So long.... but very insightful Iraqi narratives and sentiments on the invasion/occupation still very much worth a read but omfg a fucking brick it wasn't serving concise.

am listening to this incredible book on tape. anthony shadid draws his audience into the neighborhoods and daily lives of prewar iraq. shadid is a gifted journalist who is passionate without taking sides in describing events that have become history. well worth reading for any and all to understand more of what a mess of peoples' lives the invasion to get rid of saddam hussein made.

i don't own this.

Anthony Shadid interviewed hundreds of Iraqis in the first 2 years of the American War (and subsequent occupation) in Iraq. Given this context, he also provides his own personal assessment of the situation. This book is lucid and powerful, especially given its publication in 2004. Unlike many works written too early on in a conflict without the perspective of time, this book is excellent.

The Iraq that America invaded was one that had been under Saddam Hussein’s reign of violence and fear for decades. It was feverish and frenzied to reclaim its culture and to air its many grievances. Conversely, the Iraq that George Bush and his administration purported to be the first domino to fall in the Arab world was a (hastily and poorly concocted) fantasy. The ignorance, hubris, and greed with which this fantasy was incepted and pursued will never be undone; its greatest perpetrators receding into the shadows of anonymity that come with a second term, with a new administration, with the weight of American corporate interests.

It is clear Islam is more than a religion. It is also a political system, and a fabric of communal organization. The imperative to group together and affect change toward a more holy world is powerful. Where this communal arrow is pointed, though, is ultimately decided by men. The fallibility of men and their political aims, even aims that align morally and ethically with their faith (ie fighting off a foreign occupier) is self-evident. Moreover, the aims of a single movement do not exist in a vacuum: layered, mutually exclusive imperatives to establish a more holy community, with contradictory messages, methods, and goals, only further illustrate the fallibility of men.

Favorite quotes:

“Proud but humbled, rebellious but humiliated, the country was never simply a black and white photograph of dictatorship and repression. It was a time-worn sculpture: born of a distant past, and weathered by more recent, wrenching events. And its people were more than victims.”

“While supremely prepared for war, the American military was singularly unprepared for its frenzied aftermath. There was never really a plan for post-Saddam Iraq. There was never a realistic view of what might ensue after the fall; there was hope that became faith, and delusions that became fatal.”

“The Americans brought a revolution without ambition, and an upheaval without design.”

“The best journalism embraces nuance and celebrates it. War, however, leaves little room for subtleties. How does a journalist convey the ferocity of violence without losing meaning in a mind-numbing array of adjectives? How does one cover war from a professional distance, when, as someone reporting from a city under siege, one has no distance? Perhaps we simply surrender to the ambiguities… Perhaps, we simply tell stories.”

“In country after country in the region, over the past generation or so, Islam has proven remarkably adept as a political program, or more precisely as many political programs. Bringing together opposing demands and unifying distinct grievances. Most often, the movements that espouse it understand its pliancy. They begin with a universalist message of faith: a 7th century revelation, remarkable for its simplicity and clarity, and then tailor it to specific communities.“

It is very somber to have read this book about the Iraq war as a Syrian right now. Brutality looks the same, no matter which oppressor delivers it. At the same time, very obvious how Iraq is not Syria, and Syria is not Iraq.

Its selfish, but I wish Anthony Shadid was alive today to give as much soul and somber spirit into a book about Syria. RIP to an amazing writer and journalist that has no equal.

"He dragged on his Dunhill cigarette. The remark that followed, I thought, was intentionally ambiguous. Wamidh might have been speaking about Saddam, the wars he launched that brutalized his country, the sanctions that followed and immiserated it. But probably not. He seemed to be giving me his own judgement. He spoke deeply, in a slow cadence, as was his custom.

'Wrong beginnings,' he said, 'tend to have wrong ends."

Shadid's Night Draws Near is a chronicle of the late reporter's visits to Iraq between 2002 and 2005. It's a dense, beautifully written book about the struggle for self-determination among Iraqis. The reporter gives voice to the people of Iraq who experienced the years of despotism under Saddam Hussein, occupation under the US armed forces, and uncertainty under insurgents.

It's an eye-opening read into how callous and culturally misinformed the US was in invading a country for weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist. I couldn't help but shake my head at all of the mistakes that the US made throughout its invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Iraqi people, while satisfied that Saddam was ousted, were dismayed that the US could not protect its cultural artifacts or restore basics like electricity. Left in a power vacuum, the sects and ethnicities of Iraq successfully vied for power and legitimacy in the face of yet another foreign invader.

This book should be a must read for anyone who wants to understand the War in Iraq and what helped lead to the rise of the Islamic State. Actually, perhaps a better word than "understand" is to "learn," because as Shadid refers to many times in the book, Iraq is a mystery.

Just started this...needed a broccoli book. It was a recommendation from my Dad.

Finished it! Took me all year - slowly reading a chapter at a time- but it felt important. This is a look a the Iraq war from the Iraqi people...it's amazing - between this book and the war see on the news- you would think they are 2 separate wars! Wish every member of congress would read this.

This book is a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations endured by ordinary Iraqis, both from external and internal forces, in the aftermath of President George W. Bush's decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Anthony Shadid spent time in Baghdad and various parts of Iraq getting intimately familiar with families who suffered from the calamities of the post-invasion confusion as well as highlighting a number of persons who took advantage of that confusion. Those of us in the U.S. are rather familiar with the casualties suffered by our U.S. service men and women, but have little insight into the effects that the war had on the people of Iraq. This book sheds light on their circumstances.

I've owned this book since July 2006, according to the tag on the back of my copy. So why now? To reduce the backlog, a little bit.

When I started reading, I thought that I couldn't really stand it. Don't I know this story already, how badly it turns out? Do I have to rub my face in it again? (Four stars, because it's hard to face it again. But really excellent.)

Yes. And then the news this week justifies my plunging back into this story - how a poisonous mixture of good intentions, poorly thought out, foisted on a naive president by paranoid ideologues and sold to the American public (including Congress) went bad, almost from day one.

Shadid is (was, died on the Syrian border last winter) a great reporter. He learned Arabic as a student so that he could understand more about his own background. His family was originally from Lebanon but Shadid grew up in Oklahoma. He was in Baghdad before the invasion, setting himself up to report and getting to know people, familiarizing himself with the city.

There was hope at the beginning - not only in Washington, but among reporters and the Iraqi people. But there were problems immediately. Where was the electricity? Why did the US not stop the looting which, by Shadid's reporting was shocking? (Rumsfeld "Stuff happens. Freedom is untidy.")

Fallujah, the Sunni Triangle, Moqtada al Sadr etc etc etc. We must have learned something (not Romney, I'm afraid) because we haven't rushed into Syria and kept boots off the ground in Libya. Nor are we bombing Iran (as of 9/15/12).

Definitely worth reading, but you do have to steel yourself. The inside story of the occupation is covered in Shadid's Washington Post editor's book, "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Not a quick and easy read but one of the best books I have ever read!

Incredible on-the-ground reporting in Iraq during the start of the 2003 war, with a devastating and beautifully written explanation of the terrible aftermath of the invasion.

I read this book for a class called America's 21st Century Wars; it was selected to provide students with a different perspective on how the war in Iraq has affected Iraqi citizens and society. Written by a Lebanese American, it may surprise people in how not biased it is. Shadid interviews people from all backgrounds, classes, and perspectives. He provides quite good coverage of people's experiences and emotions during the invasion and occupation. I'd recommend this to anyone who's interested in current events, but wants to read something that isn't too dense or overly political.