Francona, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, learnt Arabic and had a front-row seat on military relationship with Iraq, starting with "a professional, cooperative relationship" during the Iran-Iraq war (involving six trips to Baghdad between March and July 1988) and ending with warfare following the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
As might be expected, Francona's first-hand experiences provide much very interesting information. He explains how, having grown accustomed to an Iranian enemy, the Iraqis became complacent about camouflaging their military activities, to their later intense regret. The Iraqis captured "almost 75 percent" of Iran's armor and artillery, including a North Korean field gun that the American military desperately wanted to - and did - get its hands on. Francona calls Iraq's victory over Iran "directly attributable" to American intelligence assistance. But with that victory, American assistance to Iraq "ceased virtually overnight." The author asserts that by July 27, 1990 (six days before the actual Iraqi invasion), his office, that of the Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism, flat-out told the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States that "Iraq would invade Kuwait." Despite the certainty of this prediction, "no U.S. forces" were alerted, nor were any logistical preparations made to deploy in the Persian Gulf.
His experiences also offer a bevy of anecdotes, less consequential but telling. Trying to send a letter in Iraq, Francona was told he needed authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to purchase stamps. The Iraqis proudly showed off to him "huge piles" of captured Iranian equipment apparently manufactured in Israel. Iraqis disdainfully referred to Kuwaiti men as "bearded women." Many American diplomats in Saudi Arabia resented the presence of the troops who came to save the country, to the point of petulantly wanting to deny soldiers access to a (DoD-run) commissary. But that was mild compared to those Saudi religious figures who demanded that all trash generated by the U.S. troops in their country be carted out of it. The Saudi decree permitting female American soldiers to drive had this quaint formulation: "U.S. female military personnel in uniform are not women when driving military vehicles."
