He has written extensively on Middle Eastern affairs, including a series of articles on the Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents with co-author Laurie Mylroie.
When Saddam invaded Kuwait, Rahim hoped only that Palestinians would benefit from the invasion and that as many American soldiers would die as possible.
While in Jerusalem in October, 1990, Rahim met Kanan Makiya, the author of Republic of Fear, an important book on Baathist Iraq, published under a pseudonym in 1989.
Rahim returned home to Cleveland in January, 1991, at the start of U.S. hostilities to remove Iraq from Kuwait.
Rahim and Makiya later worked in association with the Iraq Research and Documentation Project, when it was launched, at Harvard in 1993.