Backseat To Baghdad

Backseat To Baghdad PDF

Author: Ross W. Simpson

Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc

Published: 2022-11-03

Total Pages: 618

ISBN-13: 164334949X

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It was "Shake and Bake Time" when I rode into battle in Iraq with the First Marine Division's lead assault battalion. I saw Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003 from the backseat of a Humvee in Counter Mech Platoon, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. The first night was frightening as we crossed through "No Man's Land" between two sand berms that separate Kuwait from Iraq, its warring neighbor to the north. Three weeks later we arrived in the Iraqi capitol of Baghdad, bloodied, but not broken. "No better Friend, no worse Enemy" is the motto of the First Marine Division. And the author had no better friend in the military than Mattis who signed the American flag Simpson carried in his helmet liner before he left 1MarDiv's headquarters in Baghdad and headed home to Northern Virginia. Their enduring friendship over three decades is why Mattis, the best-selling author of "Call Sign Chaos," a book about learning to lead, graciously agreed to write a few words about Backseat To Baghdad. "Today's unsung heroes are those young men and women who look past today's political rhetoric and volunteer their lives to defend America. In Backseat To Baghdad, Ross shows those troops in combat with all their humanity and humor and the tragedies and triumphs of young men coming of age when "they were soldiers once, and young." Keenly portrayed thanks to his man deployments alongside them. In this book, Ross reveals the extraordinary character of our citizens serving as soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines." Jim Mattis.

Story of Water and Fire

Story of Water and Fire PDF

Author: May Muzaffar

Publisher: Hatje Cantz Verlag

Published: 2023-07-24

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 3775755462

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Story of Water and Fire is a captivating account of the joint life of two prominent figures in the Iraqi art scene, poet and art critic May Muzaffar and artist Rafa Nasiri. This book offers a glimpse into the social and artistic milieu of Baghdad from the 1960s to the 1990s, as well as the couple's travels during this period and their years of exile in Amman and Manama. Through vivid descriptions and rarely seen photographs, May Muzaffar provides insights into their position in the Arab and international art scenes. The book serves as a guide to the archival material that al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art at NYU Abu Dhabi has digitized and made available for researchers, creating an expanded space for exploration and understanding of the remarkable work of this generation. MAY MUZAFFAR (*1940, Baghdad) is a poet, short story writer, art critic, and translator. Having graduated in English literature from Baghdad University in 1961, she has published seven collections of poetry and five collections of short stories in Baghdad, Beirut, and Amman. She authored books on art and artists, and has also edited several books on Rafa Nasiri's art. She is the sponsor of Rafa Nasiri's art heritage and organizes an annual award for graphic arts in his name, since 2014.

Blackwater

Blackwater PDF

Author: Jeremy Scahill

Publisher: Profile Books

Published: 2011-05-26

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 1847654789

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Meet Blackwater USA, the private army that the US government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Its contacts run from military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House; it has a military base, a fleet of aircraft and 20,000 troops, but since September 2007 the firm has been hit by a series of scandals that, far from damaging the company, have led to an unprecedented period of expansion. This revised and updated edition includes Scahill's continued investigative work into one of the outrages of our time: the privatisation of war.

War in the Age of Trump

War in the Age of Trump PDF

Author: Patrick Cockburn

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-07-07

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1839760427

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Is the fall of ISIS the end of the perpetual war in the Middle East? In this urgent and timely book, Patrick Cockburn writes the first draft of the history of the current crisis in the Middle East. Here he charts the period from the recapture of Mosul in 2017 to Turkey’s attack on Kurdish territory in November 2019, and recounts the new phase in the wars of disintegration that have plagued the region. The ground battle with the caliphate is perhaps over, but was this the end of the conflict that has scarred these nations for decades? Cockburn offers panoramic on-the-ground analysis as well as a lifetime’s study of the region. And here he shows how peace appears a distant possibility with the continuation of conflict in Syria, Saudi Arabia’s violent intervention in the Yemen, riots in Baghdad and Tehran. At the same time, the rising aggression between Israel and Iran, the raising of stakes between the US, Russia and Turkey, shows that this remains the theatre of the proxy wars of the world’s superpowers. Has Trump abandoned the area for good, leaving a vacuum for others—Putin, Erdogan, Mohammed Bin Saud—to fill? He also looks at what might happen to the Islamic State: will it disappear now that it has lost its territory or emerge in a new form and with renewed violence?

Behind Enemy Lies

Behind Enemy Lies PDF

Author: Patrick Cockburn

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2021-10-26

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1839763965

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A journalistic account of Trump's wars in the Middle East from a highly acclaimed journalist who has been reporting on the area for decades In this urgent and timely book, Patrick Cockburn writes the first draft of the history of the current crisis in the Middle East. Here he charts the period from the recapture of Mosul in 2017 to Turkey's attack on Kurdish territory in November 2019, and recounts the new phase in the wars of disintegration that have plagued the region, leading to the assassination of Iranian General Sulemani. Cockburn offers panoramic on-the-ground analysis as well as a lifetime's study of the region. As author of The Rise of Islamic State, and the Age of Jihad, he has proved to be leading, critical commentator of US intervention and the chaos it has wrecked/ And here he shows how, since Trump entered the White House promising an end to the Forever War, peace appears a distant possibility with the continuation of conflict in Syria, Saudi Arabia's violent intervention in the Yemen, the fall of the Kurds, riots in Baghdad, and the continued aggression towards Iran. While ISIS has been defeated, it is not clear whether it has disappeared from the region. Trump's policies has appeared to pour petrol on the flames, emboldening the other superpowers involved in the proxy wars. Following the collapse of the deal with Iran, and the threat of war crimes, is a new balance of power possible?

