Blackwater was the most notorious private contractor of the Global War on Terror. It provided security for State Department personnel in Iraq as they attempted to rebuild the country. In this scathingly honest memoir, Morgan Lerette, an Army and Air Force veteran, details the truth of working as a Blackwater contractor in Iraq. For eighteen months in 2004 and '05, his days were filled with harrowing danger or mind-numbing tedium. Nights were raunchy parties with a cast of characters and antics to rival the most raucous frat house. The contractors had one goal: to survive. Some didn't. For others like Lerette, Blackwater proved a maturing experience that underscored the inhumanity of war. Writing with deft irony and dark humor, Lerette pulls back the curtain on the Blackwater myth to reveal a tale that is alternately laugh-out-loud absurd and cry-your-eyes-out sad as he navigates this pivotal chapter in his life and contemporary history.

Since the fall of Bagdad, women’s voices have been largely erased, but four months after Saddam Hussein’s statue fell, a 24 year-old woman from Baghdad began blogging. In 2003, a twenty-four-year-old woman from Baghdad began blogging about life in the city under the pseudonym Riverbend. Her passion, honesty, and wry idiomatic English made her work a vital contribution to our understanding of post-war Iraq—and won her a large following. Baghdad Burning is a quotidian chronicle of Riverbend’s life with her family between April 2003 and September of 2004. She describes rolling blackouts, intermittent water access, daily explosions, gas shortages and travel restrictions. She also expresses a strong stance against the interim government, the Bush administration, and Islamic fundamentalists like Al Sadr and his followers. Her book “offers quick takes on events as they occur, from a perspective too often overlooked, ignored or suppressed” (Publishers Weekly). “Riverbend is bright and opinionated, true, but like all voices of dissent worth remembering, she provides an urgent reminder that, whichever governments we struggle under, we are all the same.” —Booklist “Feisty and learned: first-rate reading for any American who suspects that Fox News may not be telling the whole story.” —Kirkus

The Iraq War has unleashed such a torrent of opinion - impassioned polemic, neo-con apologia, world-weary cynicism - that it feels like the important truths are being lost in a media feeding-frenzy. Eliot Weinberger eschews the rehtoric of the soapbox in an extraordinary montage of facts, sound bites and testimonies. He assembles an uncompromising and blackly comic narrative, which permits the voices of the war to speak for themselves, and allows the protagonists to damn themselves in their own words. This pocket-sized volume is vast in scope, a work unlike any other you have read on Iraq, which finds an unexpected eloquence in its refusal to join in the facile grand-standing and selective amnesia of so much contemporary commentary.

A thoughtful and timely discussion contemporary war literature and films.

From a political, economic and social perspective, what happens in Iraq will have to be closely watched by the countries in the Gulf Region and the broader Middle East. If Iraq becomes a stable, prosperous democracy, it could potentially exert a powerful and positive influence upon the region. However, if Iraq descends into chaos, the consequences would most certainly be disastrous. It is evident that events in Iraq will impact its neighbors. Internal security and stability are the sine qua non of Iraqi reconstruction. It is, however, contended that the need for specialist skills in basic infrastructure services, such as policing and machinery repair, supercede that of military armament. Only, security is a prerequisite to entice foreign capital, as in institutional stability and transparency. Meanwhile, sabotage continues to exacerbate the situation and delay reconstruction. Large oil companies have made it clear that they seek stabilization and a legitimate Iraqi government that has the mandate and longevity to sign long-term agreements. They also seek clarity on Iraqi fiscal plans. With the gradual opening of Iraq's oil industry, companies will be looking to Iraq to allocate funds. Thereby, competition should increase. Accordingly, OPEC will eventually need to revisit their strategy. Sovereignty, legitimacy, authority, accountability, and Iraqi national interests are, thus far, only theories and aspirations. Short term tactical goals differ from long term strategic gains. It remains to be seen which and what will prevail. Of all the unknown, Iraq will presumably remain somewhat divided along sectarian lines. Shiite Islamist parties stand a very good chance of achieving political dominance in Iraq. Then again, the rule of law and civil society institutions may take root, setting a precedent. Thereby, two principal scenarios could unfold in the Gulf region. One may lead to a peaceful environment of cooperation and progress, which would foster a reduction in regional defense expenditures and a greater focus on trade and economic development. Another scenario would be a continued environment of insecurity and tension. This hinges mainly upon the decision whether Iran opts to develop a nuclear weapons program. This would likely draw the Gulf states towards further military mobilization and escalation. In this event, Iraq may eventually build a huge modern army and attempt to acquire a nuclear capability of its own.

A war against Iraq will spur radical changes in the way the country is governed, how its people live, and its relationship to its neighbours and to the West. This book depicts the evolution of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and describes each side's battle plan and the war's likely aftermath.

What do we owe Iraq? America is up to its neck in nation building--but the public debate, focused on getting the troops home, devotes little attention to why we are building a new Iraqi nation, what success would look like, or what principles should guide us. What We Owe Iraq sets out to shift the terms of the debate, acknowledging that we are nation building to protect ourselves while demanding that we put the interests of the people being governed--whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, or elsewhere--ahead of our own when we exercise power over them. Noah Feldman argues that to prevent nation building from turning into a paternalistic, colonialist charade, we urgently need a new, humbler approach. Nation builders should focus on providing security, without arrogantly claiming any special expertise in how successful nation-states should be made. Drawing on his personal experiences in Iraq as a constitutional adviser, Feldman offers enduring insights into the power dynamics between the American occupiers and the Iraqis, and tackles issues such as Iraqi elections, the prospect of successful democratization, and the way home. Elections do not end the occupier's responsibility. Unless asked to leave, we must resist the temptation of a military pullout before a legitimately elected government can maintain order and govern effectively. But elections that create a legitimate democracy are also the only way a nation builder can put itself out of business and--eventually--send its troops home. Feldman's new afterword brings the Iraq story up-to-date since the book's original publication in 2004, and asks whether the United States has acted ethically in pushing the political process in Iraq while failing to control the security situation; it also revisits the question of when, and how, to withdraw.