I've never read anything to suggest to me that Saddam Hussein was anything other than a brutal, repressive, murderous dictator that brought misery to the Iraqi people, particularly the Kurds and the Shiites. So I didn't believe it was much of a stretch to think that his removal by American led forces would be warmly welcomed in Iraq and beyond. The great beauty of this book is to indicate why that was not the case.

Here's an example: "Perhaps history condemned the project from the start. A grim warning lay in Iraq's modern record, shaped as it was by deprivation - Saddam's tyranny, his wars, and the expectations of Baghdadis that they deserved better. The Iraqi impression of America was no less a problem. Whatever its intentions, the United States was a non-Muslim invader in a Muslim land. For a generation, its reputation had been molded by its alliance with Israel, its record in the 1991 Gulf War, and its support for U.N. sanctions. Not insubstantial were decades over which the United States had grown as an antagonist in the eyes of many Arabs. Iraq had long been removed from the Arab world, isolated by dictatorship, war, and the sanctions, but it remained Arab."

I've flagged about 30 pages that I plan to re-read every now and again.

My only complaints were the complete lack of Kurdish and insurgent perspectives and my own difficulty of getting very interested in the book for the first 100 pages or so. Also, I thought The Forever War (by Dexter Filkins) did a much better job of presenting varied perspectives of Iraqis.

I highly recommend skipping Imperial Life in the Emerald City and reading this book instead.

This should be required reading for every American, regardless of your opinion on the war in Iraq.

After the first seven pages I thought I was in for the long haul with this one, but after page 93 I gave up. Too much horror, no levity at all. I didn't go in expecting levity, by the way, but I missed it after the twentieth description of dismemberment by white-hot shrapnel.

This is a book of its time - 2005, while Iraq was still under US occupation - and it would have been a revealing account then, but it has not aged well.

Shadid's languid and somewhat ornate prose is also quite dull.

One of the best books I've ever read. How I wish he was alive today. The stories and books he would have written!

A look at the POV of Iraquis from many walks of life with a variety of political and religious outlooks and some U.S. military personnel leading up to 2003 invasion and concluding at time of 2005 elections.

A powerful book with vivid encounters with the people of Iraq. A must read for anyone who desires a nuanced understanding of the complexity of Iraq. The book only covers the first two years of the war, but shows where America made mistakes and lost this war.

The US failed to capture the hearts and minds of the people when it had the chance. The Iraqi people were willing to give the Americans a chance to deliver on their pre-war promises, but after a year the power still was not on, the streets were not safe, and food was scarce. Then came the battle of Falluja, the city of Mosques was destroyed, and with it the faith of the Iraqi people. Now over a million Iraqis are dead, and those heady days of 2003 are a bitter and lost memory.

Reading it was a breath-taking experience.. but listening to Shadid reading from his book was magical .. i saw him not reading from the book .. it was his feelings .. he was back to Iraq every time he start reading a paragraph .. magical ,,,

Irytował mnie dziennik Amal, fajnie przedstawiono historia Bagdadu oraz następstwa inwazji na Irak w 2003 r.

Amazing, devastating. This is the best book I have read on any conflict.

This book was on Newsweeks 50 books you should read so I read it. Even though it was not suprising it still made me angry. Another lost opportunity for America just like Afghanistan. If you start a war to depose a dictator then you should have a plan for what you are going to do after you have deposed that dictator--and we didn't. It was doomed from the start it seems like. We didn't/don't understand their culture at all it appears. I had a hard time getting through it. I don't think it was really that well written. I only finished it because I was determined to.

Very well-reported and written account of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Iraqis. Highly recommended.

Not an easy read. Many names and events. The pain that Iraqis has to go through is heartbreaking. It’s a really nice reporting of what American occupation did to Iraq.