The book considers the ethical credentials of the United States in branding various countries ''pariah states'', and describes the background to the Iraq Question (the role of Saddam, the genocidal sanctions regime, etc.). A detailed chronology of 1997-98 US/Iraq weapons-inspections crisis is given, prior to a profile of the subsequent UN/Iraqi settlement and its aftermath.

The book considers the ethical credentials of the United States in branding various countries ''pariah states'', and describes the background to the Iraq Question (the role of Saddam, the genocidal sanctions regime, etc.). A detailed chronology of 1997-98 US/Iraq weapons-inspections crisis is given, prior to a profile of the subsequent UN/Iraqi settlement and its aftermath.