New Review: My Year In Iraq

The following is a brief excerpt from a review posted on PopandPolitics.com:

Iraq is the great mess of the modern era. By mentioning the country’s name in a passing conversation, you’ll invite a plethora of opinions that will make your head spin: we’re there because Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9/11, we’re there for oil, Hussein had WMDs and would have given them to Osama bin Laden, Hussein had no WMDs because we’ve been bombing him in the north and south for 10 years, the WMDs he had were moved to Syria, we’re there to promote freedom, we’re there because Hussein tried to kill Dubya’s daddy, we need to stay until the job is done, we never should have went in the first place, etc etc.

As mired in controversy as Iraq has been, one of the most consistent points that have been made (and probably the most believable) is that a Westernized Democratic Iraq will be the greatest resource in the global fight against fanatical Muslim terrorism. It is not beyond the realm of possibilities to believe that democracy in Iraq could spread across the Middle East, thus eliminating the abject poverty and anger that fuels pro-radical Islamist terrorism and anti-Americanism. Now if you agree with this premise, you must also realize that saying that we’re going to have democracy in Iraq is much easier said than done.

Enter Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, whom President George W. Bush appointed presidential envoy to Iraq and administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). This was the man who actually volunteered for a one-year tour of duty in probably the hottest zone in the world outside of Central and East Africa. He had the relatively thankless job of holding Iraq together while it tried to rebuild itself not just after a brief war, but after decades of maltreatment by one of the world’s most sadistic and brutal dictators, Saddam Hussein.

Ambassador Bremer has written a memoir of his time spent in Iraq titled, “My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope,” and it is probably the best resource for understanding just how difficult the rebuilding and rehabilitation process has been for Iraq. Bremer covers in intimate detail everything from why he volunteered for this job and his reservations therein, to his battles and near undoing by the Pentagon, to his rather close relationship with President Bush and then National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. Continued