Product Description
Beautifully printed color maps of Iraq for curious minds aged 7 to 77!A perfect resource for education or simple pleasure reading, this "nimble" atlas illustrates the social, demographic, and military geography of Iraq. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice maps
As a geographer and as a student of the Iraq War, I appreciatede the maps and information in the book. I did find the maps to be good, but others needed to be added to show trends and dynamics. The war is not over yet. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the first books you need to read to understand Iraq
Iraq Since 1958 is considered one of the "standards" of Iraqi history books.There are only a few others that have attained this level, books by Tripp and Marr are also in this category.This book, as well as the others just mentioned are the best places to start.They provide the broad framework and context of modern Iraqi history that is essential for understanding more specific issues, such as sectarianian splits within the country, as well as regional problems with countries like Turkey and Iran.

The book intensely covers the years 1958-1979 along with a chapter on the British monarchy and also a short chapter devoted to both the war with Iran and the ivasion of Kuwait.1958 stands as one of the most crucial years of Iraq with the overthrow of the British monarchy.An in-depth study beginning with this year and moving forward to the crucial decade of the 60s is the best way to understand how the Ba'th party and Saddam were able to take control of the country.

One of the most striking features of the book is the fact that the authors are very bold in their denunciation of the Ba'th party and its methods.Although one would be hard pressed to find someone actively arguing to the contrary, a high degree of ideological boldness permeates the chapters dealing with Ba'th party rule.That notwithstanding, Iraq Since 1958 is an essential read...one that no student of MIddle Eastern history should be without.

The authority on modern Iraq.
An essential for any mid Eastern studier's library ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (33)

Phenomenal--Ref A Relevant to Everywhere Else
The author has achieved extraordinary synthesis and summation, with gifted straight-forward language.

This book is not only a capstone reference, but demonstrates why we need to LISTEN--none of us could learn--in a lifetime--all that this author has in his head.That's why multinational engagement is a non-negotiable first step toward the future.

Key notes and quotes:

+Bush Senior should not have left Saddam Hussein off the hook in Gulf I, should have finished off the regime while we had enough troops on the ground to make the peace.

+US blew Gulf II from the moment of victory onward."Incoherent" is a word the author uses frequently in describing virtually every aspect of US operations in Iraq.The one element that gets high marks from him is the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) but the fact that the bulk of the "reconstruction" money was mis-managed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) makes AID's excellent a footnote in this sorry tale.

+Book covers 2003-2006; the author was Minister of Defense and then Minister of Finance during the reconstruction period.

+"Too few Americans actually cared."Fred Smith (parent agency not clear) gets high marks from the author for caring and competence as the CPA-appointed advisor to the Ministry of Defense in the 2004 timeframe.

+Up front the author identifies 33 key Iraqis and 14 key Americans, and I am struck by the fact that not a single one of the Americans is a uniformed US military officer on active duty.

+Great map of 74 tribal districts.Very interesting when you remember that we were told to ignore the tribal chiefs and imams for the first four years, and that Maj Gant's paper "One Tribe at a Time" is now respected--just eight years too late.

+Invasion extraordinary for "complexity of motive and ambiguity of purpose."Wow.

+Snapshot of the 1960's through the 1980's focuses on US indifference followed by sideline role in Iran-Iraq war [during which some will recall that we gave Saddam Hussein bio-chemical weapons that he was quick to use on the Kurds as well as the Iranians]

+Citing Robert Merton, author of Social Theory and Social Structure among many other works, he lists the five contributing factors to unintended consequences:
---01Ignorance of tr5ue conditions pertaining
---02Error in inference
---03Primacy of immediate interests
---04The ideological imperative (or the imperative of 'basic values')
---05Self-fulfilling prophecy (the author says this phrase was coined by Merton).

QUOTE:In official Washington, the ignorance of what was going on inside Iraq before the war was monumental."

QUOTE:The State Department, supposedly a citadel of realist thinking, had little first-hand experience of the country, instead relying on inference and analogous reasoning when trying to unravel the possible outcomes in the postwar period."

QUOTE:The invasion and occupation of Iraq comprised an index of errors of commission and omission.It would be difficult to catalog them.There were just too many....The range, number, and pernicious effects of these errors was astounding.

+HUGE FAILURE OF CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE.None.Zip.Nada.Rein.

+PHENOMENAL accounting of the indigenous open sources of information that were precise, relevant, and IGNORED.

+Chalabi is treated relatively kindly, and given credit for forecasting the invasion of Kuwait.

+First serious Iraqi opposition in exile conference in 1992

+Fascinating account of the deliberate emergence of Shia consciousness from 1988 [same year that Saudi Arabia started funding Bin Laden and radical Wahhabism world-wide), Shia emergence accelerating in 1992 (US did not notice)

+Iraqi opposition was ostracized in the Middle East less Kuwait and Iran.

QUOTE:The entire process of planning for a post-war Iraq was mired in ineptitude, poor organization and indifference.The 'Future of Iraq Project' was a half-hearted and unreal attempt to tackle the issues that would confront the overseers of a country with a devastated economy and a dictatorial political culture."

QUOTE:The Bush administration's position on Iraq, in the immediate aftermath of the war, was riddled with expedient decision-making, departmental infighting, conflicting strategies, and policy incoherence."

+General Erik Shinseki and Senator Joe Biden get high marks from the author for being intelligence and realistic.Garner is considered "well-meaning" but lacking the organization to be effective.

BOTTOM LINE:Dick Cheney personally, and bureaucratic infighting between State and Defense, combined with the complete and utter ignorance of US intelligence about Iraq, destroyed Iraq, whose fragile state was not understood in the slightest.

+BREMER is considered by the author to have been a second-string player, a hasty compromise, to which I would add, sending him on a one-year tour was criminal, but then that was Dick Cheney's nature.

+This entire book is an indictment of the idiocy, criminality, and lack of intelligence of the entire US Government but especially the White House, DoD, State, and CIA.

+Discovery of mass graves (tens of thousands) was a vastly under-estimated cause for ethnic anguish and the revival of centuries old antipathies.

+Bremer's first two decisions, the de-Bathification of the government and the dissolution of the only respected institution in the country, the military-police (vice Gestapo), destroyed whatever hope there might have been of avoiding a prolonged occupation and the total immolation of the society and economy.

+Saddam Hussein's main focus was on Shia uprising not on US invasion.

+US failed to integrate and listen to Iraqi leaders at all times.

+Core divide:Sovereignty first, elections later (Iraqi view) versus US view of vice versa.

+US crudeness inflamed tribes.

+Marshall Plan was huge and multinational, Iraq "aid" was tiny and unilateral.

+ CPA's three key failures:no price and subsidy reform; no food distribution reform; no state-owned enterprises financial reform.

+Saudi considerations of the invasion: fear of insurgents FROM Iraq; Iraq as proxy for Iran; Iraq as oil challenger; revival of Shia.

At Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, I provide a number of quotes that will not fit here, and a link to my cluster of 33 other reviews on Iraq, one of 98 categories within which I read.

Excellent history of the Iraq war
Title The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace
Author: Ali A. Allawi
Rating *****
Tags iraq, occupation, war, george w bush, dick cheney, middle east, politics, government, achmed chalabi, ali allawi

Excellent book, indispensible for any Westerner seeking to understand Iraq. Ali Allawi is an Iraqi who spent much of his life in exile from the Ba'ath regime, and was well-connected to the opposition who were influential once Saddam was overthrown, being a nephew of Ahmed Chalabi and a cousin of Ayed Allawi. He held various positions in post-Saddam Iraq.

All of which prepares one for a biased telling of the story of Iraq, from the viewpoint of a partisan with a particular view. What one gets instead is a stunningly broad and deep look at all the strands that go into creating the Iraq of today. Allawi discusses the politics, religion, and economy of Iraq, showing the major players and their complex viewpoints, the interaction of all the persons, events, and influences in a remarkably dispassionate and balanced way. Yet he writes with an insider's knowledge and access to people in positions of influence.

