Imperial Life in The Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone

by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - National Book Award Finalist - This eyewitness history of the first order ... should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq" (The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307278832
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 365 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Informative Book on the Iraq Green Zone, and the aftermath of the war.

I listened to the book twice. It has a world of information and is very interesting. It brings the reader right into the American Green Zone experience and explains the source of many of the pitfalls and challenges faced in the aftermath of the war. I recommend it to everyone in the USA.

Should be mandatory reading

Pro or con on the Iraq war, everyone should read this book! I don't think many Americans have any idea what life is really like over there for our military.

Doh!

This book walks you beneath a war that, until now, I had only known via tv, blog, and magazine. I think every american, regardless or left or right wing should read. I am a conservative and noticed that the author seems to take shots here and there about key players being neocons, but also I suppose he's assigning blame where blame is due. What makes this book so scary is how embarassing all of it is. You see how our government pretty much threw their friends and cronies into power, and those friends ruined the direction in iraq. Regardless of what side you stand on politically, you owe it to yourself to read this eye--opening inside account of the Iraq mess. I kept hearing Homer Simpson say, "Doh," in the back of my head while reading.

Fascinating, Frustrating, Eye-Opening Account of Iraq under the CPA

While most debates about the Iraq War focus on the strength of the military presence - are there enough troops, etc - Chandrasekaran's inside perspective paints the failure in Iraq clearly as a political and civil failing, where there were not enough officials to rebuild the infrastructure, and those that were there had their positions because of their connections, and not their credentials. While officials continue to insist that the war "will be won," it becomes clear here that the war was lost soon after the statue of Saddam fell, when looting (which was not stopped, because officials had not made it a priority, and orders to protect certain areas were not communicated to troops) destroyed the nation's ministries, and thus their ability to govern. We see an insurgency born not because of differing political philosophies, but because the CPA was completely unable to provide jobs and even the substandard government services that the Iraqi people had under Saddam's reign. A frustrating book to read as well, as you realize that the insurgency might have been stunted before it took hold had the CPA been either competent or qualified. The desire to have "good Republicans" in key roles as opposed to experienced experts might have cost us this war and a golden opportunity to bring democracy to the region. An important book to read to not only understand why we failed, but also to gauge our chances of success going forward.

Good Stuff

This enlightening book is clearly written and very disturbing, a revealing look at what happens when American idealism and bravado mixes with ignorance and incompetence in an already dangerous place. The on-the-ground glimpses of life in the Green Zone give this book the weight of reality, though you'll wish it were fiction.