With suppliers like this who needs enemies?

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed with Secret "Jesus" Bible Codes.

"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

General defends court martial for pregnant soldiers

Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour M. Hersh

Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour M. Hersh is a collection of Hersh's columns from the New Yorker. As the subtitle would suggest most of them are on the War on Terror. As well as the scandal around Abu Ghraib. Each column is introduced with updates up to 2004 when the book was published. When these first came out they were earth shattering but now they have seemingly fated into the backround. If you've been following the story over the last several years there isn't much that isn't referenced by everybody else. It's still interesting to be reading the columns that broke the news.

Recommended.

War Reporting for Cowards by Chris Ayres

War Reporting for Cowards by Chris Ayres an often amusing account of Ayres experiences in the invasion of Iraq in 03. The narrative starts out in London then quickly shifts to New York where Ayres experienced the 9/11 attacks. He transfers to Los Angeles which is where he is offered a post as an embedded reporter. He's A hypochondriac with some anxiety issues. The best section is the war reporting itself. The Marines he was with tolerated him for the most part. An interesting look at modern war through a very uneducated observer. Ayres journey from cowered to something else is touching in its own way.

Recommended!

It was only a matter of time

Iraqi footballer shot dead by fan

Nice to see

Iraq's National Museum reopened

Cindy in Iraq: A Civilian's Year in the War Zone by Cynthia I. Morgan

Cindy in Iraq: A Civilian's Year in the War Zone by Cynthia I. Morgan is the authors memoirs of her time in Iraq as a civilian truck driver. Morgan who decided on this course of action after her most recent husband tried to kill her seems to have somewhat of a death wish although she never really comes out and says it. Most of the book is taken up with descriptions of day today supply missions in southern Iraq. Interestingly enough most convoys are attacked with nothing more dangerous than rocks.

Now as readers of this blog may have noticed I'm a rather cynical soul but I can't help being rather inspired by Morgan's story. Particularly as she is sexually assaulted while in Iraq and still manages to achieve her mission.

The office politics she describes scene even more absurd and pathetic considering they are happening in the middle of a war zone. The contractor and by extension the lack of oversight from the US government look particularly bad.

Highly recommended although not for the squeamish something different from the occupation.

Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century edited by Eric L. Haney and Brian M. Thomsen

Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century edited by Eric L. Haney and Brian M. Thomsen is a very hit and miss selection of essays on current American doctrine debates. The section on the history of technology centric high tempo fighting is interesting. The section on Iraq is a decent enough summary. If you're new to the debate then you'll learn something if you've been paying attention you probably won't. The section on the future of warfare is rather silly. Rather strange for there to be criticisms throughout the history and current affairs section of technology centric doctrine then to have future analysis based around technology. There's also a essay defending the Bush administration's military tribunals and giving suggestions on how they can appear to be more just as opposed to you know actually being just.

Not recommended!

Iraq Through A Bullet Hole: A Civilian Returns Home by Issam Jameel

Iraq Through A Bullet Hole: A Civilian Returns Home by Issam Jameel is a short book on the authors experiences when he returned to Iraq in 2005. Jameel a playwright emigrated to Australia during the reign of Saddam Hussein. It's not really clear why he decided to return. If he was looking for a job or just visiting. He couch surfs and gets into religious debates with his family members. He converted to Christianity. The final section of the book is a trip to the Kurdish north where he tries to regain control of a home he purchased in the early 90s.

The narrative is clear and readable. Pictures and some explanatory notes are included. There's nothing terribly profound here but it is still an interesting perspective on Iraqi society and the American occupation, not a major work but for someone with a pre-existing interest.

Recommended.

Note:This book was provided through Librarything's early review program.

With Every Mistake by Gwynne Dyer

With Every Mistake by Gwynne Dyer is an edited collection of columns from between 2001 and 2005. Dyer an expatriate Canadian writes on current affairs, international relations, history and the environment. Each selection is prefaced with an update as well as some notes on his state of mind as he wrote the column..

There is quite a bit of self-flagellation about his inability to discern neoconservative strategy quicker. This concerns the run-up to the Iraq war and the nonsensical claims of weapons of mass destruction. He does seem to be a little too hard on himself after all no one else connected the dots either. Hindsight being perfect sometimes makes it difficult to figure out just what we knew at the time.

Dyer is somewhat of an iconoclast He argues that terrorism is really not that bad. More people die of automobile accidents every year. Israel will have to make concessions. The North Koreans aren't crazy. I tend to hold opinions like these so I enjoyed it. If you don't your mileage will vary. There is a very interesting section on media ownership and how this can stifle different perspectives. His columns were tossed out of various newspapers for their perceived bias.

Highly recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

The Secret History of the Iraq War by Yossef Bodansky

The Secret History of the Iraq War by Yossef Bodansky. There are very few books that I will abandon midway through. This is one of them. I knew I was in for a rough ride when on the first page Bodansky gives a completely unsupported timeline for Iraq's WMD program. He thinks it existed all the way up to 2003. It gets stranger from their. Saddam gave the Palestinians chemical weapons. Iraq, Iran, the Palestinians and Egypt were about to attack Israel to preempt the American invasion. Sure they were. Of course no one actually is willing to go on the record discussing this barroom fantasy, fearing torture! Avoid like the plague. Garbage simply garbage.

Run in the opposite direction!

Is available through Abebooks if you'd like some BS.




For more Iraq book reviews take a look at My Iraq bookshelf.

