Right now I'm about halfway through the book, which has taken me up to the last few years of the Clinton administration. I'd say that his history is dry and he contradicts himself in places, but his analysis noticeably sharpens when he's discussing things about which he has personal knowledge. It's not especially well-written, but it's good enough and I haven't gotten to the current situation yet, so I don't think I can give you a fair read. It's the first thing I've ever read about the Iran/Iraq war though, so that part has been most interesting so far. I'd like to read more because Pollack only summarizes. As to your other question -- my understanding is that going in, there might have been a few people in the State Dept. or CIA who had some understanding of Shi'ite politics, but the military planners at the Pentagon were in charge and they were mostly clueless. There was definitely a hope on the part of the neocons that the Shi'ites would adulate Chalabi and, I think, Prince Hassan of Jordan who was also parrt of somebody's plan. And of course, keep in mind that we were working with several Shi'ite exile groups, notably SCIRI and Da'wa, who were based in Iran. SCIRI's Badr Corps had fought in the Iran/Iraq War and Da'wa had basically been an underground terrorist organization sponsored by Iran.