Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian

Book Overview

Collateral Damage brings together testimony from the largest number of on the record, named, combat veterans who reveal the disturbing, daily reality of war and occupation in Iraq. Through their eyes,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568583737
• ISBN13: 9781568583730
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Nation Books
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

On purpose?

This is just a factional story of how to make enemies out of potential friends, after all, the majority of Iraqis were glad to get help to get rid of Saddam. Unfortunately it seems that this was the intended result, to create further chaos, rather than peace. Well documented.

Must reading for every American citizen

This book deals in the ugly civilian deaths in Iraq which resulted from our invasion. The authors, who are scholars, carefully document their work. They honestly present the viewpoint of the American soldier and the Iraqi citizen. It becomes clear in the course of their treatise that while civilian deaths may be inevitable (that alone should be a powerful deterrent to invading a country!), in Iraq bad military planning and preparation and a lack of concern for the civilian population we are supposed to be serving have made the situation much, much worse. I came away feeling some empathy with the troops, fury at the military leadership, and much sadness for the Iraqis.

Poweful and insightful.

This book divided into 4 parts, (checkpoints, raids, convoys and detentions) gives you a daily life front row seat for what it's really like in Iraq. I kept lowering the book and saying to myself "We'll never be able to make it up to them. NEVER". (Soldiers and civilians). Can you imagine being innocent and no one understands what you're saying? Not able to stop the car at a check point because the brakes don't work? Having your dog shot in front of you? Having your friends killed because they couldn't avoid a convoy? This book gives you many accounts on what it's really like over there. I highly recommend it.

Shows the reader mentally, emotionally and physically the pathology of war.

This book really shows how true evil masks itself behind such high sounding words as `honor,' `glory,' `dignity', `patriotism', `for god and country', 'victory', and so on; words that may have inspired a young man or woman to join the military (although many others may do so for other reasons such as economic necessity) only for many of them to later find that they have been duped and diabolically deceived by those so called `responsible' politicians who had sent them over there along with those other cowardly politicians who only pretend that they want them to come back home. It's only too late when these young soldiers realize that they are simply the tools of a greedy power elite who only seek profit from human butchery, slaughter and misery and these people could care less about the Iraqi people or for that matter, they could care less about the American soldiers who are used as sacrificial cannon fodder to serve some sick pathological agenda to `occupy' (read: conquer and rape) another culture. In fact, it's even beyond sick as to what goes on in Iraq. It's just plain evil. By reading the personal testimonial accounts of those soldiers who have been deeply traumatized from their experiences in Iraq, this book really gives the reader a feel for the reality of the horrors of war. The accounts given by the soldiers regarding their experiences traveling in the moving convoys is simply horrific and it's clearly a living nightmarish hell for not only the unfortunate innocent Iraqi's who are butchered from these convoys but for the American soldiers themselves who actually think that they are fighting for some greater `cause.' Any politician that can read about the things that go on over in Iraq and not be so deeply affected as to immediately put an end to this campaign of terror is simply not human. This is an excellent book and it does what it's supposed to do, which is to bring awareness to the reader; mentally, emotionally and physically, of the pathology of war.

Citizens in the Middle

The book focuses on the damage done to the Iraqi citizenry by the fighting in Iraq. The suffering of Iraqis is made plain. It has it's slow points but the book ultimately succeeds by effectively describing the horror of war and the plight of innocents who find themselves trapped in it.