361Afterword
Th e Story behind Th is Book
Th is book owes its origins to the decision by George W. Bush to invade
Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein from power in 2003. I did not support
his decision, though I thought it a close call. At the time I believed, as
did most Americans, that Saddam continued to hoard unconventional
weapons, and the memory of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001,
remained fresh. But I found the administration’s attempts to connect
the Iraqi dictator to al-Qaeda and other known extremist organizations
unpersuasive; I also regarded the attempt to track down Osama bin
Laden as a vital piece of unfi nished business. Two confl icts at one time
risked overstretching the resources of the American military.
Although my work as a scholar focused in part on the presidency, I
had written little on wartime leadership before the Iraq War. I was in
good company. Few political scientists specializing in presidential pol-
itics directed much attention to the role of war. My colleagues and I were
more interested in the relationship between the White House and other
institutions (especially Congress and the political parties) or in presi-
dential “leadership style” and character. A collection of essays widely
used in college courses, including mine, did not contain a chapter on