of relationship such as: the 1958 Iraqi Revolution; the impact of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War; the impact of the Nixon Doctrine on the regional balance of power; US attempts at rapprochement during the 1980s; the 1990-91 Gulf War; and, finally, sanctions and inspections. Analysis of the contemporary Iraq crisis sets US plans against the ‘reality’ they faced in the country, and explores both attempts to bring security to Iraq, and the implications of failure.

Preface Lara Marlowe. Introduction David Ryan 1. Eisenhower and Regime Change in Iraq: The United States and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958Kenneth Osgood 2. Through Distorted Lenses: Iraq and Balance of Power Politics 1969-1979 Patrick Kiely 3. From the ‘Tilt’ to the Unintended ‘Transformation’: The United States and Iraq, 1975 – 1992David Ryan 4. Lost in the Desert:Lawrence and the Theory and Practice of Counterinsurgency Marilyn B. Young 5. Grand Ambitions and Far-reaching Failures: The United States in Iraq Toby Dodge 6. The Geoeconomic Pivot of the Global War on Terror: US Central Command and the War in Iraq John Morrissey 7. What Would Jesus Do? Evangelicals, the Iraq War, and the Struggle for Position Melani McAlister 8. Against Everyone and No-one: The Failure of the Unipolar in Iraq and BeyondScott Lucas and Maria Ryan 9. George W. Bush, American Exceptionalism and the Iraq War Trevor B. McCrisken 10. The Middle East and the Persian Gulf as the Gateway to Imperial Crisis: The Bush Administration in Iraq Cary Fraser 11. The Imperial Presidency Redux: Presidential Power and the War in Iraq Jon Roper 12. Securing the State: The US and Post-War Iraqi Border Security Dynamics James Denselow. Bibliography

David Ryan is a member of the Department of History, and Associate Dean, Graduate Studies in the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork. Patrick Kiely is a Research Fellow in the Department of History, University College Cork.