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Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
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Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Vintage) |
Our readers are doubtless already familiar with the allegation that the Bush Administration made an epic mess of Iraq. But what exactly did they do wrong? Rajiv Chandrasekaran explores this in his account of the year and a bit immediately after the invasion, when the country was officially occupied.
Continue reading "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 03:27 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
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Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone |
Imperial Life in the Emerald City is a detailed account of life in the Green Zone after the Iraq invasion. As one might expect from title alone, much of the book is spent describing poor decisionmaking by hilariously incompetent political appointees. However, author Rajiv Chandrasekaran acknowledges that the CPA wasn't entirely staffed by green 20-something Republicans. Experienced post-conflict veterans, while highly competent, were often stymied by bureaucracy, inter-agency squabbling, lack of resources and overly optimistic commitments made by Bremer and the White House.
Continue reading "Imperial Life in the Emerald City"
Posted by eerie at 06:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II
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Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity After World War II |
While not technically a Middle East book, this recently-published study contains material that should be of interest to those who are attuned to one particular factor which has been generating increased interest in the region: the presence and behavior of US military forces. Dr. Conway-Lanz's original research looks at the evolution of American popular attitudes towards civilian causalties in warfare, going as far back as the time of the extensive aerial bombardments of World War II, which climaxed in the nuclear attacks on Japan. Because American public opinion and military behavior are likely to have decisive roles in ongoing Mideast regional issues of war, peace, and development (whether or not one is happy about that), persons with area-interest in the Middle East would be well served to consider and evaluate the content of this work.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A History of Iraq
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A History of Iraq |
This book looks at events in Iraq from the end of the Ottoman era to just before the country's invasion. Among the recurring (and very relevant) themes of the book are the causes and consequences of the historical Sunni dominance of Iraq as a whole and the officer corps of the army in particular, the vertical cleavages between Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds, the importance of tribal affiliations, the role of the Shia clerics in leading opposition to the government, and Shia and Kurdish demands for autonomy. The book also has some explanations for why Saddam's regime turned out to be the way it was. It's well-written and worth a read for anyone interested in Iraq. It also serves as a reminder that there can be no quick fixes in the country.
Posted by dubaiwalla at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied
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Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied |
This could almost be classified under social history, insomuch as it details how the peculiar brand of British bigotry of the time (a 'noble savage'-style preference for tribal chieftains over Ottoman-educated burecrats) undermined the social and institutional fabric of the Mandate they were charged with developing. Revealingly parallels recent (and admittedly arguable) American political blunders (de-Baathification for instance) with those of the post-WWI era.
Posted by Tamerlane at 07:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Shi'is of Iraq
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The Shi'is of Iraq |
Indispensable volume (in concert with a couple of political histories like Toby Dodge's) for those wanting to come to grips with the situation in Iraq. I haven't read the most current volume, which apparently adds a (reportedly somewhat ephemeral) chapter on the current situation, but for the most part this is a social history of the Shi'i community from the 19th century (when it started out as a minority, a situation that altered as a major demographic shift from a predominantly nomadic to a mostly settled society took place) through the mid-twentieth.
Posted by Tamerlane at 07:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
