Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 An illuminating look at the US attempts to rebuild in Iraq April 15, 2008
Political Junkie (Birmingham, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Ravi Chandrasekaran's superb book provides a behind-the-scenes look at the attempts to rebuild Iraq following the US invasion and the collapse of Saddam's regime. It brilliantly exposes the inept handling of the situation such as the arrogance that drove many decisions, failing to include ordinary Iraqi's in matters, the handing of senior roles to Reupblican supporters, limiting the involvement of those with reconstruction experience and the Pentagon's attempts to lock out the State Department. This is an essential read for anyone interested in Iraq and the Middle East.
 Though provoking April 6, 2008
Paul Holland (London, England)
Rajiv Chandrasekarans's fine book delves into the madness of the Green Zone, the American civilian reconstructions headquarters. Chapter by chapter he outlines the mistakes, incompetence and arrogance of the (Bush/Republican party) US invasion and the failed attempts to impose US "values" on a deeply divided, war torn, complex and damaged nation.
Personable and engaging this is a must read for anyone interested in the Iraq invasion, middle eastern affairs or US politics.
Fascinating Incompetence March 28, 2008
L. Thompson (United Kingdom)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are many impressive stories in this account of how the American invasion and occupation of Iraq went so disastrously wrong in such a short period of time. The most striking aspects are from inside the encased compound which housed the staff of the US administration:
Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace seemed to take on the aspect of a college campus, with staff drinking beer, eating junk food and `pork', lazing by the pool, reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Iraq to further their knowledge, protected from the ever present and increasing violence and lawlessness around them, in a Baghdad without currency, media or power.
The author systematically reports on how the republican neo-cans picked for their loyalty to W. Bush over any experience
or knowledge of the area and language failed on every level to re-establish any kind of order within the country they had just occupied. I found this account to be a brilliant piece of old-fashioned reportage that at times read like a surreal farce. It was a privilege to have read it so soon after the events described.
Amazing insight to Iraq but also working with Americans March 20, 2008
Hugh (UK)
This book is a fantastic read - hard to put down from an entertainment point of view. It's quite incredible to get the inside track on how the reconstruction of Iraq was mis-managed, but more generally I found this really useful as an insight (for British managers) into how Americans do business. I work for a US multinational, and reading this book was a step change for me in understanding the corporate politics that I live with every day. Highly recommended.
A Devastating Exposition of the Stupid White Men December 18, 2007
J A C Corbett (Blackheath, London, UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As someone who grew adoring Joseph Heller's great World War Two satire, Catch-22, I never thought the day would come when I read a real life account of how the misguided and naive led an occupation effort. That day finally came last week when my postman brought me Rajiv Chanrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City.
This is an impeccably detailed and revelatory account of the US occupation of Iraq and how the seeds of disaster were sown.
Rajiv Chanrasekaran was the Washington Post's man on the ground in Baghdad in the days leading up to and immediately after the US-led invasion, so has an insight of how pallid life was under Saddam Hussein and how timorous the Iraqi people had become. He is also a rare thing among American journalists working in the daily press out there: a man who asks searching questions of his country and his countrymen's motivations.
Imperial Life is strongest when telling the story of the CPA staffers living in the 'Green Zone', a bubble, supplied with trash food and trash information about the country they occupy. Staffers inherently believe they are doing the right thing, that they have a sense of mission to democratize Iraq and build it according to their political ideals. Of course, when set against the backdrop of a humanitarian disaster, an insurgency, and without the blank cheques needed to bring such changes they never stand a chance of succeeding.
What is perhaps most depressing, beyond the human cost of occupation, is that the corruption and stupidity among most of the American staffers was not as prevalent as one would first think. For sure there is a naivety, but the idiocy lay mostly in Washington, where Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfovitz jettisoned the appointment of competent and well qualified staff in favour of political appointees. Many of these were well meaning, but young, inexperienced and wholly unsuitable Republican interns, workers and other party supporters that want to `make a difference'. Thus you have a 24 year old who had never worked in finance put in charge of rebuilding the Baghdad stock exchange on account of his political credentials and numerous others besides. Oddly, Paul `Jerry' Bremner does not come off too badly: he is portrayed as driven, stubborn, battling against the insurmountable odds on the ground and in Washington, but most often motivated by what he deems to be right (even though it often isn't; most notably in the case of his dissolution of the Iraqi army, which led directly to the insurgency).
This book loses track a bit in the second part, when there is more discourse on politics and the handover to the Iraqis. However, more lucid than Michael Moore, more polemical than the majority mainstream media, Imperial Life in the Emerald City cuts to the heart of where it all went so horribly wrong, and is essential reading not just for those interested in the Middle East but anyone who might consider voting Republican in 2008.
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