Book Review: Iraq War

Iraq War. Rodney P. Carlisle. America at War series. Facts on File, Inc. 2005. 176 pages including glossary and index. ISBN: 0816056277. Available from Amazon.com.

In order to understand a subject fully, it's best to start by getting a good overview of that subject, and then doing more in-depth research on various aspects of it.�

Iraq War, published by Facts on File as part of their America at War series, is such an overview book. It's thin, only 154 pages not including the index, so there's not a lot of in-depth analysis, but all of the major points are covered, and it will give the average reader more knowledge of this controversial conflict than can perhaps be gained by restricting one's knowledge to what one reads in the papers or the Internet, or hears on television.�

Author Rodney Carlisle knows whereof he speaks - he is also the author of Facts on File's book on The Persian Gulf War (as well as an entry in the abominably titled�Complete Idiots series; Complete Idiot's Guide to Spies and Espionage). Carlisle strives to prevent facts only, without putting any interpretation on them, leaving that to the reader.

It's a straightforward book. He begins with a brief history of the Middle East after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire in 1920, and then gives a chapter on "Saddam Hussein, the Baath Party, and weapons of mass destruction."

Carlisle strives to be fair to Hussein. After paragraphs detailing that man's brutal regime, he does point out: "The Baath regimes improved education, raised the status of women, and brought drinking water and electricity to previously primitive regions of the country. Unlike some of the neighboring countries, Iraq was ruled by secular, or nonreligious leaders, and adherence to Muslim rules of daily life were far more lax. Women were allowed to wear makeup, dress in Western clothes, pursue professional careers, and drive their own automobiles, quite distinct from the status of women in nearby Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan or Iran."

This contrasts greatly with the recent chilling news (as of this writing in July, 2005) from Iraq - that the country will very soon be ruled by religious leaders intent on instituting sharah (the code of conduct of Muslims, more strictly enforced among Shiite than among Sunni Muslims), with the status of women plummeting as a result.

The Persian Gulf War of 1991 is dealt with in a single chapter. Carlisle explains why the world's reaction to entering the Gulf War was so different from that of the Iraq War - Iraq had been the aggressor and had actually invaded a fellow UN-member nation, the first time this had happened since the creation of the UN.

Next Carlisle deals, briefly, with September 11, the United States' subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and the toppling of that country's terrorist-supporting regime.

Next, the weapons inspections, in which Carlisle details how Hussein foiled the UN's task of ensuring that Iraq had disarmed according to the surrender agreement. He reveals Iraq's pattern of "claiming to cooperate while actually refusing to cooperate," and the UN's lack of reaction to it.

Carlisle explains the UN debate on whether or not Iraq should be invaded, with the reasons for and against clearly spelled out. The United States and England were undeterred by the protests from other countries in the UN and NATO that an invasion was not warranted. On March 17 an ultimatum was issued to Iraq, and on March 19, 2003 Bush ordered the first missile strike.

The actual war itself is given three chapters in this 13 chapter book (one chapter for each week that the war took). The "Coalition forces" consisted only of military personnel from the United States (145,000) and England (41,000), with smaller forces from Australia (2000), Poland (200), and the Czech Republic and Slovakia (400).

Reaction on the home front - of America - is also detailed in its own section.

Chapters on �Restoring Order' and �The Aftermath' round out this book. Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003 and this was reported, as was the handover of sovereignty from Ambassador Paul Bremer to the Iraqi interim government on June 28, 2004.

A current controversy swirls about Joseph Wilson, his CIA-agent wife Valerie Plame, and Karl Rove. Karl Rove's name doesn't make it into this book, but Wilson and his wife do (although her name is left unstated), as well as reporter Robert Novak.

The treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison is also mentioned, as well as the scandal over the UN-sponsored Oil-for-Food program. Carlisle also deals with the WMD issue. "As Hans Blix had noted, even if Hussein had no WMDs, he certainly behaved as if he had them."�

The scope of this book does not allow it to go into any one subject in detail, so it will be necessary for readers to continue their research with other books...nevertheless it does provide a good overview and is clearly and simply written for teens as well as adults. Now more than ever it is important for all Americans to have an understanding of the world we live in - the world beyond our shores...that is getting closer and closer all the time.

Other topics that Carlisle covers, because of their controversy, in which he attempts to show both sides:

1. Was the Iraq War a just war?�

2. Did President George W. Bush establish a dangerous precedent with a doctrine of preemptive war?�

3. Did President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair mislead their legislatures and their peoples about the WMD threat?�

4. Why did some long-standing US-allies such as France, Canada and Mexico disagree with the American decision to go to war with Iraq?�

5. Is the world safer from terrorists after the Iraq War?�

6. Why was it so much harder to establish peace in Iraq than it was in Japan, Germany, and Italy after WWII?�

7. How could the war against such an apparently powerful Iraqi enemy be conducted with so few coalition casualties?�

8. Did the U.S. government and military really do all they could to limit civilian casualties? Did such control hamper the U.S. effort?