This book is the Newyork times best seller for two consecutive years. Also selected as one of the ten best books in the year of publishing. Needless to say more. And one more interesting fact, (which I learnt only after completing the book) is, this book is going to be a movie by name "Green Zone" with Matt Damon as hero and Paul Green Grass as director. Basically Bourne Legacy team. Then imagine the impact of the book.
Perfect screenplay for a movie. This books perfectly tells you, how the Americans were singing and dancing in the "pubs" created by Halliburton in the Green zone, while Baghdad was looted and torn apart. It perfectly paints the picture as to, how pathetically American Foreign Policy failed in Iraq. After reading the book, I agree that this is the worst failure for America with respect to Foreign policy, next comes Vietnam and then comes Cuba.
This tells the plight of the Iraq people and also, the carelessness of American Diplomats. When Timothy M.Carney, the then Minister of Industry in Iraq, under Paul Bremer, requested for information about the ministry that he was supposed to rebuilt, Washington sent him, a 3 page report, typed by an intern in White House. Remember, Ministry of industry in Iraq has 23 different sectors under its command. There were companies ranging from leather factories to battery manufacturing units. While Iraq was prosperous and when Saddam was "good", (which is basically the time before Iran war and Kuwait war, which btw put Iraq into a huge debt), Iraq actually exported its Vegetable Oil and Soap to India. Apparently these soaps were of number one quality and it was very famous in North India. During this Golden Period, Iraq's health care and Education systems was on par with Western World. Tap water was drinkable. You got Prada and Gucci in departmental store for damn cheap prices. Well, wat can you say ?
Now, Baghdad is torn apart by Al-Sadr Militia Group and many other such groups. There are 240,000 American troops in Iraq and the current government has already started withdrawing troops from Iraq, without full-filling any of their promises. The new Presidential hopefuls are all well prepared to withdraw troops immediately after they rise to power. Which means, Iraq will be looted more, more people will be killed and that kind of crime wouldn't have happened even if Saddam was alive. When Saddam was in power, even though he is a murderer and a culprit, one gallon of petrol was less than a nickel; School ran safely; there were no terrorist groups; army was very powerful; (this army will eventually be dismantled by Paul Bremer and will convert into the now Militia Groups, protesting against America. Greatest mistake he ever committed in his term as Iraq' Viceroy); people had drinking water and Electricity; People obeyed the laws; Police and Intelligence were efficient. But now, look at Iraq. Not many of us follow the news and killings in Iraq, because it is just like another Sri-Lanka. Everyday, someone dies. It is sad, but eventually we all get used to this. "Hmm, 20 ppl died in Iraq, ok then. What else is new today?" is our attitude. This is not our fault.
Another Huge Failure for American Foreign Policy... !! Who cares, In this modern world, with so much information and technology available, America will invade one other country in the near future. That will also be a huge debacle. Then they will ruin the country and make the lives of people even harder than it already is and no one will ask any questions !!
My next target, "Assassins Gate", a book about Saddam and post-war Iraq. Where assassins gate refers to the gate to the Saddam's Republic palace. Title is pretty good isnt it?
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