How important is presidential personality and leadership style in foreign policy decisions To answer this question Thomas Preston takes readers inside the Bush administrationamprsquos decisionmaking process and use of intelligence to better understand how administration officials justified the Iraq Warampmdashand how they sought to avoid blame for the consequences of their actions. Based on extensive interviews with key Bush and Johnson administration officials Preston offers students of American foreign policy presidential decision making the dynamics of blame avoidance and future practitioners with an in depth examination of how presidential personality and leadership style impacted Bushamprsquos central foreign policy failure. In addition Preston looks critically at the oftcited comparisons of Iraq to Lyndon Johnsonamprsquos leadership during the Vietnam War exploring where the analogy fits and a number of important differences. He shows how both presidentsamprsquo styles exacerbated their managerial weaknesses in these cases and the limits of blame avoidance strategies. Importantly the book provides a cautionary tale for future leaders to consider more carefully the longterm consequences of satisfying their short term policy desires by lifting the lid to any new Pandoraamprsquos trap.