Beginning centuries before the rise of Saddarn Hussein and continuing in the volatile aftermath of his fall, The War in Iraq: The Illustrated History relates, in vivid words and pictures, the saga of an ancient, beleaguered people. Dramatic, intimate photographs of Gulf War II tell a gripping tale. This new LIFE volume comes from the team of editors whose ONE NATION: America Remembers September11, 2001 spent a half year on The New York Times Best Sellers list. The Wall Street Journa! called it "a thorough and thoughtful telling."

In the propaganda that swirled around World War I there appeared the claim that this was "the war to end wars." It turned out that this was an empty promise and an impossible dream. The claim was made in an effort to justify a war so murderous and destructive that it offended all peoples including those who started it and those who saw it coming but failed to stop it.

Perhaps a similar claim should be made about the U.S.-Iraqi war that opened the 21st century. The escalation of the firepower with which nations could equip their military today cast an entirely new light on the face of war. The explosive power packed into bombs, the electronic precision with which they could be guided to their targets, pilotless airplanes and virtually indestructible tanks, television and computers that kept combat commanders advised of the exact location of friend and foe---it was Star Wars all right, but Star Wars transferred to Planet Earth...

Introduction

This Is Iraq

Baghdad 1958

Saddam Hussein

The First Gulf War

Drumbeat

Attack

The World Reacts

Tom Stoddart’s War

A Free Press

On the Ground

David Turnley’s War

Faces of the War

Closing In

Bruno Stevens’s War

Free

In the New Iraq

Coming Home