Prologue Summary

Franks is one of only a few top people in the Bush administration who are present March 19, 2003, when President George W. Bush officially decides to declare war on Iraq. Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Power, Dick Cheney and other members of the National Security Council are seated around a table in Washington, D.C. They are hooked up by video camera to Franks, Lt. General Buzz Moseley, and Coalition commanders in Bahrain, a field in Saudi Arabia, and other locations in the Middle East. During this historic meeting, President Bush asks the military leaders if they have what they needed to win "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Franks and the others assure the group in D.C. that they do. Everyone's main concern is the fear that the Iraqis will use nuclear weapons on American troops. Nevertheless, the President gives his okay to start the...