This book basically contends that although the leaders of the two countries acted like school yard bullies squaring off that it was George Bush who kept pushing towards war each time Saddam Hussein tried to slow down the current.

Among some of the interesting items presented against President Bush was the fact that he initially seemed to be pushed around by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who told him at a meeting that he couldn't stand for Hussein's invasion. In the beginning he wobbled and changed stances on the invasion frequently. His public and private statements through diplomatic channels were contradicting. At first he conveyed to Saddam Hussein (before the invasion of Kuwait) that the U.S. didn't care what Hussein did and would not take action if he invaded because it was an Arab problem. But when the invasion occurred he took action against it. Second, President Bush pushed Sadia Arabia to house U.S. troops on their soil even though the Saudi's were against it. Then he announced to the world that the Saudi's had requested the U.S. troops to help protect their land. Third, President Bush announced that the troops in Saudi Arabia would be there for defense of that country only and denied any intention of an invasion force to push back Iraqi troops. This too, turned out to be untrue.

On the opposite side of the spectrum it seems that, initially, Saddam Hussein's grievances were somewhat legitimate, although not for a full invasion of Kuwait. Saddam had come to the U.S. for help and was told to handle it any way he wanted, it was not our concern. You have to understand that in the years before the Gulf War the U.S. government was helping Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran. There was an issue of Kuwait stealing Iraqi oil by a "slant drill" in an oil field. The issue of Kuwait owning islands that blocked the ability of Iraq to transport their oil out of the Persian Gulf (these were given to Kuwait by the British). Atleast four times Hussein had offered a peace agreement and to remove his soldiers from Kuwait after the invasion through many nations, including Jordan and Russia, all to be turned down by the U.S.

Overall I feel this book was interesting and shed some light on some of the causes behind the war. While I believe that these are valid reasons that have been well researched I'm sure there are even more. The path towards war is usually complex.

I am writing a term paper on the Gulf War and even though you can have up to 5 sources this is basically the only book I need! It has everything I need to know! If you are doing research like myself, I suggest you check it out!

I checked this book out from the local library and it was so great that I had to track it down on Amazon.com! This book surpassed my expectations and then some. There is a color illustration of each common Gulf Coast fish, along with a description of the meat (light/dark, oily/dry, etc.), then two or three recipes well suited to it. In my case, the most useful feature is the appendix that sorts the fish by type so that you can compare a fish you are not familiar with to something a little more common. For instance, I caught 6 Spanish mackerel, but wasn't sure what to expect of the meat. After checking the appendix, I found that I could expect the meat to be somewhat like tuna or grouper and I prepared it accordingly. I can't wait to catch more fish!

This is a very complete book about the Gulf War. The author splits the book into two parts. The first part follows the political process leading up to the air and ground war and the second part of the book covers the battle. What is interesting with this book is that, as the author is from the UK, he tends to take a more worldview on his writing. He does not just focus solely on the U.S. and Bush, but also covers the UK and EU positions. This book is a nice complement to the book The Commanders by Woodward because of the focus of the Freedman book on the politics outside the US and the Woodward books focus on the U.S. side.

The coverage of the air and ground war is good but by no means the full story. Given the space in the book dedicated to it, the author can only give you an overview. Don't get me wrong, this overview is well down and informative. The details he brings out from his contacts in the British military are a nice complement to the vast number of U.S. centered books on the market. Overall if you are looking at a more complete understanding of the conflict this is a good book to have in your library.

Hollow Victory is a well-written book that provides a fair and informative glimpse into the underlying motivations and implications of the Persian Gulf War. However, Record has unfortunately left out some important issues that would have made his argument even more thorough and conclusive than it already is. America's remarkable shift from its apathy towards Iraq's human rights abuses to its "noble" mission to rid the world of this "new Hitler" is most perplexing about the events leading up to the Persian Gulf War. Record fails to account for this radical change in foreign policy and it hurts the effectiveness of his argument. Record failed to mention the influential Zionist lobby that would not tolerate a powerful Iraq in the Middle East and the incredible domestic pressure they placed on the Bush administration to attack Iraq. The American media placed, in addition, enormous amounts of pressure on President Bush to bring down Hussein. Bush could not vacillate on the issue of American military intervention in the Persian Gulf after the media convinced the American public that it was the right thing to do. Another impetus for American involvement that Record did not include was the urging of Britain's prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Britain carved the countries of the Middle East, including Iraq, and created a potentially explosive situation. The borders of Iraq were purposefully drawn so as not to allow it to have substantial access to the Gulf and this has soured Iraqi-British relations since. Thatcher argued that Iraq had a factitious and tribal country and she encouraged Bush to crush it. Record still succeeds in presenting an honest assessment of the choices of all the parties involved and sheds new light on their reasons for choosing the options they did.

Fialka served as a reporter during the first Gulf War in 1991. This small volume documents the trials and tribulations of FIalka and other members of the press corps dealing with the military, which in most respects was wary of the press, based on experiences lingering from Vietnam.
However, Fialka has more criticisms...his own peers in the press share an equal blame in his eyes, based on the way they handled themselves within the press pool, frequently trying to one up the other. He also criticizes the press organizations who sent reporters with no experience dealing with military matters to cover, what up to this point, was the largest military story since the Vietnam War.
Fialka does have some positive things to say: his praise for the Marine Corp's ability to handle the press stands in stark contrast to that of the US Army. He also praises the tenacity of the reporters that bucked the pool system to get the real story, even risking their own lives to do so.
THis book is an interesting read, based on the complete reverse situation recently demonstrated in the 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom. It would be interesting to see what Fialka would say about his brethren who were embedded, and how that may or may not have contributed to getting the best face on a story.
A quick read, and if you can cut through some of the "its not fair" dialogue, a good review of press operations during the first Gulf War.

Having read a book by Edward Said, I wanted to read a book written by an Israeli about the Palestinian problem. Surprisingly, the views weren't that much different. I would appreciate comments from others clarifying whether the views of this author are representative of most moderate Israelis.

Relied on this book to plan an eight day kayaking/camping trip through the San Juans. While the book does not lay out extended trips (other than short overnighters), it was very simple to use a chart in conjunction with this book to plan our extremely successful trip. If you are going to paddle the San Juans on your own (i.e. not as part of an organized group), they buying and referring to this book is a must!

This book is the last of a series of 4 books chronicling modern conflict.

Vol 1. The Arab Israeli Conflicts 1973-1989.

Vol 2. The Iran-Iraq war.

Vol 3. The Falklands and Afghanistan.

Vol 4. The Gulf war.

These books provide an in depth analysis of the various forces engaged in the conflicts and the losses sustained by both sides. The authors have studied the weapons systems employed and the tactics used, and from these have drawn their conclusions on what was the route cause of success or failure in these modern military conflicts.

The authors conclusions are hardly mind shattering but they are sensible. Based on what happened and without an agenda.

Aside from errors concerning the Blowpipe missile (which manages to make an appearance in nearly all the wars) and its vulnerability to flares, (it isn't vulnerable at all) and the failure of this type of missile against crossing targets. (The operator's not the system itself) The books are quite accurate and thoroughly researched.

These series of books are a valuable tool for any student of modern conflict.

My husband and I are going to move to Kuwait soon for work and we needed as much information as possible on living conditions there. Let me tell you that it's not easy to find useful info on Kuwait and we have found it in this book. If you are planning to move to any of the Gulf countries than this book is a must!