Contents

Acknowledgments

Map

Introduction

1 | The rise of the modern state

Arab Islamic rule

Transformations under the Ottomans

War and the formation of the modern state

Rebellion and independence

The monarchy

Revolution and reform

Reaction

Ba‘athist totalitarianism

2 | Dictatorship and war

The regime’s social base

The leadership cult

The Islamist challenge

Saddam’s eight-year war

The cost of war

3 | Imperialism and the crisis of Kuwait

Saddam’s “Final Solution”

The question of weapons of mass destruction

Economic liberalization

The question of Kuwait

Toward a new war

The United States and the Middle East

Invasion and defeat

Uprising and consolidation

Victory for whom?

4 | The sanctions regime

The structure of sanctions

The social cost

The Kurdish region

Survival strategies

Society’s means of coping

Regime consolidation and social collapse

5 | Occupation and chaos

American views on Iraq

Invasion

Looting

Resistance

Reconstruction and corporate looting

Post-Saddam politics

Regional involvement

National reconciliation or sectarian civil war?

Epilogue

Notes

Introduction

1 The rise of the modern state

2 Dictatorship and war

3 Imperialism and the crisis of Kuwait

4 The sanctions regime

5 Occupation and chaos

Epilogue

Sources

Index