cover image American Ally: Tony Blair and the War on Terror

American Ally: Tony Blair and the War on Terror

Con Coughlin. Ecco, $26.95 (389pp) ISBN 978-0-06-073126-7

In this robust portrait, Coughlin, a British journalist and Middle East specialist (Saddam: The Secret Life), documents prime minister Tony Blair's tenure, from the emergence of the New Labor party to the debacle in Iraq, showing how his proximity to Bill Clinton and George Bush has carried a high price. Despite their friendship, Blair suffered myriad indignities at Clinton's hands during the Balkan conflict and the Lewinsky scandal, and, more recently, critics have tagged Blair as ""Bush's Poodle"" for his alliance with the president. But the heart of this story is the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the tumult precipitated by September 11, culminating in the decision by Blair and Bush to confront Saddam Hussein. Particularly illuminating is the aversion to Blair by the neoconservatives surrounding the president, exemplified by Vice President Dick Cheney, a taciturn figure who hovers around the leaders during meetings, determined to counteract the Briton's influence. Blair emerges from these pages as a deeply moral, anguished wartime leader at the mercy of Washington's political and ideological currents.