Ray LeMoine

This is a colorful travel log of what happened to two young civilians inside Baghdad during the years 2003-2004. It's for the slightly skeptical American and not for the staunch flag waver, because it takes a cynical view of the government. The two men travel first to Israel (which they also offer political opinion on) and then to Iraq. Some of the travel log is humorous: "We'd soon learn that Iraqis love jokes, especially ones about Saddam, gays, Bush, sex, and donkeys, roughly the same things Americans tell jokes about." Most of what they say is serious:
"Before the Coalition Provisional Authority's occupation (CPA) of Iraq, the Pentagon had never run a nation building project. In fact, one of George Bush's first campaign promises had been that he would avoid 'engaging in nation building.' Now, building a nation in Iraq, he'd made a fateful decision: the Dept. of Defense would run the occupation. Historically, all previous American occupations and rebuilding efforts -- Philippines, Cuba, Germany and Japan after WWII-- had been overseen by the State Dept., usually with an American General serving as a figurehead. When the CPA took control of Iraq, the State Dept's post-war plans were publicly tossed and the DoD shoved itself into power."

This book helped me connect the dots about Iraq and why the Middle East outlook on the U.S. soured so badly after the occupation.

The subtitle "friends who gave up their..." is accurate about the book, the story starts out describing 2 guys who needed a plan bigger than just making a buck. There are numerous references to things that people do when they are in their 20's like drugs, drinking, womanizing, etc. They seemed to grow up a lot, it was enjoyable to watch. The book is told with self-deprecating humor that is easy to like. The journalist who helped them write it, Donovan Webster, was easy to read and very well versed about Iraq and foreign journalists who covered it, suggesting he spent time in the same place, Baghdad.

I liked the pun in the title, a reference to a Bob Marley album from 1981 :)

I came across this book because I am always studying Middle East things and I'm glad I did.… (plus d'informations)

The subtitle does a pretty good job of summarizing this book. Which is good, considering that it is a heck of a run-on sentence, and the longest subtitle I've ever seen. What it doesn't tell you is that this is a reasonably well-written and quickly readable book. Ray LeMoine and Jeff Neumann lay out their experiences without any hiding behind higher motives or artifice.

The story of how they ended up in Iraq more-or-less on a whim and founded an aid distribution NGO is interesting on its own. But what really caught my attention was the accounting of all the other things they did and saw and the people the met. From the drugs and drinking of a lot of the non-military (and some of the military), their impression of the private security companies (steroid-abusing mercenaries looking for a fight), to their inside observations of the repeated missteps and failures of the CPA leading to the inevitable civil war.

This isn't the big picture of the Iraq War. It is a lot of small snapshots from the lowliest part of the CPA, in and around the Green Zone for about 3 months at the start of 2004. Not a perspective that you'll find much of anywhere else.… (plus d'informations)