Working with Sources: Quotes within Quotes

We get evidence from sources. Those sources get evidence from other sources. This can lead to confusion: look at this sentence, responding to Mark Engler's "Visions of Dominance"

According to Engler the real reason for the war in Iraq was that neoconservatives wanted to have wars to make the country stronger. He says that war "creates a pool of leaders for the nation." (68).

Says who? The sentence makes it sound like Engler believes this. But he's actually quoting neoconservative thinker Michael Ledeen. So, this sentence is quotes Engler quoting Michael Ledeen.

So What we have here is . . . .

A quote within a quote. When you have a quote within a quote, you want to show the says who and also the how do you know. We want to show the reader that Ledeen said it, and that we know this because we read Engler:

According to Engler, the real reason for the war in Iraq was that neoconservatives wanted to have wars to make the country stronger. Engler quotes neoconservative thinker Michael Ledeen, who wrote that war "creates a pool of leaders for the nation." (68).