Moreover Allawi is competent in discussing the influences that drove the American invasion, and provides an excellent analysis of a theorist the Americans SHOULD have paid attention to , Robert Merton, and his theories of the law of unintended consequences. By the end of the book one is well aware of how difficult and multi-faceted a job is nation building, not something that should be attempted lightly or in ignorance.

Allawi includes brief but important analyses of the views of the other regional powers, including Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their views are complex and multi-layered.

One item was particularly interesting to me. I just read the book _Century of War, Century of Media_ which was particularly horrifying in describing the use of phosphorus by US troops in Fallujah. Allawi's book confirms that account on p. 339, "The MNF [multinational force] was accused of using banned chemical weapons such as white phosphorus and incendiary bombs, a charge denied by the State Department but subsequently indirectly confirmed by the Department of Defense."

The book does not end on a hopeful note. The situation in Iraq is dire, with few good solutions. But after reading this book one has a much better idea of how the situation became what it is, which is a necessary condition to finding solution

Publication Yale University Press (2007), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 544 pages
Publication date 2007
ISBN 0300110154 / 9780300110159

best book there is on Iraq
If you read just one book about Iraq you need it to be this one. This book is the most comprehensive book out there. It provides a very in depth explanation of Iraq. The book focuses on the political angle of Iraq. He has a lot of inside information that the American press just misses. He has some good insight on American policy that is interesting. The author is Iraqi so he has such an insight that is amazing. You can't find this anywhere else.

An Iraqi Account of the War
I just finished reading this book.It is the sixth book I have read on the war in Iraq, and the first by an Iraqi.It is not an easy read, but it is worth the effort.The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars is that it is kind of a chore to grind through the whole thing, but I am glad I made the effort.

Compared to the other books on Iraq which I have read, this painted a much more complex picture of Iraq.It helped me to understand the complexities of Iraq, and how hard it is to govern it.The identification of Iraqis with Iraq seems pretty thin compared to identification with their religion, their ethnicity, their tribe, clan, family, etc.

Allawi complements some and reproves others.The failure of the occupation is due to mistakes both by the U.S. and by the Iraqis.And he lays it all out quite well.One comment on the U.S. administration really stood out:He cited cheery quotes by both President Bush and General Petraeus in the midst of explaining the then current situation, which was anything but cheery.So I am even less inclined to believe anything said in the future by these two men.I had an idea there was corruption, but the scale of it is mind-boggling.Where other books, by Americans, detail the corruption on the American side, Allawi explains it on the Iraqi side.

If you want to be informed, read this book.If you don't want to be depressed, pass it up.

Dennis Veith

An Iraqi perspective
Books about the Iraq war are plentiful to say the least and unfortunately, many of them add little to the debate.Even so, there are many books that do and it can be a bit intimidating to dive into the subject.There isn't a single definitive book on the subject and if you really want to understand the war and its aftermath, you'll need to devote quite a bit of time to that end.Ali Allawi's book is definitely worth the read, but it's hard to tell exactly where this book fits into the overall picture from the title alone.What you'll find in The Occupation of Iraq is primarily a narrative (from an Iraqi perspective) of the political process in Iraq after the U.S. invasion.Although Allawi is at times critical of the U.S., what you won't find in this book is a rant against the Bush administration or the U.S. in general, even though many people reviewing books like this like to say that it's somehow incontrovertible proof that Bush is a lying criminal etc.

As an Iraqi, Allawi provides a number of important insights that normally get left out of the discussion by American writers.One important piece of conventional wisdom is that Saddam Hussein's regime was secular and that the rise of Islamic extremism in Iraq is somehow America's fault, but Allawi correctly points out that in 1994, Hussein launched a faith campaign in order to enhance its authority and credibility.This more than anything the U.S. did planted the seeds of Sunni extremism.Another important, but often overlooked point involves the looting of the country that happened after the invasion.Allawi draws attention to the fact that the systematic looting of government buildings was not the work of random criminals, but rather by regime elements determined to dismantle as much of the state's infrastructure as possible, making in more difficult for the Americans and successive Iraqi governments and also to destroy as much incriminating evidence as possible.This never really gets discussed in other books on the subject, but it's an important point that makes a lot of sense when you think about it.As far as the criticism goes that Allawi was an exile, and therefore unqualified to really write about Iraq, the vast majority of the book is concerned with the post-invasion period, when he was part of the government.There is very little about Iraq before the war.These types of criticisms against Allawi carry little, if any weight.

Some things that stood out to me as odd though.One was that the preface was obviously written by someone whose first language isn't English, but the rest of the book doesn't come across this way at all.Maybe it was that the rest of the book was subject to careful editing while the preface was left alone.In any case, it seems like one person wrote the preface while a different person wrote the rest of the book.Also, there are severl times in the book where Allawi refers to himself, but it's in the third person.This adds to the impression that someone else wrote the bulk of the book.In most narrative accounts like this, a person involved in the story itself uses 1st person, not 3rd. Another odd thing about this book is that Allawi never capitalizes the words West or Western.Normally when writing about "the" West or "the" East, the words are capitalized.A subtle jab at the West by Allawi perhaps?Hard to tell, but odd nonetheless.

At 460 pages, The Occupation of Iraq is a lengthy and sometimes difficult read, but ultimately rewarding.To my knowledge, this is the only work of such depth written by an Iraqi involved in the work of rebuilding Iraq at the governmental level.Fiasco and Cobra II cover the story from the American military perspective, The Assassins' Gate and the Foreigner's Gift are more of an investigative journalism/extensive travel diary, and State of Denial is the ultimate insider's look at the Bush administration.These are all important angles and necessary ones to fully understand what's happened in Iraq.Allawi's contribution provides a much needed Iraqi government perspective and in many ways, he's just as critical of the Iraqi government's failures as most are of the Bush administration.This probably shouldn't be the first book about Iraq that someone reads, because I think it requires at least some prior knowledge about the country.Someone with no background will likely have a difficult time here, but the book is certainly rewarding for those well-versed in the subject. ... Read more

Product Description
Delights from the Garden of Eden is the revised edition of the 2003 publication by the author. This new edition is luxuriously illustrated with color food photos, paintings, medieval miniatures, sketches, and much more.

It is a unique Iraqi cookbook, which displays the diversity of the region's traditional culinary practices, delicious and enduring. It contains more than 400 recipes, all tested and easy to follow, with practical weights and measures applicable everywhere. The recipes cover all food categories with ample choice for both vegetarians and meat lovers, and many that will satisfy a sweet tooth. Light healthy touches are suggested throughout, and ingredients and cooking techniques indigenous to the region are duly explained.

Preceding the recipes is a comprehensive thoroughly researched introductory chapter, which traces the genesis and development of the Iraqi cuisine over the centuries, starting with the ancient Mesopotamians, through medieval times and leading to the present, aided throughout by the author's intimate native knowledge of cookery. Research on the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cuisine draws extensively on archaeological findings, such as the Babylonian recipe collection and literary sources. The medieval era focuses on the Abbasid cuisine as exemplified by the contemporaneous luxurious culinary culture that encouraged the trend of writing cookbooks.

Of particular interest are the book's numerous food-related folkloric stories, reminiscences, anecdotes, songs, poems, excerpts from narratives written by foreign visitors to the region, and cultural explications of customs, all interwoven with the recipes. The book is supplemented with detailed menus and an extended Glossary to familiarize the reader with the indigenous ingredients used in creating authentic Iraqi meals.

A reliable source on the culinary history of Iraq. It is the only Iraqi book which tends to the needs of the appetite and the intellect in an interesting fashion: Informative, practical, and entertaining.

A valuable addition to the shelves of specialized and general libraries, and a must-have for food lovers everywhere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Great book! Fun and very useful
I bought this as a gift for my wife and she really loves it. It is not just simply a recipe book but tells you some stories and history about the recipe as well...I find it interesting to read myself.

