Although it is generally understood that American neoconservatives pushed hard for the war in Iraq, this book forcefully argues that the neocons' goal was not the spread of democracy, but the protection of Israel's interests in the Middle East. Showing that the neocon movement has always identified closely with the interests of Israel's Likudnik right wing, the discussion contends that neocon advice on Iraq was the exact opposite of conventional United States foreign policy, which has always sought to maintain stability in the region to promote the flow of oil. Various players in the rush to war are assessed according to their motives, including President Bush, Ariel Sharon, members of the foreign-policy establishment, and the American people, who are seen not as having been dragged into war against their will, but as ready after 9/11 for retaliation.

Stephen J. Sniegoski is the author of many articles on political philosophy, World War II, communism, and the American war in Iraq. His essay "Neoconservatives, Israel, and 9/11: The Origins of the U.S. War on Iraq" is included in the anthology Neoconned! Again. He holds his doctorate from the University of Maryland, where he studied American diplomatic history under Dr. Wayne S. Cole, whose papers are now part of the Hoover Presidential Library Research Collection. He lives in Adelphi, Maryland. Paul Findley is a former congressman from Illinois and a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest, a Washington advocacy group. He is the author of They to Dare Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby. He lives in Jacksonville, Illinois. Paul Gottfried, PhD, is the author of Conservatism in America. He lives in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.