Ali Allawi’s credentials for writing The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace are unimpeachable. Born an Iraqi Shi’a, Allawi spent most of his life in exile from his native country, pursuing careers in banking and academia (paralleled by his role as a leader of the Iraqi exile community), before his return to Iraq in 2003, some months after the United States – with a little help from their British ally – had swept through Iraq and deposed Saddam Hussein’s brutal totalitarian regime.

After his return, he joined the Iraqi Governing Council, the body created by the US as the nucleus for a future sovereign government of Iraq, where he held the Trade and Defence portfolios. From 2005 to 2006 he was Finance Minister in the Iraqi ‘Transitional National Government’. In effect, if