They Say We Are Infidels

They Say We Are Infidels PDF

Author: Mindy Belz

Publisher: NavPress

Published: 2017-04-18

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1496425405

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Now with a new chapter! “Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians, their churches, their shops. They threatened them with kidnapping. They promised to take their children. The message to these ‘infidels’: You have no place in Iraq. Pay a penalty to stay, leave, or be killed.” Sweeping from Syria into Iraq, Islamic State fighters (ISIS) have been brutalizing and annihilating Christians. How? Why? Where did the terrorists come from, and what can be done to stop them? For more than a decade, journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. In They Say We Are Infidels, she brings the stark reality of this escalating genocide to light, tracking the stories of real-life Christians who refuse to abandon their faith—even in the face of losing everything, including their lives. As Reading Lolita in Tehran did for Iran and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families did for Rwanda, They Say We Are Infidels shines light into the Middle East through the stories of everyday heroes and heroines who will not be silenced. A must-read for anyone seeking a firmer grasp on the complex dynamics at play in war-torn Iraq and Syria, They Say We Are Infidels is the eye-opening and revelatory testimony of a journalist who heads into a war zone—and is forever changed by the people she encounters there.

The Drug Chronicles

The Drug Chronicles PDF

Author: Gary Phillips

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2018-07-10

Total Pages: 677

ISBN-13: 1504054806

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A wide range of bestselling and acclaimed writers—from masters of noir to literary lights—explore the milieu of drug culture in this “eye-opening series” (New York Journal of Books). From Lee Child to William T. Vollmann, Joyce Carol Oates to Sherman Alexie, Eric Bogosian to actor James Franco, many of the finest contemporary writers of fiction weigh in on the lure and destruction of drug use, society’s ambiguous relationship to drug culture, and criminal behavior with short stories that are alternately harrowing, funny, sad, or scary—but always original and gripping. The Cocaine Chronicles edited by Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon Contributors include Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, and Susan Straight “Urban, gritty, and raw noir.” —Harlan Coben The Speed Chronicles edited by Joseph Mattson Contributors include William T. Vollmann, Sherman Alexie, James Franco, and Megan Abbott “Deserves great praise for the audacity of the topic, the depth of the discussion, the diversity of voices, and plain, old, good storytelling.” —New York Journal of Books The Heroin Chronicles edited by Jerry Stahl Contributors include Eric Bogosian, Lydia Lunch, Ava Stander, and Gary Phillips “[An] impressive array of writers . . . these tales of chasing the dragon, with corollaries often violent and savage, will satisfy devotees of noir fiction and outsider are alike.” —Publishers Weekly The Marijuana Chronicles edited by Jonathan Santlofer Contributors include Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, Raymond Mungo, and Rachel Shteir “Joyce Carol Oates is in a rare class of her own . . . So, too, are other contributors to this collection, including Lee Child and the always enjoyable Raymond Mungo.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Cocaine Chronicles

The Cocaine Chronicles PDF

Author: Gary Phillips

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2012-06-19

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1453259392

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A new anthology of cocaine stories from the creators of The Speed Chronicles—“Caution: these stories are addicting” (Harlan Coben). This ambitious anthology of jaw-grinding criminal behavior is masterfully curated by acclaimed authors Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon. Cocaine is the subject, the whys and whereofs in The Cocaine Chronicles, a collection of original short stories that are funny and harrowing, sad and scary, but at all times riveting. The Cocaine Chronicles contains tough tales by a cross-section of today’s most thought-provoking writers. Featuring brand-new stories by: Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Emory Holmes II, James Brown, Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon, Kerry E. West, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and Detrice Jones.

The Hangman of Abu Ghraib

The Hangman of Abu Ghraib PDF

Author: Latif Yahia

Publisher: Arcanum Media Group

Published: 2015-08-27

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13:

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It tells the inside story of all the torture and executions that took place in Abu Ghraib under both the Saddam and American regimes as seen through the eyes of one man - the man who personally assassinated, tortured, hanged and shot more victims than any other man who has ever lived. It will surprise and shock readers and governments alike. Brace yourself - the giant of a man with his scarred face and the hangman's noose in his hands will soon be ready and waiting for you. Short Description of The Hangman of Abu Ghraib Abed Ali was born a poor peasant boy who worked on a farm in Iraq. He grew up to become the most deadly assassin and prolific executioner the world has ever known. This book gives a psychological insight into the mind of a man ordered to kill or be killed himself. The ruthlessness of the Ba'ath Party regime under a dictator. The inhumanity of the American invaders under the promise of 'freedom and democracy'. It is the true story of one man's life. And the deaths of thousands of others. One man. Two regimes. The same order from both... KILL FOR US OR BE KILLED BY US..

US Department of State Dispatch

US Department of State Dispatch PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 620

ISBN-13:

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Contains a diverse compilation of major speeches, congressional testimony, policy statements, fact sheets, and other foreign policy information from the State Dept.