I use it almost everyday!
I bought my cookbook a couple months ago, and I must say I've never used a cookbook so much. That being said, my husband is Iraqi and really loves Iraqi cuisine. For me it's improved my "iraqi cooking" tremendously. Everyone has noticed that I am now making authentic Iraqi food. I am very happy with it. I bought the the other Iraqi cookbook called Iraqi Family Cookbook. While that one is good, it is small. If you are deciding which one to buy, I would definetly get this one. While it doesn't have the beautiful colorful presentations as the other one,it does have a whole lot more recipes.

AMAZING!!
I can't stop flipping through the pages of this book. Each page sparks a different memory from Iraq. The recipes are so easy to follow and turn out so well. The best cook book EVER.

Delights from the Garden of Eden a Cookbook and History of Iraqi Cusuine
My wife is a first class Chef and needed information abiout Iraqi Cooking
to prepare and serve at Master classes
On the WWW there was only 11 recipies
So doing a search on AMazon.com walla a book. The book has many recipies and information about Iraqi Culture it is easily to read and is very informative, it is pity that the Americans went in on a false premise and are surely destroying a vibrant culture.

Incredible!
I received this cookbook as a birthday gift two years ago. When I opened it, I was excited to find a Middle Eastern cookbook, but was not expecting it to 'measure up' to the 10 or so Middle Eastern/North African cookbooks in my collection, as the author is not well known as are the authors of many of the other books. After all this time, I have made quite a few recipes from this book, and all were fantastic. That being said, I feel that I haven't even scratched the surface of this book. The number of good recipes in the book is astounding, and the history portion of the book is very interesting. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in learning more about cooking Middle Eastern food, and learning about its roots. ... Read more

Product Description
At the beginning of May 2005, just before the British elections, the London Times published the so-called Downing Street memo, the leaked secret minutes of a July 2002 meeting of senior British foreign policy and security officials. The memo suggested that eight months before the invasion of Iraq, long before weapons inspections resumed, President Bush had already decided on war and to justify it by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorists, that the "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," that the US wanted to avoid consulting the UN, and that few plans were being made for the aftermath of war.

Largely ignored in the US press for weeks afterward, the memo was finally published, with an extensive commentary by Mark Danner, in The New York Review. Danner wrote two follow-up pieces about the significance of the memo, showing how it proves that Bush had decided to invade Iraq much earlier than he admitted and only agreed to weapons inspections not to avoid war but in the expectation that the Iraqis would invite it by refusing to cooperate. Most important, Danner argues that in the face of such clear evidence of deception, the press, public, and Congress still have not held the administration responsible.

The Secret Way to War brings together Mark Danner’s strongly argued analysis of the Downing Street Memo, along with the text of the memo itself and seven other leaked British documents that show Tony Blair’s government struggling to find legal and political rationales and strategies to support regime change in Iraq. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Concise & informative
This is a good book to read for information on the Downing Street memo--there was not enough press coverage on this, so I am glad this book was published.

The Downing Street Memo
Mr. Danner's pamphlet was easy to read, concise and informative on a subject about which all Americans should be better informed.

Creating Imperial Reality
In its June 9, 2005, issue The New York Review of Books published an article entitled "The Secret Way to War" in which Mark Danner reviewed and interpreted the recently released secret memo summarizing the main points of a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair, cabinet members, and senior government officials held at 10 Downing Street on July 23, 2002.The book reprints this article as well as critical letters by Knight Ridder Bureau Chief John Walcott and Los Angeles Times reporter Michael Kinsley with the author's response to each.The author adds an afterword and an appendix containing the full text of the Downing Street Memo and seven other British documents pertaining to it.

Danner makes three main points.First, it is clear that the Bush administration had decided to go to war with Iraq eight months before the actual March 19, 2003, attack.Second, from that point the Bush administration set out to "fix" the intelligence to build the strongest argument for war.Third, the Bush administration manipulated the weapons inspections to find a pretext for war even when claimingto use them as a way to avoid war.

Danner distinguishes between the possible reasons the Bush administration wanted to go to war with Iraq ("to remove the threat a hostile and unpredictable dictator was thought to pose . . . to the industrial world's oil supply; to foreclose the possibility of any collaboration between Saddam and al-Qaeda . . .; to do away with a regime hostile to Israel; [and/or] to begin a process of limited `democratization' in the countries of the Middle East") from the pretexts for going to war (self-defense, humanitarian intervention, or violation of UN Security Council resolutions demanding that Iraq cease its programs involving atomic, biological, and chemical weapons.)

Since Iraq clearly was not a threat to the United States and since this was not a case of humanitarian intervention, the US, with British cooperation, based its case on Iraq's nuclear weapons program.The two governments hoped that Saddam Hussein would resist inspections giving the Security Council grounds for authorizing military intervention.When Hussein surprised them by letting the inspectors in, and when the inspectors found nothing, the United States went to war before the inspectors could finish their job.

Most disturbing is Danner's comparison of Joseph Goebels to an unnamed senior advisor to President Bush.Goebels claimed there was no point in trying to convert intellectuals because they would always yield to "the man in the street.""Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect.Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology."

Speaking to a New York Times Magazine Reporter, the Bush advisor contrasted "the reality-based community" (people who believe that solutions emerge from the judicious study of discernable reality) with the way things work now."We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. . .We're history's actors...and you [reality-based reporters]...will be left to just study what we do."

Danner concludes:"We live with the legacy of exaggerations and lies of the secret way to war:in the distortion of the public debate, the corruption of our politics, and the collapse of the one element essential to fighting a long and inconclusive conflict--the trust and support of the people."

Okay...a short book on the memo
This was good but I would not necessarily recommend everyone read it.You can read this in one night.

The mechanisms of manipulation
If you have missed Mark Danner's articles on the Downing Street Memo in _The New York Review of Books_, here is your chance to learn a little more about the beginning of the war and how, in political thinking, the (wished for) effect can precede the (invented) cause. This book is particularly enlightening now, when the withdrawal of the American military from Iraq finally begins to be discussed. We are told that a withdrawal -- even a gradual and well-planned one - will eventually lead to terrorist attacks on America. Where is the proof? Mark Danner's book reveals the mechanisms of manipulation of public opinion behind this war: we are made to listen to Fear, not to Reason. To be sure, Reason makes mistakes, but Blind Fear's mistakes can be disastrous. ... Read more

Product Description
The presidency of George W. Bush has led to the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the United States -- the bloody, unwinnable war in Iraq. How did this happen? Bush's fateful decision was rooted in events that began decades ago, and until now this story has never been fully told.



From Craig Unger, the author of the bestseller House of Bush, House of Saud, comes a comprehensive, deeply sourced, and chilling account of the secret relationship between neoconservative policy makers and the Christian Right, and how they assaulted the most vital safeguards of America's constitutional democracy while pushing the country into the catastrophic quagmire in the Middle East that is getting worse day by day.



Among the powerful revelations in this book:



Why George W. Bush ignored the sage advice of his father, George H.W. Bush, and took America into war.


How Bush was convinced he was doing God's will.


How Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated George W. Bush, disabled his enemies within the administration, and relentlessly pressed for an attack on Iraq.
Which veteran government official, with the assent of the president's father, protested passionately that the Bush administration was making a catastrophic mistake -- and was ignored.


How information from forged documents that had already been discredited fourteen times by various intelligence agencies found its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in which he made the case for war with Iraq.


How Cheney and the neocons assembled a shadow national security apparatus and created a disinformation pipeline to mislead America and start the war.


A seasoned, award-winning investigative reporter connected to many back-channel political and intelligence sources, Craig Unger knows how to get the big story -- and this one is his most explosive yet. Through scores of interviews with figures in the Christian Right, the neoconservative movement, the Bush administration, and sources close to the Bush family, as well as intelligence agents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and Israel, Unger shows how the Bush administration's certainty that it could bend history to its will has carried America into the disastrous war in Iraq, dooming Bush's presidency to failure and costing America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Far from ensuring our security, the Iraq War will be seen as a great strategic pivot point in history that could ignite wider war in the Middle East, particularly in Iran.




