Allies: The U.S., Britain, and Europe in the Aftermath of the Iraq War

The Cold War certainties that had seemed so fixed in the 20th Century were overturned by the war in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards were the battlefield victims of a brutally quick war of shock and awe. No less shocked and awed were some of America's former allies: "old" Europe, large blocks of the UN, and half the G8 nations suddenly found themselves outside the chain of command and influence.

Bush, Blair, and their allies were driven by a new global vision. Their mission, express...