The recent Gulf War, contends Emeritus Professor Roger Hilsman of Columbia University, was brought on not by the clash of national interests, but by the intense personal rivalry between George Bush and Saddam Hussein. Hilsman portrays Saddam Hussein as a villain, but a villain who rose to power in a society of villains; a man driven by very real and human fears. George Bush is also a driven man. According to Hilsman, the president manipulated the press and news from the region while ignoring the counsel of many military and diplomatic experts during what some observers called his "headlong rush to war." George Bush vs. Saddam Hussein is an important study that allows the reader to consider carefully the validity of Bush's claim to be the "foreign policy president" based on his handling of the Persian Gulf crisis.