Provocative, timely, and disturbing, The Fall of the House of Bush stands as the most comprehensive and dramatic account of how and why George W. Bush took America to war in Iraq. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Frightening
A fascinating insight. Great reporting of how the US Establishment can be taken over by a bunch of extremists.As somone else said, the price of liberty is etenal vigilance!

The House of Bush
This was an impressive overview of what the country had to put up with over the 8 year Bush administration. I do not think the country will ever totally get over some of the situations created. Craig Unger did a very good job of laying out each sequence that happened leading up to the Iraq war and the Afghanistan conflict. This was a real good read.

Craig Unger Provides Essential Material to Help Us Understand Our Former President
What we saw of President George W. Bush through the media during the first several years of his presidency was insufficient for us to make reliable judgments about him.We could not gain a clear understanding of motives to go to war in Iraq.We had to trust that our leaders had better information than was publicly available, and 9/11 had made us rally behind our president anyway.

George W. Bush was in many ways a charismatic leader.Many voters reported after voting for him in the first presidential election that they simply liked him.He seemed humble at the time through his public profile.He promised to use a bipartisan approach and to be a "uniter" not a divider.He seemed sincere and he surrounded himself with experienced people.

Unfortunately, the information assembled by Craig Unger in the development of House of Bush was not available to us much earlier.It is now essential for the average American citizen to try to understand why our federal government operated the way it did for the first eight years of this century because we can learn from our mistakes and because our democracy is at stake.House of Bush is a key piece of the puzzle.I would recommend this book followed by Part III of State of Denial.

Unger traces the entire history of George W. Bush's political experience.What emerges is a very intelligent although intellectually lazy man who became one of the most influential presidents in this nation's history, bending the country to his will.What Bush understood so well, much better than his contemporaries such as Al Gore at the time, was the state of the average American voter.By average, we're certainly not thinking about people that use their free time to read reviews of books on Amazon.

The average American voter at the time was overworked and overwhelmed although materially content.He/she had grown up with television and believed what was presented through the media until proven otherwise.In other words, critical thinking had declined and the electorate was vulnerable to propaganda.In this environment, Bush understood the approach that would win.Bush saw his entry through religious appeal, followed by manipulation of factual information to suit his predetermined policy.In this he was brilliant and displayed himself as a highly intelligent and capable individual.Despite his public gaffes and lack of disciplined study, George W. Bush is a highly intelligent and gifted individual.

Unger explains how Bush helped his father win the presidency by turning key states where religion trumped economic policy.He understood how to cultivate the support of what many call the "Religious Right" for lack of a short and easy-to-understand term.This became a voting base for Bush for all his elections that followed.At the same time, Bush understood that while the average American can be persuaded to vote against his/her economic best interests, the key to power was perfect alignment with concentrated wealth.Thus, Bush held firm in supporting causes such as anti-abortion while demonstrating unwavering loyalty to the economic interests of the top wealthiest Americans.Nobody else understood the power of this approach better, not even Vice President Cheney.

As president, Bush allowed Cheney to hold sway on foreign policy and many other areas providing that the governmental apparatus remained loyal to him (Bush).Thus, Unger explains incidents where Bush overruled Cheney but Cheney was able to ignore him and do what he wanted anyway.Bush was disengaged in the actual work of governance whereas Cheney was active.This allowed Cheney and his people, such as Rumsfeld, to set policy without hindrance.

I don't think House of Bush provides a solid glimpse of whether George W. Bush was actually very religious or just politically astute and perhaps a bit ruthless.This is where my interpretation of this book differs from most others.I am not convinced that Bush is the fundamentalist that he projects himself to be.I just don't have a feeling for whether Bush is sincere about fundamentalist religion.I don't think House of Bush claims that Bush is actually entirely sincere about religion.The point is that Bush learned how to tap into religious leanings to wield power.

House of Bush provides many quotes by top politicians and their family members that are telling when taken together as a group.Of course, this set of quotes is skewed in that they lead one to become enraged with Bush, Cheney and many others in Bush's inner circle.But people say very critical things from time to time.If those are the only quotes we consider, we'll make incorrect conclusions.

House of Bush shows that George W. Bush is/was a very capable politician.He may have made disastrous decisions and he certainly used his great influence to take the country into the Iraq War against strong objections of diverse analytical experts.Unger's book shows us how this man became powerful and how he exerted power.This book is should be included in anybody's list of essential books to understand our former president.Nevertheless, much about George W. Bush remains a mystery.

Worth the time.
Interesting read but not much new -- much of this data is already known.Still, it shold serve as a warning to those who would elect someone who relies on "gut" feelings, is a staunch ideologue unskilled in the art of diplomacy and basic management skills, and a religous fundamentalist. George Bush presided over the worst 8 years since Jimmy Carter's presidency (albeit he did more damage than Carter).This story should be read by everyone who thinks it a grand idea to have a "regular" person in the White House - Bush may be fun to have a beer with but his leadership was a disaster and this book confirms it.

Insightful!

You may not always agree with the elder Bush but at least he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately the son pretty much wrecked all the that his dad accomplished and left the family name in disgrace. ... Read more

Product Description
A stunning debut memoir sure to touch military families—and all Americans.

Melissa Seligman is something rare in the world of military families—a military wife who is also a beautiful writer. Here she describes her feelings as she watches her husband walk away from her and her newborn, knowing full well that he might not return from the war in Iraq. She experiences saying goodbye twice—both times he left when their children were still infants. While he's away from home again, Melissa struggles to remember the goodness of her husband and the joy of their life together. Working hard to raise a baby and a four-year old, Melissa tells of the heartbreak and desperation she experiences at home. She watches her daughter clutch a G.I. Joe doll she's named "Little Daddy," and wonders if the family will make it through.

Hers is a story of sadness and strength, desperation and hope, displacement and unity. It's a story that anyone left behind (and we have all been left behind) will respond to, one that, unfortunately, is becoming more and more common as the war in Iraq continues. This is a work of timely and powerful non-fiction by a significant new author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

fast delivery, great condition!! Great book as well.
This was a great book. The delivery was fast and the book was in great condition. Would do business again.

An excellent read for all military wives!
I just spent the afternoon reading this book and consider it time well spent. I feel as though I spent the afternoon with the author reliving her experience- sharing the laughter, tears, frustration, and joy. I have already shared parts of the story with friends- and they received a warm laugh or connection. I think every military wife should read this book- and suggest it to friends. By the end- the author feels like your friend-the sign of a very well written and honest book!

great book
this book was awesome, it was in great shape and reading it helped me alot

Touching FamilyWar Story
If you think you know the story of Army wives, think again.This book takes you through every gut-wrenching step of a deployment from the soldier's family's viewpoint.Wives and children pay the highest price when daddy leaves for war.Author Melissa Seligman doesn't hold anything back, freely sharing sorrow, worry, anger, depression, and recovery.When you sit down to read this book, don't expect to get up without finishing.Grab your handkerchief, and maybe a stiff drink, and as you read remember the thousands upon thousands of American families who are living the same story.

Very accurate picture...
of the many conflicting emotions experienced during a deployment.It's like someone is reading my mind and writing this all down.Excellent book! ... Read more

Product Description
The widely praised book featured on Bill Moyers Journal that looks at a war of an earlier era to help explain what has gone so wrong in Iraq.

With countless lives lost and the situation in Iraq more desperate than ever, it is clear that U.S. foreign policy makers have learned little from the past, even as they have been obsessed with the "Vietnam syndrome." Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam explores this conundrum.

In Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam, Lloyd C. Gardner, author of several celebrated books about U.S. foreign policy and Vietnam, and Marilyn B. Young, author of the leading history of the Vietnam War, have brought together the most renowned historians of Vietnam—and leading analysts of contemporary U.S. foreign policy—to consider the correspondences between then and now. By closely examining how our policy makers have failed to understand the history of our wars, relations with allies and antagonists, military strategies and capabilities, and the nature and limitations of presidential and American power, these writers demonstrate that Rumsfeld had it right when he noted that "the biggest problem we've got in the country is people who don't study history anymore." As Howard Zinn notes, "Iraq is not Vietnam, the makers of war tell us, hoping we will forget. The writers in this volume insist that we remember, and, in these thoughtful, sobering essays, they explain why. It is history at its best—meaning, at its most useful."
With contributions by: Christian G. Appy • Andrew J. Bacevich • Alex Danchev • David Elliott • Elizabeth L. Hillman • Gabriel Kolko • Walter LaFeber • Wilfried Mausbach • Alfred W. McCoy • Gareth Porter • John Prados ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent studies
This is an excellent collection of essays on the USA's wars, past, present and future. As the Washington Post noted, "the lesson of Vietnam is that once you make the initial mistake, little you do afterward is right. If the basic policy is flawed, the best tactics in the world will not salvage it." When the attacks on Vietnam and Iraq were mistakes, then all proposed solutions - a different strategy, more troops, more bombing, attacking neighbouring countries - will fail.

The editors write, "Iraq is most certainly the greatest so far of the neo-colonial wars as the great powers seek out spheres of influence and special advantages in the oil-rich areas bordering the Persian Gulf." Yet Rumsfeld lied, "it has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil." So did Blair.

The US resolution for war against the `threat posed by Iraq' was in the US state's long tradition of faking threats to justify aggressive wars. After 9/11, Rumsfeld's undersecretary Douglas Feith scolded the senior staff officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Why are you working on Afghanistan? You ought to be working on Iraq." Sir Richard Dearlove, the chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, noted, "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." And Bush told Blair, "the diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning."

In every counter-insurgency war - Japan against China, France against Vietnam, France against Algeria, Britain against Kenya, Malaya and Northern Ireland, the USA against Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel against Palestine - the people do not want to cooperate with the occupiers. So the occupiers, unable to find out about the resistance, resort to mass torture to get information. In Vietnam, the USA had its Operation Phoenix. Now it has Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo. As the Red Cross said, "The construction of such a system ... cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture."

Once a counter-insurgency war has got started, the occupiers are doomed to defeat. Capitalism will drive imperialism to repeat the same disasters for ever - make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again - if we let it.

Stuff everyone should know.
Iraq and the lessons of Vietnam is full of the background information we all
need to know about. Too bad we didn't know some of this before this crew was installed in the White House. The book is a series of articles by different people with expertise in each aspect such as intelligence, foreign policy, etc. The book is excellent but not an easy read.

ACUTE COMPARISON
THIS IS A VERY USEFUL AND ORIGINAL COLLECTION, AND THE COMPARISON OF VIETNAM AND IRAQ IS VERY RELEVANT TO THE PROTRACTED WAR IN IRAQ.MANY OF THE ANALOGIES, SUCH AS THE USE OF 'CREDIBILITY,' ARE IDENTICAL.BUT THE SCOPE OF THE IRAQ DISASTER IS FAR GREATER GEOPOLITICALLY THAN THE INDOCHINA WARBECAUSE THE U S IS NOW RIPPING APART THE ENTIRE REGION.THIS BOOK IS VERY TIMELY AND QUITE CONCISE COMPARED TO MANY OF THE BOOKS THAT SEEK TO CONFRONT THE IRAQ DISASTER. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (11)

A must read for peace activists
Anthony presents a sober account of how calculated the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was. Exposing all the rationales for the war as lies, "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal" turns to the real reasons for the bi-partisan project in Iraq; to further imperial aims in the middle east. In the The Logic of Withdrawal chapter Anthony systematically nullifies all arguments against withdrawal, and the following chapter argues for the only principled stance -- troops out now!

Best Book on the Topic
The book is only 105 pages long, but it explains the US/British foreign policies that wanted the war, how the evidence necessary to invade was manufactured, and also the misreporting of the war by the media. It's extremely concise and valueable. The author even manages to squeeze in some semi-tangents that are important. My favorite one is the discussion of the Democratic Party and their belligerence - I just get tired of hearing that the Democratic Party is an anti-war party.

A third of the book is devoted to explaining why the invasion was sought after (as well as the occupation of Afghanistan). Then the book moves to focus on the realities of the war's fighting, and how it is covered. After the end of all "major combat operations" in May 2003 the continued attacks on US troops was blamed on Hussein, who was captured in December 2003. After the fighting continued, it was blamed on foreign interference. The administration said a provisional Iraqi government was needed. After the "free" elections on January 2005 the fighting continued. Since then, the administration has been blaming it on al-Qaeda and other foreigners, which Arnove shows not to be the case. These steps of blaming a domestic resistance to other causes is strikingly similar to that of Vietnam. After facing continued resistance, our policies changed to describe and fight those false causes (strategic-hamlet program-->search-and-destroy operations-->pacification program-->Operation Phoenix-->Vietnamization (which was only initiated after the Tet Offensive of 1968 awakened people to the grim truth of the war). Also discussed in this portion of the book (what's really going on over there) is the liberalization of Iraq's economy - It's straight from the IMF/World Bank playbook. The last section of the book argues, after looking at why the invasion occured and what's happening there now, that we should leave Iraq and provide aid until they're back on their feet.

I'd also recommend that an interested reader look into Bush in Babylon: The Recolinisation of Iraq and America's confrontation with revolutionary change in the Middle East, 1948-83.

A logical argument, and yet more troops are being sent now
Arnove's book lays out, in a pretty straight-forward manner (105 pages, not counting the foreword, afterword, appendix, acknowledgement, and notes) the case for pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq immediately. I read a few other books about Iraq before reading this one, and I would suggest that to any reader, just so they have a frame of reference while reading it. Arnove tries to use well-known quotes and facts to support his argument, and this helps, but there is still so much information on such a complex issue, that I think it would be difficult to read this and fully comprehend it with no prior knowledge of Iraq.

Arnove makes a very compelling case. What's sad is that he's using readily available information to make it, and yet we're now sending more troops to Iraq.

I think the only fault of the book is expecting that it will drive people to action. Arnove isn't really presenting anything new, just laying all the facts out for us in a very clean, logical way, almost like he's writing his thesis. While this style might work if Arnove were a lawyer convicting Bush of war crimes, it just serves to further highlight how this administration works above the law and gets away with it. Even with this much clear evidence against the war it continues on.

Excellent case for bringing the troops home now


This outstanding book makes the case for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq. This would meet the democratic demands of the Iraqi people, and also of the American and British peoples. In a September 2005 New York Times-CBS News poll, 52% supported the immediate withdrawal of US troops.

Arnove sums up, "Every single argument the Bush administration made to justify the invasion of Iraq has turned out to be false. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, posed no imminent threat to the United States, and had no connection to al-Qaeda or to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Iraq was attacked not because it had weapons of mass destruction, but because it did not (a fact that has not been lost on other potential targets of U. S. intervention). U. S. soldiers were not greeted as liberators, and the occupation has not paid for itself, or required few troops, or been quickly concluded. Nor has the occupation made the world safer or reduced the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, it has made Iraq, the Middle East, and the world far more dangerous."

From the start, the war on Iraq was a huge lie. As Arnove writes, "The attacks of September 11, 2001, provided the pretext the Bush administration needed to portray an offensive war to reshape the Middle East as a defensive measure to protect the people of the United States."

Everything we are told about the war is untrue. For example, we are told that the occupation troops conduct a humanitarian war on the ground. In reality, the USA is waging war largely by massive, unreported, bombing: the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than 500,000 tons of bombs on Iraq between May 2003 and December 2005. We are told that there is no national resistance attacking the foreign occupier, just terrorists attacking civilians. In reality, for every attack against civilians, there are a hundred against the occupying forces.

British governments have always lied to us about matters of war and peace, of security and the national interest. This Labour government is different only because its lies have been more stupid, so that we have rumbled it more quickly.