The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual Forewords by John A. Nagl, David H. Petraeus, James F. Amos

The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual Forewords by John A. Nagl, David H. Petraeus, James F. Amos this is the current manual published by Chicago press. The introductory material contains a discussion of American policy or lack thereof as well as a description of the writing process well worth the cost of the book. The manual itself is what one would expect. The British school of counterinsurgency seems to have strongly influenced this. There's some not very subtle criticisms of the strategy used in the Vietnam War. I wouldn't recommend reading at cover to cover its rather hard going rather a thematic chapter at a time could be easier. No counterinsurgency or Iraq bookshelf would be complete without this.

Highly recommended!

For more reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition by Robert W. Merry

Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition by Robert W. Merry Is an analysis of American foreign policy and history. Merry argues that there's been several streams of thought in American foreign policy they are the idea of progress which led to Francis Fukuyama's end of history thesis, liberalism interventionism championed by Woodrow Wilson, the neoconservatives basically imperialists and finally Huntington's clash of civilizations. The analysis is actually pretty good discussing various obscure theorists and nicely in capsulizing their arguments. The problem is when we get to the discussion of real-world events.

Merry believes in the clashe of civilizations. Which leads to some bizarre conclusions. One of the large sections of the book is on the Balkans. According to the author NATO and the United States should not have been involved and if anything should have been much more supportive of the Serbs. Merry does acknowledge the war crimes but does not seem to comprehend the level of outrage they produced in the US and Western Europe. Going forward America should support anybody as long as they are willing to suppress Islamist forces. Funny I think that's what got them into this mess in the first place. Saudi Arabia should be ignored instead Iran should be cultivated. There's no reference to the Israeli position on this. The book concludes with some ranting about Islamic immigration.

It's too bad first 100 pages were superb.

Recommended for the discussion of the different positions except for the clash of civilizations which is not dealt with in a particularly evenhanded way.

Is available through Abebooks.

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr is an excellent description of the historical background to the conflict of the Shia and Sunnis. Most of the book discusses Iraq but reference is also made to other areas in the Middle East particularly Iran and Saudi Arabia. Considering that President Bush apparently can't keep the two groups straight this is exactly the sort of book that American decisionmakers need to be reading. The challenge of the Shia is something that the Americans will have to deal with in the war on terror.

Highly recommended!

For more Iraq book reviews take a look at My Iraq bookshelf.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran is a history of the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority]. This is a catalog of the various fiascoes and disasters that took place from the fall of Baghdad to June 28, 2004. The one overpowering flaw was that staffing was done on an ideological litmus test. Democrats need not apply. Unfortunately this pretty much destroyed the chance of getting competent people in. Those that were competent were unable to function. There was never an attempt to deal with the big picture mainly security everything was micromanaged. For instance import controls on cars were removed without realizing that there was not enough gasoline refining capacity. This is a superb book..

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.


For more Iraq book reviews take a look at My Iraq bookshelf.

For reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

Superb US soldiers blog from Iraq

Truly excellent stuff, Army of Dude.

Battle Ready by Tom Clancy with Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz

Battle Ready by Tom Clancy with Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz is the memoirs of General Tony Zinni USMC Retired the American soldier probably most famous for being write about the troop levels needed in post-Saddam Iraq. Zinni was an adviser to a South Vietnamese Marine unit in Vietnam where he was badly wounded from their he moved through various posts in the United States Marine Corps's ranks. Perhaps most interesting was his time running a security detachment on Okinawa [a US base at the time] at the height of the racial troubles in the 1970s. He was involved in the protection of the Kurds after the first gulf war as well as the American involvement in Somalia. He would eventually lead Central Command during the late 1990s then attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

The book seems to be based on oral interviews that Clancy ties together. This makes it rather disjointed. The narrative will stop for several first-person remarks from Zinni in italics then continue. The book seems almost like a PR exercise at times. We're being constantly told how outspoken he was but there really isn't anything controversial. He seems to have been on the "winning" side of most arguments.

He glosses over incidents such as the mistaken attack on a pharmaceuticals manufacturer after the US embassy bombings. Shrugging it off by saying it was good intelligence. We don't really learn much about him personally. There isn't even the often brief discussions of wife and family that are normal for military memoirs.

The last 20 pages lays out his perspectives on low-intensity conflict as well as future threats and the necessary changes the military will have to go through. This is excellent I only wish it could have been more of the book.

Recommended with caveats.

Is available through Abebooks.

Harry is not going

So Harry is not going. Can't say I'm shocked with the decision or the rhetoric. "It was the media's fault". So why exactly did they waste all that time and money if he was just going to patrol a desk somewhere.?

Saddam's Iraq like today's Iraq for doctors anyway

According to this Washington Post story the current Iraqi administration in their infinite wisdom has started refusing to give out diplomas and transcripts to prevent doctors from leaving the country. This is something Saddam did.

Nouri al-Maliki is really getting desperate. I rather doubt this will have much effect. Apparently most refugees from Iraq aren't exactly doing white-collar jobs in their new country's anyway. But here are the statistics from the Iraqi Medical Association that were in the article.

The Iraqi Medical Association, with which all physicians must register to practice, estimates that at least one-third of the country's 40,000 or so doctors have fled to Jordan, Syria and other countries. Waleed Khalid, the association's vice president, said the organization issues 30 to 50 "certificates of good standing" to Iraqi physicians every day -- forms that any doctor must have to work abroad, he said.

Interesting historical note. One of the final attempts of the Roman Empire in the West to hang on was to attempt to stop people from changing jobs. Suffice it to say it didn't work.

15 months

Just watch Defense Secretary Robert Gates's news conference on CNN. The armshare strategist in me says that unit familiarity with the local situation can only be good but man this is going to play havoc with recruitment and retention. It also makes me wonder about unit effectiveness. Something there hasn't been much research done for counterinsurgency. Most have been done on fixed deployments. Algeria had a combination of both but there were political variables that makes the analysis pretty difficult. It has not been easy to get numbers for recruitment and retention recently wonder why.