Includes index. "Revised and updated"--Cover.

Prologue -- The origins of the fourth global war -- Al Qaeda's strategy and operational principles -- American strategy and the rule of unintended consequences -- The anatomy of intelligence failures -- The American way of war--planning for everything except what happened -- September 11 -- Defending the homeland : crisis and irrelevance -- Preparing for a counterattack -- The war in Afghanistan -- Tora Bora and nuclear nightmares -- Searching for a strategy : Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq -- The Iraq campaign -- The great reversal -- Conclusion : war in the balance.