Articulate, politically-sophisticated
Q: How many pages does it take to make a compelling case for immediate withdrawal from Iraq? A: Apparently not many when you have logic on your side!

It is a myth that Bush & Co.--though misguided--had the best of intentions at heart when they ordered the military invasion of Iraq in March of 2003. And this unfortunate myth prostrates the antiwar movement when it deludes itself into believing that a bloody occupation stemming from an illegal war can somehow be salvaged into something beneficial for anybody besides Halliburton.

Anthony Arnove's book explains the real roots of the Iraq war in the context of power and profit (not misguided humanitarianism), summarizes for the reader three years of blood-spattered occupation history, provides eight excellent reasons for immediate withdrawal and then discusses the ABC's of anti-imperialist struggle drawn from the history of the Vietnam War.

This isn't a catchall antiwar book to give to your chicken hawk uncle at the next family reunion. This is a book for the 50 million Americans who already consider themselves part of the antiwar movement and want some real answers about stopping the blood-letting. Or as the author puts it, "...the U.S. left in particular needs far greater clarity about the reasons for the war, the political context of the war, and an effective strategy for ending it." (page 98)

This is the most articulate, politically sophisticated yet easy-to-read appeal to bring our loved ones home now that I've read since the war began.

But don't trust this synopsis--read the book.
... Read more

Product Description
Leading scholars consider Iraq's history and strategic importance from the vantage point of its residents, neighbors (Iran, Turkey, and Kurdistan), and the Great Powers. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

A great book for young adults
How I Got This Book: The people at Haymarket were kind enough to send it to me. This did not affect my opinion or rating of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars

IraqiGirl is a compilation of blog posts written by an anonymous girl blogging her way through the Iraq War. She shares in her posts the horrors of the war and talks about her life as a teenager in Iraq. She speaks of the typical struggles of any teenager--worrying about exams, friendships, sibling rivalry, figuring out who she is-- but then within the next sentence she will relay an experience about drinking dirty water, a car bomb exploding near her house or the electricity only being on for four hours and you remember that this is not your typical coming of age story. Her voice is typical of that of any sixteen year old and her fears, hopes and dreams are heartbreaking and raw.

I very much enjoy memoirs and diaries as I enjoy learning about people. The thing I love about this book is that she was just writing for her own blog so there is an authentic and honest account of her life. It was not written with any other intention other than to share her life, hopes and dreams with whomever who read it. She was not paid to write this beforehand so it is real and does not contain nicely packaged life lessons.

Her story made my heart break. When she started this blog in 2004, I was going into my freshman year in college. I followed the happenings going on in Iraq and I felt compassionately for the innocent people who were in the middle of this war but will admit I really didn't think too much of it. There were two countries engaged in this war and yet I never felt any of the effects of it as this young girl did. The war was real to her everyday. The war was only real to me when I saw a report on the television or heard of someone whose loved ones were in Iraq and even then it wasn't the type of reality as waking up in the middle of the night to warplanes or mortars exploding. This account of the war--no matter what your feelings were about the war -- will force you to think about those who were caught in the middle of this. I think sometimes it is easy to think of war to be like the scenes of The Patriot or a movie like that where the two opposing forces walk towards each other in a battlefield that is void of any civilians. The fighting is contained to the battlefield. Today's wars are not like this. They are messy and uncontained.

This book was extremely eye-opening and it was interesting to read her story and "watch" her grow. She has alot of followers in the US who have read her blog from the beginning and have been able read about everything unfolding. I would recommend this book to anybody with an interest in learning about people from other cultures, the Iraq War or people who enjoy a good diary. The only things that kept this rating at 3.5 stars were the fact that it WAS a bunch of blog posts so at some points it was very scattered, random and mundane. Overall, it was very insightful and well worth the read. I finished it all in one day. I think it would be interesting for teachers to use in their classroom as there were interesting discussion questions afterward.

This book certainly made me appreciate my freedom and all the things I take forgranted in my daily life.

You can visit her blog at: [...]

Don't waste your money
I was disappointed that I wasted $10.00 on this book.It is a collection of blogs written by an Iraqi teenager over the course of 2 years while she lived in Mosul during some of the worst fighting in Iraq.Calling this a book is really a stretch.Although I am impressed by her grasp of English at such a young age and I think she was much more mature than her contemporaries in the U.S. and elsewhere given the situations she had to deal with on a daily basis.What I have the biggest problem with is that this book/her blogs are put out as truth.There were several times she claimed that American Soldiers killed people she knew.The only proof she had of this was heresay, and she didn't go into the circumstances leading up to these people's death.So in her writing it seemed to come across as U.S. Soldiers were just indiscriminately killing Iraqis (young & old) instead of setting up the situation that maybe these people were caught in the cross fire of a firefight between U.S. forces and insurgents.

Either way, I could respect her disdain and hatred of the American Soldiers if she showed the same contempt and hatred for the insurgents, terrorists and her fellow Iraqis who were participating in the sectarian violence that plaqued Iraq after Saddam's fall.Instead she would mention car bombs and the like but never ranted about the perpetrators of those acts.The book had a forward by an elderly fellow who had acted as a human shield at the beginning of the war (he wasn't Iraqi).So it started the book off with a feeling of anti-American rhetoric.The most disturbing thing to me was at the end of the book there is a timeline of events and on September 10, 2007, this book claims that the U.S. Military arrested an 8 year old girl in Mosul and that she was only released after many people protested outside of the builidng the was being held.

Now I'm a vet of the U.S. Air Force.I did not support the Iraq War nor am I a fan of G.W. Bush or his administration.So for people who may think I'm a conservative with an agenda, you'd be wrong.I just think that this book is a irresponsible.What she says in her blog is being put out as fact.If the book only dealt with her thoughts and feelings that would be one thing, but she spoke many times of political things she didn't know anything about and her stories were never corroborated with any reliable outside sources who may have witnessed the shootings or deaths she spoke of.

If you really want to read this, get it from your library and read it for free.

Provocative classroom reading
I highly recommend this book for U.S. educators, definitely from high school on but perhaps also for middle school.It's short, quite readable, and extremely powerful.On one level, students will be exposed to a perspective and narrative on the Iraq war/occupation that many of them do not know--and yet will find very accessible.On another, the fact that the book itself is the product of solidarity work between Iraqis and US antiwar activists will raise important questions about how relate to real-life situations of oppression.

I recently taught "IraqiGirl" in a graduate class in Postcolonial Studies, which led to some provocative discussions about Western representations of non-Western society, the process of editing, the medium of blogging, etc.The book is definitely useful in this setting, and forces graduate students to tie theoretical discussions with practical, real-life situations.I am excited, however, to try out "IraqiGirl" in future undergraduate classes where I expect students will engage more directly with Hadiya's voice and emotions.

An experience of life under war, as a member of an occupied nation
IRAQIGIRL comes from teen Hadiuya, blogging from her hometown of Mosul, Iraq to the world to reveal her daily life under military occupation of her country. It's more than just one girl's diary: it's an experience of life under war, as a member of an occupied nation, and offers observations, stories of changed lives, and ultimately an account of survival.

A Compelling First-Hand Account of the War in Iraq
On the one hand, you have to be ready for the format of this book.It is indeed a blog, with all the unevenness, brevity, and extemporaneity that this implies, especially when it comes from a teenager.On the other hand, this is a remarkable, personal account of the very human effects of war.Hadiya (the author) is in many ways so "normal," concerned with school, friends, her family, and watching the same t.v. shows as Americans.And yet her life is marked by explosions that shatter her windows, electricity that is off more often than not, thus impeding her studies, and by deaths of her family members and friends' relations.One salient point of this narrative is that, regardless of the large-scale politics and military tactics involved, the bottom line is that life is terribly interrupted and derogated for millions of people just trying to carry on with their lives.

