[Vision2020] Aaron Glantz's "How America Lost Iraq"

[Ted Moffett]

All:

Last night listening to KGO AM 810 from San Francisco, Gene Burns was
substituting for Ray Taliafero.  The author and journalist Aaron
Glantz was being interviewed about his new book, "How America Lost
Iraq."  The interview was riveting, with stories about Glantz's
experiences in Iraq, events where no doubt he was risking his life
doing his work as a journalist.

I'll let the info from the Penguin web site about Glantz's new book
just released this May, 2005, provide a cursory insight into this
books themes.  With the situation in Iraq apparently boiling over
despite the Bush administration spin that the new "democratic"
government will be taking over in less than a year, Glantz's book
provides valuable insights into where the USA may have gone wrong.

http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_1585424269,00.html

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Book: Hardcover | 5.74 x 8.50in | 288 | ISBN 1585424269 | May 2005 | Tarcher 

A reporter in Iraq shows how the U.S. squandered its early victories
and goodwill among the Iraqi people, and allowed the newly freed
society to slip into violence and chaos.

As a reporter for the staunchly antiwar Pacifica Radio,
twenty-seven-year-old Aaron Glantz had spent much of early 2003
warning of catastrophe if the U.S. invaded Iraq. But, as he watched
the statue of Saddam topple, he wondered whether he had been mistaken:
In interviews with regular Iraqis, he found wide support for the
Americans.

Then, public opinion changed.

In early 2004, the U.S. military initiated a completely unprovoked
bombing campaign against the population of Fallujah, increasing
support for an armed resistance. The attack confounded many
anti-Saddam Iraqis, and plunged the nation into chaos. In How America
Lost Iraq, Glantz tells his story of working on the front lines, while
revealing truths that most media outlets have missed or failed to
report. For instance, 50 percent of the U.S.-trained Iraqi army has
either mutinied or refused to fight; the Iraqi public has sustained
appalling civilian casualties; corporate contractors including
Halliburton and Bechtel have failed to supply Iraqis with the basic
necessities of daily life, such as clean water and electricity; and a
respected poll shows that 82 percent of Iraqis want the U.S. to leave.

Here is the brutally honest account of a reporter who discovered how
popular the U.S. presence was in Iraq-and who then watched this
popularity disappear as the Bush administration mishandled the war,
leaving us with the intractable conflict we face today.

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V2020 Post by Ted Moffett