Providing unprecedented insight into America's most controversial foreign-policy decision since Vietnam, The Assassins' Gate recounts how the Bush administration set about changing the history of the Middle East and became mired in brutal guerrilla warfare in Iraq. During four tours on assignment forThe New Yorker,award-winning reporter George Packer observed firsthand the complex struggles of soldiers and civilians from myriad backgrounds. Bringing to life the people, ideas, and history that led America to the Assassins' Gate --- the main point of entry into the American zone in Baghdad --- Packer reveals the gritty realities of nation-building and insurgency in a war that followed none of the preconceived scripts. The result is a masterwork of journalism, providing answers on a subject seldom addressed with clarity while raising important new questions about the future.