The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq
| Author | George Packer |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Giroux |
| Media type | Hardback |
The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq is a non-fiction book detailing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath by American journalist George Packer, otherwise best known for his writings in The New Yorker. He published the work through Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2005. Packer stated that the whole project became a bungled mess with American officials in the George W. Bush administration cherry-picking intelligence to support their positions, as well as being unable to respond to military issues such as insufficient troops, armor, and supplies.
Favorable reviews appeared in a variety of publications such as the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Overseas Press Club recommended it. The book was also a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize and won the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellent in Journalism.
Packer describes his own socio-political views as being that of a "ambivalently pro-war liberal". He states that he "wanted to see a homicidal dictator removed from power before he committed mass murder again", having also agreed with the overall cause of promoting democracy and free societies worldwide articulated by George W. Bush and his supporters. He later told NPR that he feared the "administration would not be able to do this" and also worried "about the regional reaction... the inevitable consequences of war."
The book describes rationales for the invasion of Iraq in the context of the war on terror, detailing that Saddam Hussein's supposed ties to al-Qaeda and other issues played far less of a role than usually understood. Instead, Packer reports that a small clique of policy people in key administration positions, primarily Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, sought to fundamentally alter the future of the Middle East. They reportedly planned a grand realignment in favor of the West and its ideas using a democratic national outpost in the region.
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