Annals Of Bad Book Reviewing

[Gertrude] Bell's life and her suicide at the age of 57 remain as enigmatic as the insistence of Western powers on their right to intervene in Iraq.

That most Americans had never heard of [Gertrude Bell] indicates that American knowledge of Iraq was intended only to manage its oil, its relationship with Israel and its potential as a long-term military base from which to control the Middle East.