Hadiya is quite an insightful and humorous writer, which makes the book enjoyable.She will mock herself and be playful in her posts.But also, her black humor indicates the very bleak conditions that never become quite normal for her.When her sister reads a book about time travel and says that she wants to live in the future, Hadiya writes, "Why would anyone want to live in the future since everything is only going to get worse?" (p. 158).One post she signs, "Your lost friend from where Iraq once was" (p. 137).Often, the political analysis that comes from a teenager is remarkable:"If it is getting better, then why don't we have water and oil while we live in a country of oil and we have two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates?We are in the third year of the war.Three years and the war does not end.So when you want to help the Iraqi people. don't send your cousins and sons to fight because they fight us not for us" (p. 74).

In sum, this book is well worth reading as a first-hand narrative of the effects of the Iraqi war upon those who have the war in their backyards and have not the luxury of distance. ... Read more

Product Description
The people of Iraq have suffered for more than a decade from the most severe sanctions ever imposed on any nation in history. United Nations’ sanctions against Iraq began in August 1990, as an attempt to force Iraq out of Kuwait. The contributors to this volume reveal why the sanctions regime has failed in its most basic aims, and ask serious questions about the real motivations of the powers involved -- notably the US and the UK.

The contributors explain how, if sanctions had been carefully applied, they could have worked. The massive bombing campaign of1991 destroyed Iraq's social infrastructure. Sanctions should have been modified to meet the post-Gulf War environment. Also, the US and the UK refused to agree that sanctions would be lifted if Iraq complied -- left with little incentive to disarm, it is not surprising that Saddam Hussein did not cooperate.

Why did the sanctions continue if they did not fulfill their avowed purpose? The contributors argue that the real motives of the US and the UK were much more complex: instead of revolving around violations of human rights, terrorism and nuclear weapons proliferation, sanctions may have had more to do with political powerbroking and the danger that Iraq and Iran presented to US hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East. Assessing these and other related questions, the contributors put forward the idea that the current sanctions against Iraq are illegal under international law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

If you care about your own kids, read this book
The future of our own kids is intimately tied to the future of the others' kids.

By killing the kids of others (either via the inevitable "collatoral damage" of war orsanctions which block essential infrastructure indispensible to life, we inevitable endanger rather than protect our own children.

It's that simple.

I contributed a chapter to "Iraq: the human cost of history" when I discovered declassified and unclassified documents of the U.S. government which showed that the government was aware and that using sanctions to prevent the rebuilding of the water system of Iraq would result in the agonizing deaths of huge number of Iraqi's especially children under the age of five.
But don't belive me, google the documents I cite at the Department of Defense's own website and read the documents yourself.

At first I did not believe the evidence myself, so I sought refuation by presenting two papers at the Dept. of Defense's prime ethics conference--JSCOPE. Only after hearing no plausible refutations did I feel obligated to write and speak out.

If you are mystified by the desperation of the Iraqi people, then read this book and use every peaceful means at your disposal to protect American service members, Iraqi children and your own children from the on-going horrors of the war/occupation.

Support our troops -- bring them home!

Safeguard all children --bring our troops home!

Thomas J. Nagy, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. (on leave for study)
George Washington University School of Business
Washington, D.C.
tom500k@yahoo.com
nagy@gwu.edu
home.gwu.edu/~nagy or just google Nagy Iraq water ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (35)

Contractors Love Fest
This being one of the first books out about PMCs,former army officer and writing nice things he knows he is going to get inside acsess to the armys dealing with PMCs. It is nicely writen and gives some idea how the military & PMCs work together. I worked as a PMC Force Protection Officer in Kuwait for a year 2004/2005 so I know some what also went on. But passed that he never went into any detail about the down side and troubles that the military had with PMCs. I saw a little of it myself from PMCs having I am better then you because I get lot more money then & I am above the law attitude. And the military members thinking Why do I have to lisen to you your just some civilvian. To PMCs detesting each other because my company is better then your company.
The book is a great sourse of which companys work Iraq/Kuwait. If you read this book then read"BIG BOY RULES" next,it will some of the stories in A Bloody Business to greater light. Just do not read this book as what is going on with PMCs.If you want to get a job as a PMC then the companies list will help.But take note about that, some of those companies are no longer around(fly by night).

Private Security-Iraq
The book seems to reinforce the assumption those in the private security business are totally professional, well trained and in Iraq, in part, to serve the cause.

This is not the fact.Although, there were many who were former military members with 11B experience, there were many others who had absolutely no experience in the security business, let alone working in a combat zone.

The author correctly notes one of the Cresent team members was a "cage fighter", hardly the experience and/or background for security work in Iraq.

The real blame for the debacle reference security issues in Iraq was the Bush Administration and the Rumsfelt "crew" who failed to anticipate fundamental alternatives to what turned into a major insurgency.

The book failed to note that most or all convoys in Iraq are supposed to be managed..that said, each is supposed to notify the military of traffic for the purpose of maintaining some semblance of coordination within theater.Cresent was abhorrent with managing their convoy security in conjunction with agreed rules of the road.The author failed to note that "Wolf" who was the manager of Cresent was killed (shot in the head) by US forces thinking it was one the "bad guys" on the road at night.An incident of "blue on blue" that did not have to happen.Note the weapons on the cover..all AK-47 assault weapons of 7.62 caliber.When US forces hear the distinct sound of an AK, they immediately "go to guns" knowing it is the only weapon the "bad guys" use...hence, magnifying the "friend or foe" component to the safety issue a thousand times.

And lastly, there was no mention of the kidnapping of four Cresent security personnel near the Kuwait-Iraq border.All four were horrifically mutilated with several beheaded. The kidnapping was on the MSR (main supply route) going north to Anaconda.

The only company that had US Army convoy security was KBR, former a subsidiary of Halliburtan whose president was formerly Vice President Dick Chaney.Perhaps if the military had more personnel..or perhaps if the Bush Administration had not totally dismantled the Iraq military..the Cresent security personnel kidnapped and killed..plus a multitude of others would still be alive today.

But, overall the book provides the reader with insights unknown to the person who may not of experienced Iraq...like many of us did/2005.

Interesting, but too much Message
This book had tons of information and great stories but it also had almost 3 pages of political jargon at the start of each chapter. If you can wade through the "commercials" for private contracting you will enjoy this book.

A Balanced, Objective Account
While Jeremy Schall's book on Blackwater is very well reported and informative, it is infused with anti-contractor bias, whereas Schumacher's account allows for the necessity of contractors to the military to fill voids left by U.S. (and other Western countries') policy.Pelton's book, while it contains some anti-contractor bias, is exciting and the best of the lot in my view.

An interesting read on the PMC world
A Bloody Business looks at the world of the Private Military Contractor from the inside out. Col. Schumacher's views on the PMC and the niche that they occupy in the world of security are made fairly evident in the first chapter. He sees the contractor as the "redheaded stepchild" that performs an important and valuable taskyet recieves no respect for carrying it out.
Schumacher's organization of the prose sometimes left me wanting. I found myself constantly saying "so what?" through out the reading. I would like him to have spelled out his point a little more. That being said, the Colonel's chapter on the trucking contractors was compelling to say the least. The journalistic style during this chapter really brings an interesting question to the forefront; What are we to do if civilians are killed in a combat zone? Why are they there in the first place? These questions unfortunately do not the space they deserve in the book, however the overall information that the Colonel provides makes it worthwhile. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

“They come from across the globe: former special forces soldiers from Britain, the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and every country on the European mainland. There are Gurkhas from the Himalayan foothills and Fijians from the South Sea Islands. There are men who learned their skills with the Japanese antiterrorist paramilitaries and many from southern Africa. There was even one guy who’d served in the Chinese People’s Army and Chilean commandos and Sri Lankan antiterrorist experts who joined the mercenary gold rush to Iraq. They don’t share a common ideology or common loyalty, but what they do share is a thirst for adventure and a hunger for big bucks; Iraq is the one place they are certain to find both…”

For the first time a private military contractor delivers a frontline report on life as a hired gun in Iraq.
 
