Aaron Glantz is a reporter for Pacifica Radio. He has just written a remarkable new book,
How America Lost Iraq. Here is a
link at Amazon (where I also include a longer review). People have been posting a lot about a the new conservative "most dangerous books list," but it's worth keeping in mind that some very interesting reads are coming out right now. Anyway, this book just blew me away.
(More below the fold)
Basically, the book is a first-hand account of Glantz's experiences in Iraq over a two year period (with occasional visits back to the US). It tells how his own attitudes toward the Iraq occupation evolved over that time, and gives you an opportunity to hear the voices of a wide range of ordinary Iraqis. Although very skeptical of the Bush Administration's reasons for invading Iraq, he also recognizes that Saddam's reign was in many ways a reign of terror and that the American occupation could make positive change possible. As he tells his filmaker friend, James, shortly after the invasion
"It's still early. If I were George Bush, I would be putting every cent into fixing the electric grid and the telephone grid. If America could get this country to function again, people might love them enough that they would elect a pro-American government." (35)
However, nearly year later in the lead up to Fallujah, things had changed. James is unable to film because both he and the people he is interviewing for his film are being threatened. James goes into what Glantz describes as a "rant," but now the author is less inclined to defend US actions:
"The failure to prevent looting, the failue to protect civilian infrastructure, the failure to understand Iraqui cultural norms, the rounding up of whole failies and sending them to Abu Ghraib, and so mch more. Now, because of this long list of failure, I can't work anymore. I blame America!"
A year before, I would have agreed with James, urging patience with the occupation, suggesting that maybe the situation would improve. I would have argued that the former regime's brutality could not be swept aside without some death and destruction. But now, James got no argument from me. Everything I had worried about in the early days of the occupation had come to pass. A year into the occupation, the streets were still unsafe and there was still only electricity a few hours a day. Most of the water in the country was still dirty. Hospital officials complained that they hadn't received regular deliveries of medicine in months. There was no doubt that, on a functional level, the country had worked better under Saddam Hussein. (187)
The frustration of James at being unable to work, the frustration of the Iraqis at poverty, unemployment, inadequate services and degrading and inhumane treatment, and Glantz's own frustration at the inability of authorities and media to listen to the Iraqi people make for a very powerful read. Whether you recommend this diary or not, check out the book.