 | |
| Author | Neil Mackay |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | non-fiction |
| Published | 30 October 2006 |
| Publisher | Sunday Herald Books |
| ISBN | 978-1904684152 |
The War on Truth is a 2006 book that investigates the circumstances of the British involvement in the Iraq War, written by Herald journalist Neil Mackay. [1]
The book's subtitle is Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Invasion of Iraq but Your Government Wouldn't Tell You. [2]
The book investigates the circumstances that led to the war in Iraq, the war itself and its aftermath. [1] It focusses on disinformation from the British government and questions the existence of democracy in the UK. [1]
The Chapter: How the Lies were Told focusses on Operation Rockingham, which is described as a government effort to cherry pick data that would support the government's villainous characterization of Saddam Hussein, his ownership of weapons of mass destruction, and the justification for the war. [2] The book reports that United Nations staff in Iraq constantly fed information to Operation Rockingham. [2] The operation ignored vast quantities of data about the weaknesses of Iraqi troops, Iraqi compliance with international rules, and instead only presented information that justified the British government's pro-war stance. [2] The cherry-picking approach was described to have been undertaken at the direction of the British government and led to the production of the infamous " Dodgy Dossier ". [2] Mackay credits Michael Meacher for his critique of Operation Rockingham [2] and documents how the events damaged the reputation of Tony Blair. [3]
The book also documents how the British government manipulated the press by planting poorly-substantiated stories in overseas newspapers, then encouraging UK press to report on the foreign reporting. [2]
The book describes how Republican American efforts to push for the war made a military intervention a foregone conclusion. [4]
Neil Mackay was supported by Scott Ritter in the production of the book. [2]
The book drew substantive praise from Ken Coates in his book Surging for Oil. [2] Coats calls the book "splendid" several times and celebrates that Mackay has combined his years of reporting into a "highly lethal single volume". [2]
