The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

Colin Powell, especially at the time of the first Gulf War. This realization threw into penetrating relief Newt Gingrich’s recent blasts at the State Department: How better to position yourself as a potential candidate to lead an agency than by proposing thorough-going reform — along with a larger budget? Richard Thompson is a retired FSO. A Provocative Primer Iraq: Its History, People, and Politics Shams C. Inati, editor, Humanity Books, 2003, $26.00, hardcover, 322 pages. R EVIEWED BY R ICHARD M C K EE An American government official or military officer catching a flight for Baghdad to report for duty with the U.S. occupation authorities might do well to pass up the latest John Grisham or Danielle Steele tome in favor of this book of essays. Compiled in late 2002 by Professor Shams C. Inati of Villanova University “to give a complete picture of Iraq,” and pub- lished in January 2003, their failure to do so is striking. Nevertheless, read- ing them would be worthwhile, for the strident, even defensive Iraqi nationalism that animates most of the authors is shared by many members of the Iraqi elite with whom American administrators are now dealing. In most of these essays, the people of Iraq seemingly bear no responsibil- ity whatsoever for the repressive regimes that have ruled their country since its creation by the British after World War I. Saddam Hussein, whose image was ubiquitous and whose secret police were intimidat- ing, is scarcely mentioned. The United States, however, is indicted repeatedly for causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and immense damage to Iraq’s infrastructure, cul- tural heritage, and society by pressing for the sanctions and for what is por- trayed as indiscriminate bombing. Washington’s concern about Saddam’s violations of Iraqis’ human rights is dismissed as hypocritical. The true goal of “the U.S.’s undeclared war on Iraq” — the title of Professor Naseer Aruri’s contribution — is simply to gain control of Iraq’s oil. The two most egregious essays address “the question of the ‘artificial- ity’ of Iraq” and “the assault on Iraq’s environment.” Hala Fattah cites selected Iraqis’ memoirs and Iraqi exiles’ views ventilated in an Amman forum to support her conclusion that, “However true the idea of Iraq’s fragility may have been once, it no longer held for the vast majority of Iraqis.” How does she know? There are no public opinion polls. Saddam’s monopolization of power makes it difficult to say whether the Kurds and Shia’ rebelled in 1991 to overthrow his regime or to secede from Iraq. Rania Masri denounces the alleged dangers of depleted uranium ammunition used by U.S. forces in 1991 — but is silent on Saddam’s draining of the southern swamps later that year to flush out rebellious “Marsh Arabs,” virtually destroying their unique ecological habitat and their ancient culture. Several essays do provide insights and avoid excessive polemics. Professor McGuire Gibson, the dean of archeologists who have dug in Iraq, covers “Ancient Mesopotamia” ably. Essays on art, literature and music highlight elements of urban culture that might not survive if a strict Islamic regime comes to power. Retired Iraqi diplomat Meer Basri’s eulogy for the departed Jews, American University Professor Edmund Ghareeb’s untangling of the Kurds’ knotted ties with each other, Baghdad and neighboring states, and Professor Joyce Wiley’s essay on the Shia’ Arab majority and its suppres- sion by Saddam repay close reading. (Inexplicably, there is no essay on the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority, nor on how Saddam and the Ba’ath Party gained and consolidated power.) The contribution by economist Atif Kubursi, whimsically titled “Water and Oil Never Mix Except in the Middle East,” usefully elucidates the interplay between the scarcity of the first resource and the abundance of the second. Despite its many flaws and preva- lent bias, Iraq: Its History, People, and Politics is worth perusing. If nothing else, it will give readers a sense of just how big a challenge American administrators face. ■ A former FSO, Richard McKee is executive director of Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) Inc., and of the DACOR Bacon House Foundation. He last visited Iraq in 1995 and 1996. 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 B O O K S Despite the book’s many flaws and prevalent bias, several essays provide valuable insights into Iraqi culture and politics.