At the end of the Gulf War, the White House was confident that Saddam Hussein's days as Iraq's dictator were numbered. His army had been routed, his country had been bombed back into a pre-industrial age, his subjects were in bloody revolt, and his borders were sealed. World leaders waited confidently for the downfall of the pariah of Baghdad. Almost a decade later, they are still waiting.

This is the first in-depth account of what went wrong. Drawing on the authors' firsthand experiences on the ground inside Iraq (often under fire) and their interviews with key players--ranging from members of Saddam's own family to senior officials of the CIA--Out of the Ashes tells what happened when the smoke cleared from the battlefields of the Gulf War. This tale of high drama, labyrinthine intrigue, and fatal blunders has been played out amid one of the greatest man-made tragedies of our times-one where, so long as Saddam Hussein remains in power, the Iraqi people will pay the price. Out of the Ashes makes chillingly clear just how terrible that price has been.

Kill Chain is the essential history of drone warfare, a development in military technology that, as Andrew Cockburn demonstrates, has its origins in long-buried secret programmes dating to US military interventions in Vietnam and Yugoslavia. Cockburn follows the links in a chain that stretches from the White House, through the drone command center in Nevada, to the skies of Helmand Province. The book reveals the powerful interests-military, CIA and corporate-that turned the Pentagon away from manned aircraft and boots on the ground to killing by remote control. Cockburn uncovers the technological breakthroughs, the revolution in military philosophy, and the devastating collateral damage resulting from assassinations allegedly targeted with pinpoint precision. Vivid, powerful and chilling, Kill Chain draws on sources deep in the military and intelligence establishment to lay bare the failure of the modern American way of war.

The ecological literature on marsupials is dominated by descriptive natural history, and there has hitherto been little attempt at either synthesis or evolutionary interpretation. This book attempts to provide such a synthesis, by drawing on both the descriptive data base and predictions from the burgeoning literature on behavioural and evolutionary ecology. It documents the excellent potential the study of marsupials provides for resolution of theoretical questions of general importance in biology. It does this in three ways. First, by describing the impressive diversity of marsupial life history strategies and trophic roles. Second, by careful comparison with the eutherians, the scope of the marsupial radiation is used to analyse the role of developmental constraints and adaptive radiation in determining the diversification of higher taxa. Lastly, it is suggested that the accessibility of marsupial young during their obligatory pouch life facilitates measurement, manipulation and assessment of kinship not possible in other mammalian groups. Further special topics include marsupial/plant mutualism, marsupial competition and the empirical uses of mammals with simple life histories.

The ecological literature on marsupials is dominated by descriptive natural history, and there has hitherto been little attempt at either synthesis or evolutionary interpretation. This book attempts to provide such a synthesis, by drawing on both the descriptive data base and predictions from the burgeoning literature on behavioural and evolutionary ecology. It documents the excellent potential the study of marsupials provides for resolution of theoretical questions of general importance in biology. It does this in three ways. First, by describing the impressive diversity of marsupial life history strategies and trophic roles. Second, by careful comparison with the eutherians, the scope of the marsupial radiation is used to analyse the role of developmental constraints and adaptive radiation in determining the diversification of higher taxa. Lastly, it is suggested that the accessibility of marsupial young during their obligatory pouch life facilitates measurement, manipulation and assessment of kinship not possible in other mammalian groups. Further special topics include marsupial/plant mutualism, marsupial competition and the empirical uses of mammals with simple life histories.

This book forges a synthesis between the discipline of behavioural ecology and what is known of the social behaviour and population dynamics of cyclic populations of vertebrates, with particular discussion of the cyclic voles and lemmings. Areas of uncertainty, and those which show promise are identified, and tests of competing hypotheses are suggested. Finally, the relevance of social dynamics to population growth and decline are examined, and a hypothesis on the role of aggressiveness in expanding populations is presented. This book should be of interest to students and researchers interested in social evolution, animal behaviour, mammalian reproduction and population dynamics.

In the last decades, America has gone to war as supposed defenders of democracy. The War on Terror was waged to protect the west from the dangers of Islamists. US Solders are stationed in over 800 locations across the world to act as the righteous arbiters of the rule of law. In What America Really Wants? Andrew Cockburn brilliantly dissects the intentions behind Washington's martial appetites. The American war machine can only be understood in terms of the "private passions" and "interests" of those who control it - principally a passionate interest in money. Thus, as he witheringly reports, Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer's urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash and prostitutes; senior marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017 "because it will do us good at budget time." Based on years of wide-ranging research, Cockburn lays bare the ugly reality of the largest military machine in history: squalid, and at the same time terrifyingly dangerous.

Fully updated from the original edition. As the retreat from Kabul shows, America goes to war not to bring democracy, or glory, but in the pursuit of profit. In The Spoils of War, leading Washington reporter, Andrew Cockburn, reveals the extent of the rot that stretches from the Pentagon and the White House, to Wall St and Silicon Valley. The American war machine can only be understood in terms of the "private passions" and "interests" of those who control it - principally a passionate interest in money. Thus, as he witheringly reports, Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer's urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash and prostitutes; senior marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017 "because it will do us good at budget time." Based on years of wide-ranging research, Cockburn lays bare the ugly reality of the largest military machine in history: squalid, and at the same time terrifyingly dangerous.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld-the mesmerizing figure who oversaw the US Army, Navy, Airforce, and Marines-has been widely blamed for the catastrophic state of Iraq. In October 2006 Rumsfeld was sacked, his disastrous running of the war in Iraq being held responsible for the American public's loss of faith in the Bush administration. In this groundbreaking book, Washington insider Andrew Cockburn reveals that Rumsfeld's political legacy stretches back decades and speculates as to where his career might take him now. Drawing on sources that include Rumsfeld's inner circle as well as high-ranking officials in the Pentagon and White House, Rumsfeld, going far beyond previous accounts, reveals its subject in his true colours-as a man consumed with the urge to dominate each and every human encounter, and whose ambition has long been matched by his inability to display genuine leadership or accept responsibility. The book demolishes the notion that he has been a forceful and effective manager driven to transform the military, and intimately details Rumsfeld's all-important relationships to Bush and Cheney, and how it has affected the wars that the USA and the UK are fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cockburn also exposes and scrutinizes Rumsfeld's earlier career, revealing his long-standing record of processing faulty intelligence, blurring personal and professional interests, and manipulating bureaucratic systems. Brimming with powerful revelations, Rumsfeld is a must-have piece of investigative journalism.