Mugged by Reality

by Agresto, John

• ISBN13: 9781594031878
• ISBN10: 1594031878
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-08
• Publisher: Encounter Books

Summary

John Agresto spent a little over nine months in Iraq. His job, was to help Iraq rebuild its once highly regarded education system. As he left Iraq, Agresto was asked by the Pentagon to write a few paragraphs for the future about this formative and transitional time; from those paragraphs Mugged by Reality was born.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Going	p. 1
Why we are there
Why I was there
What we hoped to accomplish
"Neoconservatism" and democracy
Democracy and Terror
Religion and Terror
Daily Life	p. 25
Conditions as I found them
Of life in the Green Zone
Of safety and security
Iraqi culture, American culture, common culture
Truth, Facts, and Lies: Five Aspects of Culture and Character	p. 41
Truth, Facts, and Lies
Stories and Lessons
Death Goes to Pick the Finest of All
Getting Iraqis to Fight
An Assassination Attempt and a Kidnapping
Higher Education, Politics and Religious Totalitarianism	p. 71
Politics, fanaticism, and the universities
Conditions before and after the war
Difficulties with the Minister
Fears and hopes
Bringing Iraq To Democracy	p. 97
Democratizing a non-democratic country
Effects of both tyranny and socialism on character
Democracy and the necessary character of citizens
"Cultural Insensitivity," or American ignorance as to what makes its own democracy work
Education and Democracy	p. 121
Reflections on higher education and political liberty
"All Assistance Short of Actual Help"	p. 139
What we did and, especially, what we failed to do
Funding failures and the failures of misplaced priorities
Soldiers	p. 155
How the US military saved the day, and also how it lost it
Reality Often Astonishes Theory	p. 171
American Ideals and the Failure of Good Intentions
What we did right, what we did wrong, and what we might learn from it all
The death of Ali
Hopes for the future, and fears
Acknowledgments	p. 195
Index	p. 197
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