Sunday, August 12, 2007

George Packer.
The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 2005.

Book information: publisher, Amazon.com.
(Note: The publisher has also prepared a Reading Group Guide [PDF] for this book. When printing pages 2 and 3 I recommend you turn off color printing; there is something wrong with those pages of the document in the version I downloaded. I have not use the Guide.)

Since the publication of The Assassins' Gate, Packer has published additional articles in The New Yorker that I think should be considered additional chapters of the book. They are:

The Assassins' Gate is an excellent survey of the Iraq quagmire and complements (does not overlap) other books such as Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III and Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. I finished reading Packer's book more than a month ago; I delayed this post to finish reading Packer's New Yorker articles and in the meantime was distracted by reading other books. It seems unlikely that I will soon get around to reading the longer counterinsurgency items and government reports listed below.

Some Book Reviews:

George Packer and Some of His New Yorker Articles:

Counterinsurgency:

United States Government Reports:

PBS Frontline Documentaries:
  • Index to programs: Reports by Year, PBS Frontline.
  • Endgame, PBS Frontline, 19 June 2007.
    Program descriptions:
    "What went wrong, and why, in America's tragically failed effort to find a strategy for success in Iraq.

    As the United States begins one final effort to secure victory through a 'surge' of troops, FRONTLINE investigates how strategic and tactical mistakes brought Iraq to civil war. The film recounts how the early mandate to create the conditions for a quick exit of the American military led to chaos, failure, and sectarian strife. In Endgame, producer Michael Kirk (Rumsfeld's War, The Torture Question, The Dark Side, and The Lost Year in Iraq) traces why the president decided to risk what military planners once warned could be the worst way to fight in Iraq -- door-to-door -- and assesses the likelihood of its success. Top administration figures, military commanders, and journalists offer inside details about the new strategy."
  • Webchat with Michael Kirk, WashingtonPost.com, 20 June 2007.
  • Frontline's Shocking Exposé of Iraq War Endgame Strategy, DailyKos.com, 20 June 2007.
  • The Lost Year in Iraq, PBS Frontline, 17 October 2006.
    Program descriptions:
    "They came to rebuild and bring democracy, but soon were hardened by the postwar realities. WHen it came time to leave, they left behind lawlessness, insurgency and economic collapse.

    In the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein, a group of Americans led by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III set off to Baghdad to build a new nation and establish democracy in the Arab Middle East. One year later, with Bremer forced to secretly exit what some have called 'the most dangerous place on earth,' the group left behind lawlessness, insurgency, economic collapse, death, destruction--and much of their idealism. Three years later, as the U.S. continues to look for an exit strategy, the government the Americans helped create and the infrastructure they designed are being tested. FRONTLINE Producer Michael Kirk follows the early efforts and ideals of this group as they tried to seize control and disband the Iraqi police, army and Baathist government--and how they became hardened along the way to the realities of postwar Iraq. The Lost Year in Iraq is based on numerous first-person interviews and extensive documentation from the FRONTLINE team that produced Rumsfeld's War, The Torture Question and The Dark Side."

    Reviews the "reigns" of Jay Garner and Paul Bremer in post-invasion Iraq, April 2003 - June 2004.
  • The Insurgency, PBS Frontline, 21 February 2006.
    Program descriptions:
    "An investigation into the people who are fighting against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

    Kidnappings. Suicide bombers. Beheadings. Roadside bombs. The Iraqi insurgency continues to challenge the most highly trained and best-equipped military in the world. FRONTLINE peels back the layers and gets beyond the propaganda to take a complex look inside the multi-faceted insurgency in Iraq. The investigation includes special access to insurgent leaders, as well as commanders of Iraqi and U.S. military units battling for control of the country and detailed analysis from journalists who have risked their lives to meet insurgent leaders and their foot soldiers. FRONTLINE explores the battle for one Iraqi town and presents vivid testimony from civilians whose families were targeted by the insurgents."


Buying the War, Bill Moyers Journal, 25 April 2007.
"In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, the US government's claims about weapons of mass destruction and terrorist ties to Saddam Hussein went mostly unchallenged by the media. Four years after 'shock and awe,' how the government sold the war has been much examined, but a big question remains: how and why did the press buy it? Bill Moyers and his team piece together the reporting that shows how the media were complicit in shaping the 'public mind' toward the war, and ask what has happened to the press's role as skeptical 'watchdog' over government power. The program features the work of some journalists who didn't take the government's word at face value, including the team of reporters at Knight Ridder news service whose reporting turned up evidence at odds with the official view of reality. Buying the War includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of Meet the Press; Bob Simon of 60 Minutes; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by the McClatchy Co. in 2006."
You can watch Buying the War online here.
You must watch this.


Other Essays, Interviews, News Reports, etc.:
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