ABSTRACT
The army of Saddam Hussein was defeated, but he remained in power. Nearly everyone believed that he possessed weapons of mass destruction and would use them again if given a chance. The recent convulsions of the Middle East – the Iraq War, the Arab Spring and finally the Syrian civil war – have focused the Gulf rulers’ attention on new threats, such as Iran, and new opportunities, such as ties with Israel. Accusations of American indifference to the Middle East ring hollow given the number of US bases that litter the region. Ronen Bergman’s massive account of Israel’s practice of targeted killing has been much praised for its thoroughness. Bergman has done the public a grand service by producing a comprehensive and readable account of one of the most contentious practices of the Israeli state.
