Voices from Iraq

by Kukis, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780231156929
• ISBN10: 0231156928
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-14
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

"Baghdad fell on a Tuesday I think. I went driving around our neighborhood, Karada, with my husband a day or two after that just to have a look around. The looters were everywhere. I saw women and children pushing trolleys full of things out of an old intelligence office. At the national theater, they were loading a garbage truck with the seats from inside, and streams of people were coming out carrying all kinds of props. I saw plastic models of the planets bopping down the streets in the arms of thieves. They took everything you can imagine taking from a theater. Everything."& -Azhar Abdul-Karim Abdul-Wahab, lecturer in political science, Baghdad University Featuring the testimony of close to seventy Iraqis from all backgrounds and occupations& -from onetime Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to insurgents speaking on the condition of anonymity& - Voices from Iraqbuilds a riveting chronological history unmatched for its insight and revelations. Beginning in 2003, this intimate narrative includes the experiential accounts of civilians, politicians, former dissidents, and present insurgents, enhanced by Mark Kukis's compelling individual portraits. Divided into five parts, it recounts the 2003 invasion; Iraq's gradual slide into chaos from 2004 to 2005; the start of a new order in 2006; the rise in open sectarian violence over the next two years; and the effort since 2008 to reconstruct a society from relative calm. Each section includes about fifteen interviews grouped into themes, with brief epilogues for the participants. Not since Studs Terkel's The Good Warhas a book captured so acutely the human consequences of a conflict we still struggle to understand. Voices from Iraqis essential for anyone in search of the meaning and legacy of America's campaign in Iraq.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
A Note on Civilian Casualties	p. xvii
The Sanctity of Guns and Shrines	p. 3
Ra'ad Obaeid Hussein	p. 3
Ahmed Abu Ali	p. 7
An Army in Defeat	p. 12
Gassan Abdul Waned Ined	p. 12
Baha'a Nouri Yasseen	p. 16
Hussein al-Awadie	p. 18
Mohammed Khalil Hamed	p. 20
The Roads of Falling Cities	p. 22
Rahma Abdul Kareem Abbas	p. 22
Mohammed Abbas Abdul al-Hur	p. 24
Farid Hadi Abdul Zahra	p. 26
Ali al-Shaheen	p. 29
Tahseen al-Shaikhli	p. 33
A Guest For	p. 34
Ali Abdul Majid	p. 34
Home No More	p. 37
Abdul Hadi Isma'il	p. 37
Hitting Back	p. 40
Omar Yousef Hussein	p. 40
An End to Exile	p. 47
Ayad Allawi	p. 47
Mithal al-Alusi	p. 49
The Coming of a War Within	p. 51
Abu Mustapha	p. 51
Azhar Abdul-Karim Abdul-Wahab	p. 54
Ahmed Ibrahim Abdul Wahab	p. 56
Ka'ab Zuhir Ahmed	p. 58
Saman Dlawer Hussein	p. 61
Old Foes	p. 63
Mohammed Ra'ad Ahmed	p. 63
The Edge of Battles	p. 66
Hayder Hamid Jawad	p. 66
Luay Ali Hussein	p. 68
Adel Rasheed Majeed	p. 71
A Saying About Luck	p. 74
Abdul Wahab Fuad Abdul Wahab	p. 74
A New Order	p. 81
Ali Jawad Kadhem	p. 81
Saddam Hatif Hatim al-Jabouri	p. 83
Sami Hilali	p. 86
Hayfa Kareem Sabi'a	p. 89
Rasim Hassan Haikel	p. 91
Moving Days	p. 94
Khail Ibrahim al-Nasir	p. 94
Um Omar	p. 98
Ibrahim Ishmael Khalil	p. 100
Yousef Aboud Ahmed and Anham Muhana Hasoon	p. 104
Ali Ibrahim Baher	p. 108
Khalid Adnan Khalid	p. 111
The Price of Sons	p. 113
Zaid Allwan Jafar	p. 113
Salim Kamel Shawal	p. 117
Questions and Answers	p. 121
Moustafa Ahmed al-Ta'ee	p. 121
The Mouths of Soldiers	p. 129
Sajad al-Hakim	p. 129
Wissam al-Rashied	p. 131
Saif Majeed al-Ta'ee	p. 133
A Visit to the Temple	p. 137
Hussein Radhi Zuboon	p. 137
House to House	p. 140
Captain Emad	p. 140
Zahra Ech'daf Sangur and Fackria Zugai'er Khata	p. 143
Paths to Safety	p. 148
Maysoon Mahdi	p. 148
Usra J'bara Hadi	p. 151
The Face of A Savior	p. 155
Ali Mohammed Hial	p. 155
Waking Up	p. 157
Sheik Hamid al-Hais	p. 157
Sheik Ahmed Buzai Abu Risha and Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha	p. 160
Sheik Mustafa Kamil Hamad Shabeeb al-Jabouri	p. 162
Ahmed Basim Mohammed al-Abaje	p. 165
Laughing to Bucca	p. 167
Ra'ad Jamal Habib	p. 167
Keeping to the Neighborhood	p. 175
Ali Fahed Mahmood	p. 175
Less Than Whole	p. 177
Ali'a Anwer Majid	p. 177
Rana Abdul Mahdi	p. 179
Beloveds Lost and Found	p. 183
Maysoon Jahil Obeid	p. 183
Shiek Jamal Jassim Sudani	p. 188
Rajiha Jihad Jassim	p. 191
Entasar Abud Tahan	p. 193
Salma Hamid	p. 194
The Makings of Another Life	p. 197
Hamida Rahdi Salah	p. 197
Hassan Risn Badr al-Ruba'i	p. 200
Ala'a Alzobeidi	p. 203
Hayder Mohammed Jodah	p. 206
Salah Hamid Jasim	p. 211
Hassan Ali	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.