Content area
Full Text
Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War. By Anthony Shadid. New York: Henry Holt, 2005. 424 pages. $26.00. Reviewed by Dr. W. Andrew Merrill, Research Professor of National Security Studies, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.
Night Draws Near is an important, detailed, and disturbing study of America's involvement in Iraq, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony Shadid. Shadid is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks Arabic and has spent a great deal of time in Iraq and the wider Middle East. He speaks with the perspective of a true Middle East expert who has stayed in Iraq for extended periods, rather than as globetrotting reporter who has dropped in for a short visit. Shadid's background places him in a credible position to analyze the clash of cultures and worldviews between Iraqi citizens and US troops, which is a central theme of his book. His chance of tapping into mainstream Iraqi public opinion is dramatically increased by his ability to work without a translator and his own Arab heritage, although the book remains unavoidably anecdotal.
The Iraqis portrayed in this study have long historical memories recalling the conquest of Mesopotamia by Mongols, Ottomans, Persians, and, in the early 20th century, the British. Military conquests by outside powers seldom led to good results for these people. One Iraqi tells Shadid that when British General Sir Stanley Maude seized Baghdad in 1917, he told the population, "We come as liberators, not as conquerors." This promise is widely remembered with scorn in Iraq, where the United Kingdom remained and dominated Iraqi policy for decades. Nor has it escaped Iraqi notice that US leaders have used the same suspect language. Throughout the study, the United States is portrayed as having entered Iraq on probation with the population, needing to prove that it was there for reasons other than lashing...