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If any one man were to get the most credit for pushing the US to war with Iraq, then Ahmed Chalabi, a wealthy exile who spent most of is life out of Iraq, would certainly be a leading contender.
A convicted criminal and a fugitive from justice in Jordan, Chalabi managed to charm and influence the US decision-makers.
They funded him with US government money which he could use in turn to lobby them.
This is an extraordinary investigative biography by talented young Emmy award-winning journalist Aram Roston. The book, which reads like a thriller, tells the story of Chalabi from his days as a young MIT mathematician, through his misadventures in the Middle East, to the invasion of Iraq.
Roston travels to London, Baghdad, Amman and Beirut in search of the elusive Chalabi, talking to people close to him, friends as well as foes, and unlocking revelatory secrets along the way.
Tom Mellen