“Anyone entering Iraq must travel the road from Amman to Baghdad along the Fallujah bypass and around the Ramadi Ring Road. It’s the most dangerous trunk route in the world, used as a personal fairground shooting gallery by insurgents and Islamists with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs. For newcomers to the country it’s terrifying – but hell only really begins when that first journey ends…”
 
Amidst the ongoing controversy over the widespread employment of private military contractors in Iraq, Highway to Hell is a mercenary’s graphic, first-person exposé of life in “the second biggest army in Iraq.” Not since the days when the East India Company used soldiers of fortune to depose fabulously wealthy maharajas and conquer India for Great Britain, and mercenaries fought George Washington’s Continental Army for King George, has such a large and lethal independent fighting force been assembled. Hired to do everything from securing American bases and supply routes to guarding the thousands of government officials, executives, aid workers, journalists, and other civilians now populating the Middle East’s most notorious target range, today’s clandestine soldiers of fortune earn up to $1,000 a day, while remaining almost entirely immune from government oversight, military authority, or Iraqi law

John Geddes, a former warrant officer in Britain’s elite SAS and veteran of several wars, became a private military contractor in Iraq immediately following President George W. Bush's declaration of the end of hostilities in early May 2003. In Highway to Hell Geddes gives an unsparing account of his harrowing, often bloody, and occasionally absurd adventures in the wild west of Iraq. After a chaotic chase on the Ramadi Ring Road, he takes out insurgents with a sniper rifle (while nursing the mother of all hangovers). He provides security to a cameraman during to a shootout on the rooftop of a Baghdad hotel alongside Kalashnikov-wielding Iraqi waiters (and accepts a marriage proposal that is almost drowned out by RPG fire). He witnesses American contractors shooting and pushing other vehicles off the road first and asking questions later (or, rather, not at all). From rushing a TV crew into the mayhem of a suicide bombing’s aftermath to accompanying an oil executive to a meeting in the heart of darkness of Sadr City, Geddes presents a stunning, chilling inside look at the face of contemporary warfare.

Customer Reviews (14)

COUPLE OF GUYS FROM GOOSE GREEN
GREAT BOOK..a must read for all my fellow americans..Years ago I crossed paths with John in South America.. great guy and alot of fun to be around..this book mentions another SAS guy Mike Curtis who also wrote a book "CQB"..I would recommend both books as companion reading for following British Affairs from Falkland Islands to Northern Ireland to Bosnia via Latin America and ending on the streets of Baghdad.. I can sit back with a cold beer and let these guys do all the dangerous work..

Could not put it down!!
I read Highway to Hell in July of 2010. I picked this book up at 4:30 in the afternoon and skipped dinner to finish it.John Geddes gives us a very real first hand account of The risks and rewards of being a lone PMC in Iraq during wartime.The book describes with great detail the emotion,fear,and physical strain that would stalk you on a daily basis in that setting. Great Read if you like War and Reality!!!

Military Contractor Perspective
I am strongly anti-war.With that said, I admit that I still enjoyed the book even though it had a pro-military, pro-war slant.The reason I found the book informative even though it was pro-war was the author was more independent minded than most in the military I have come across.Leftists seem to like the idea of UN "Peacekeepers" instead of traditional troops.Perhaps if they were better informed by this book they would realize that UN troops have committed war atrocities like the mass rape of women and children as well as looting and theft.I was amazed by chapter 14 entitled "Blackwater".The author discussed an incident in Iraq where Blackwater contractors ran over a small child then drove off.This episode and others like it caused the author to say: "I found that the bad feelings against Blackwater employees was one of the few points of common ground for people on all sides."It is rare indeed for a pro-US military contractor to admit that the private contractors known as Blackwater are thugs.I suspect this is why some readers gave this book a low rating.While the book allowed me to gain a perspective on war that I was not previously exposed to I still can't give the book more than 4stars (out of 5) because the book does push a pro-war agenda.

Read it!
A wonderful book.The other reviews pretty much cover it but I want to emphasis that the author gets high marks in my book for his honesty.He tells it EXACTLY like he sees it, the good, the bad, and the not so good.He's a straight shooter in every respect, and that makes this a valuable book for anyone looking for insight into what it's really like "over there".

Great book on Iraq conflict !!
This book is nothing less than great. I can't believe I have not reviewed this book yet. I read it about a year ago. The book gets going and doesn't stop. Here are some things you can expect:

- No clear delineation between "friend" and "foe". Sometimes, the good guys (American mercs) are actually the bad guys (particularly Blackwater)

- Clueless western "tourists" who bumble around Iraq and sometimes get their heads chopped off

- Car shootouts like in the movie "Matrix 2"

- Drinking in the hotel bar and comradeship

- Crazy Brits
- Crazy Americans
- Crazy Iraqis

- Why PTSD is overrated

- Humor in the midst of the worst situations

- Religious nutjobs (and he means the Americans, not the jihadists)

- What probably happened to Saddam's WMDs.

Great, great book. ... Read more

Product Description
The revelatory volumes of Iraq, 1990-2006: A Diplomatic History through Documents detail the diplomatic saga involving Iraq and the international community from 1990 to 2006. Volume I covers the start of the Gulf War to the eve of the September 11 attacks. Volume II takes the reader from the shock of 9/11 to the prelude to the Iraq War. Volume III stretches from March 20, 2003, the first day of the Iraq War, to the formation of the Iraqi government in April 2006. Compiled over the span of more than fifteen years, the diverse set of speeches, statements, transcripts, letters, resolutions, and other primary source documents that comprise this 4,000-plus-page collection includes Iraqi, other Arab, and European documents that are usually overlooked in the English-language press. Insightful introductions to the three volumes are authored by David Kay, former U.N. arms inspector and head of the Iraq Survey Group; Andrew Parasilliti, former foreign policy adviser to Senator Chuck Hagel; and noted Mideast expert Kenneth Pollack. ... Read more

Product Description
Why did a group from the Iraqi army seize control of the government and wage a disastrous war against Great Britain, rejecting British and liberal values for those of a militaristic Germany? What impact did these actions have on the regime of Saddam Hussein?
Departing from previous studies explaining modern Iraqi history in terms of class theory, Simon shows that cultural and ideological factors played an equal, if not more important, role in shaping events. In 1921 the British created Iraq, and an entourage of ex-Ottoman army officers, the Sharifians, became the new ruling elite. Simon contends that this elite, returning to an Iraq made up of different ethnic, religious, and social groups, had to weld these disparate elements into a nation. Pan-Arabism was to be the new focus for loyalty. Schools and the army became the means through which to implement it, and a series of military coups gave the officers the chance to act out the ideology. The result was an abortive revolt against Britain in 1941. The legacy of the revolt is still apparent in the next two generations of Iraqi officers that led to the regime of Saddam Hussein. ... Read more

Product Description

This new handbook provides an introduction to current sociological and behavioral research on the effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan represent two of the most interesting and potentially troubling events of recent decades. These two wars-so similar in their beginnings-generated different responses from various publics and the mass media; they have had profound effects on the members of the armed services, on their families and relatives, and on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Analyzing the effect of the two wars on military personnel and civilians, this volume is divided into four main parts:

Part I: War on the Ground: Combat and Its Aftermath

Part II: War on the Ground: Non-Combat Operations, Noncombatants, and Operators

Part III: The War Back Home: The Social Construction of War, Its Heroes, And Its Enemies                                                                                                                         

Part IV: The War Back Home: Families and Youth on the Home Front

With contributions from leading academic sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, military researchers, and researchers affiliated with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), this Handbook will be of interest to students of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, military sociology and psychology, war studies, anthropology, US politics, and of youth.

Steven Carlton-Ford is associate professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati. He recently served for five years as the editor of Sociological Focus.

Morten G. Ender is professor of sociology and Sociology Program Director at West Point, the United States Military Academy. He is the author of American Soldiers in Iraq (Routledge 2009).