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By Root 3821 0

checker. Will Cappelletti, Pratik Chougule, and Brice Long, along with Sarah Conant, Steve Duggan, Elizabeth Goss, Lisa Ricks, and Kailey Walczak, did yeoman’s duty transcribing the seemingly endless streams of dictation and interviews and fielding requests for illustrations and documents. Nancy Pardo, my longtime and valued assistant in Chicago, has undertaken hundreds of hours of dictation transcription and been an all-around personal oracle. The publisher at Sentinel, Adrian Zackheim and his associates, provided experienced advice, as did Patti Pirooz and John McElroy in my reading of the audio version. Bob Barnett’s unique perspective on the entire process has proved invaluable.

I have benefited from a group of stalwart if painfully honest readers, including Pete Biester, Steve Cambone, Torie Clarke, Larry Di Rita, Doug Feith, Anne Gardner, Admiral Ed Giambastiani, and Jean Edward Smith.

I also consulted directly with associates who participated in many of the events I describe, so that I could take into account their distinct perspectives as well. They include some of the most honorable and patriotic men I’ve had the privilege of serving alongside—men who dedicated their careers to serving our nation in the uniform of the U.S. military:

Lt. Gen. David Barno

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum

Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin

Col. Steven Bucci

Adm. Vern Clark

Gen. Bantz Craddock

Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong

Gen. Tommy Franks

Gen. John Handy

Vice Adm. Staser Holcomb

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples

Gen. Richard Myers

Gen. Jack Keane

Adm. Timothy Keating

Gen. Peter Pace

Lt. Gen. Gus Pagonis

Gen. Gene Renuart

Gen. Peter Schoomaker

Adm. James Stavridis

Capt. Troy Stoner

Vice Adm. Stan Szemborski

They also include other colleagues, patriots, and friends who have served their country in many ways:

Karen Ballard

Brad Berkson

Marshall Billingslea

Frank Carlucci

Lee Casey

Lynne Cheney

David Chu

J. D. Crouch

James Denny

François DeRose

Anthony Dolan

Raymond DuBois

Jaymie Durnan

Eric Edelman

Robert Ellsworth

Bob Gardner

Peter Geren

Jack Goldsmith

Alan Greenspan

Richard Haver

Jim Haynes

Ryan Henry

Charles Hill

Andy Hoehn

Marty Hoffmann

Ron James

Ned Jannotta

Reuben Jeffery

Jerry Jones

Zalmay Khalilzad

Henry Kissinger

Ken Krieg

Bruce Ladd

Art Laffer

Richard Lawless

Lewis Libby

William Luti

James MacDougall

Paul McHale

Thomas Miller

Newt Minow

Jeb Nadaner

John Negroponte

Luke Nichter

Roger Pardo-Maurer

Michael Pillsbury

Robert Rangel

Paul Rester

David Rivkin

Eric Ruff

Benjamin Runkle

Suzanne Schaffrath

William J. Schneider

Abram Shulsky

George Shultz

Laurence Silberman

Daniel Stanley

S. Frederick Starr

Dick Stevens

Cully Stimson

Christopher Straub

Marin Strmecki

Marc Thiessen

Ted Vogt

James Wade

Bill Walker

Joe Wassel

Ruth Wedgewood

Robert Wilkie

Brenda Williams

Christopher Williams

Paul Wolfowitz

Frank Zarb

One drawback to living so long is that there are friends and colleagues who are no longer with us. I first considered writing a book in the 1990s in consultation with John Robson, a friend of more than fifty years. While John died before this iteration of the project was launched, his guidance and recommendations have stayed with me—particularly his knack for getting me to look at issues from different viewpoints and his admonition to keep living life to the fullest regardless of age or infirmity. Three other friends stand out who were with us at the outset of this project but were not able to see the final product: Peter Rodman, who encouraged me to make full use of my archival material; Bill Safire, who shared his friendship and superb writing expertise; and Bob Goldwin, who was the same intellectual