Just as the Obama administration has been settling in �� in other words, at exactly the right time �� the book that Douglas Feith wrote in 2007 has been issued as a paperback. Fortunately, Iraq seems to have recovered after five years of a costly and disorganized struggle to establish law and order, avert a civil war, and open the door to a legitimately elected government �� perhaps even a democracy.

Yet this recovery is not guaranteed. Iraq might well suffer a serious relapse. As President Obama put it in his speech at Camp Lejeune, ��Iraq is not yet secure.�� Therefore he phased the withdrawal of our forces. ��By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end,�� he said; but added, ��we will retain an additional force�� of 35�C50,000 U.S. troops.

Pathologists study the origins and course of diseases, and reevaluate their findings after the patient died by dissecting the corpse in the laboratory. So what should we learn from the pathology of the Iraq War? Feith offers a fascinating collection of lessons in the last chapter of his book. These lessons have become even more valuable in the paperback edition, because we have gained distance from the acrimonious debates and recriminations. As Raymond Aron, the highly regarded French philosopher and strategist, put it: ��From a closer view one sees only individuals; from afar, broad outlines appear.��

Feith explains both. He gives us a picture of the individual strengths and idiosyncrasies of a Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, or George Tenet. And amazingly, he has been able to grasp the ��broad outlines�� Raymond Aron had in mind.

	  	Nordlinger: ��How does it look to the boys in the camps?�� &c. Stein: