What do you think?
Rate this book
To Be a Friend Is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
In January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID’s only Arabic-speaking American employee. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq.
Appointed as USAID’s first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city’s IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators—young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination.
On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a “fugue state,” crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD—crushed by having failed in Iraq.
One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: People are trying to kill me and I need your help. After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson’s now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. To Be a Friend Is Fatal is Kirk W. Johnson’s unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
Appointed as USAID’s first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city’s IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators—young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination.
On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a “fugue state,” crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD—crushed by having failed in Iraq.
One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: People are trying to kill me and I need your help. After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson’s now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. To Be a Friend Is Fatal is Kirk W. Johnson’s unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 23, 2013
16 people are currently reading
903 people want to read
About the author
Kirk Wallace Johnson
3 books313 followersAuthor of The Fishermen and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast (August 9, 2022), The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century," and To Be a Friend is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind."
Founder of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies.
Founder of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 9, 2022
At first, I thought Johnson was spending a strangely long time going on about himself - his family background, his time in Iraq, and his accident and slow recovery. Ultimately, though the narrative leads out of himself and shows the path to The List Project. Such a heartbreaking story - because we can see just how policy and politics can derail what is morally right. Johnson shows this happening in real time through his personal experience. However, there is a kernel of hope and gladness in this story, too; Johnson can be justly proud of his evolution into his work for Iraqi refugees, and the many people outside he enlisted and inspired to help, often for many years at their own expense, shows that all is not lost for the character of Americans or humanity.
March 7, 2017
A truly devastating account of the many, many ways we have failed our Iraqi allies.
February 17, 2014
Read my full review: http://bit.ly/1eIbSue
My opinion: In my opinion, this book needed to be written and Mr. Johnson did an excellent job in describing how our government really-for lack of a better term- screws over foreign who assist them. We constantly see examples of this from the examples given in this book to the Pakistani physician who informed us of Bin Laden's whereabouts. His thanks from our government...imprisonment in a Pakistani prison with no American rescue.
I must admit that one of the things that most impressed me in this book was that the author was able to keep it non-political. Most of the books like this are so heavily biased that I end up ripping it apart in review. However, Mr. Johnson holds both the Bush and Obama administrations who are BOTH guilty of doing this, accountable . It was refreshing that the author didn't come in with an agenda, but kept to shining a light on the injustice and abandonment of those who help us when we need them the most and our abandonment when they need us.
To boot, I was excited because I know of the author's father, as well as where Yaghdan found employment, so that was an extra little surprise in the book.
Just an interesting and eye opening read.
My opinion: In my opinion, this book needed to be written and Mr. Johnson did an excellent job in describing how our government really-for lack of a better term- screws over foreign who assist them. We constantly see examples of this from the examples given in this book to the Pakistani physician who informed us of Bin Laden's whereabouts. His thanks from our government...imprisonment in a Pakistani prison with no American rescue.
I must admit that one of the things that most impressed me in this book was that the author was able to keep it non-political. Most of the books like this are so heavily biased that I end up ripping it apart in review. However, Mr. Johnson holds both the Bush and Obama administrations who are BOTH guilty of doing this, accountable . It was refreshing that the author didn't come in with an agenda, but kept to shining a light on the injustice and abandonment of those who help us when we need them the most and our abandonment when they need us.
To boot, I was excited because I know of the author's father, as well as where Yaghdan found employment, so that was an extra little surprise in the book.
Just an interesting and eye opening read.
January 16, 2014
Incredibly powerful. Amazing and inspiring man. Best book I've read.
March 13, 2014
This is one of those times when I want to be bossy and DEMAND everyone read this book. It is that good and one that needs to be read. My grammar school classmate wrote To Be A Friend Is Fatal about his time in Iraq and the birth of the nonprofit The List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies. The way the US treated the Iraqis who helped us is shameful. Future generations will judge our government, the way we judge those who did not act during WWII and the Holocaust and those who left Vietnamese allies behind after the US pulled out of that war. I commend Kirk for his tireless efforts. Truly an eye-opening and insightful read.
March 4, 2021
The phrase “To be a friend is fatal,” can be attributed to Henry Kissinger during the Nixon administration and the Vietnam war and debacle. US-affiliated citizens, whether Iraqi, about whom this book is primarily written, or Afghanistan, or Vietnam, or other countries in which the US engages in war and employs or contracts with local citizens, can be placed in grave danger for their work with the US, especially when we leave the country. Johnson worked for USAID in Iraq during 2003, the first year of the war. After a horrifying accident, he began to receive communications from US-affiliated Iraqis, begging for help, afraid for their lives and those of their family, often the subject of death threats (or actual killings), trying to immigrate to the US. Johnson created The List Project, a list containing the names and contact information of those who requested help through the refugee and immigration processes then available. Year after year, meetings with high-ranking government officials, failed legislation, promises made but not kept, goals established, the US failed many of these loyal people, unable or unwilling to bring them to the US. Through both the Bush and Obama administrations, Johnson and colleagues battled for the humane course of action, with minimal success. The actions were discouraging, the processes abhorrent, the fall-out to the US-affiliated Iraqis by our lack of action devastating. An important read as we continue to tread without fully understanding the damage we do.
January 2, 2019
I would give it 6 stars if I could. Absolutely incredible. Tragic, but necessary reading.
July 26, 2020
This book was eye opening to me for what was happening in Iraq during the Gulf War.
May 9, 2022
Quite excellent!
November 8, 2023
At first this book was just a well written memoir about a US government aid worker during the Iraq war. Then after an experience with his own unexpected PTSD it became an emotional, heart pulling journey to save the lives of as many Iraqis as possible. I learned so much about the war and the mistakes America continues to make as we recruit native speakers to help us while we are in country and then dangerously abandon them after we leave. This is an intense book but so so good.
March 5, 2015
In 2008, my husband and I began mentoring an Iraqi woman and her two sons.
They were refugees who'd been forced to flee for fear of their lives, casualties of a war the United States began.
As the year progressed and we got to know this family more, I began realizing just how much I didn't understand about the Middle East.
The news portrayed “those people” as enemies.
Yet every time I sat in this woman's living room, reaping the benefit of her extraordinary hospitality, I questioned why exactly this was.
Years later, I'm still trying to better understand the Middle East and in particular, the refugee crisis that's come as a result of our involvement there. To that end, I recently read Kirk W. Johnson's To Be a Friend is Fatal.
In this book, Kirk explores what happened to the thousands of Iraqis who worked for the US during the war we waged in Iraq as Iraq's distaste and distrust for America grew.
Now, I'm pretty anti-war to begin with but after reading this book, I question if the cost of war is ever actually worth it.
The stories this book tells are horrific. Yet, they're stories that need to be told.
To Be a Friend is Fatal tells the stories of Iraqis who were hunted and terrorized by the insurgent simply BECAUSE they worked for the United States. It tells the stories of Iraqis who were given no protection or assistance by the US, despite the fact that their peril came as a direct result of their willingness to work for the US. It tells the stories of Iraqis who, left with no other choice, fled the country as refugees, creating the region's largest refugee crisis in 60 years.
To Be a Friend is Fatal tells the stories of refugees who fled to nearby Syria and Jordan, unable to work and unable to return home, dependent on the their savings or money from relatives in order to survive. It tells of how such refugees waded through countless layers of red tape, desperately hoping for the chance to come to America as refugees.
Unfortunately, most of these Iraqis were never given that opportunity.
Our fear kept them out.
In short, To Be A Friend Is Fatal tells the story of a country – our country – who created a refugee crisis and then did very little, if anything, to help resolve it.
It's a compelling, horrifying, and guilt-inducing read.
Yet, it's also well worth reading for anyone who wants to better understand refugees or more specifically, “the human rubble of war”.
They were refugees who'd been forced to flee for fear of their lives, casualties of a war the United States began.
As the year progressed and we got to know this family more, I began realizing just how much I didn't understand about the Middle East.
The news portrayed “those people” as enemies.
Yet every time I sat in this woman's living room, reaping the benefit of her extraordinary hospitality, I questioned why exactly this was.
Years later, I'm still trying to better understand the Middle East and in particular, the refugee crisis that's come as a result of our involvement there. To that end, I recently read Kirk W. Johnson's To Be a Friend is Fatal.
In this book, Kirk explores what happened to the thousands of Iraqis who worked for the US during the war we waged in Iraq as Iraq's distaste and distrust for America grew.
Now, I'm pretty anti-war to begin with but after reading this book, I question if the cost of war is ever actually worth it.
The stories this book tells are horrific. Yet, they're stories that need to be told.
To Be a Friend is Fatal tells the stories of Iraqis who were hunted and terrorized by the insurgent simply BECAUSE they worked for the United States. It tells the stories of Iraqis who were given no protection or assistance by the US, despite the fact that their peril came as a direct result of their willingness to work for the US. It tells the stories of Iraqis who, left with no other choice, fled the country as refugees, creating the region's largest refugee crisis in 60 years.
To Be a Friend is Fatal tells the stories of refugees who fled to nearby Syria and Jordan, unable to work and unable to return home, dependent on the their savings or money from relatives in order to survive. It tells of how such refugees waded through countless layers of red tape, desperately hoping for the chance to come to America as refugees.
Unfortunately, most of these Iraqis were never given that opportunity.
Our fear kept them out.
In short, To Be A Friend Is Fatal tells the story of a country – our country – who created a refugee crisis and then did very little, if anything, to help resolve it.
It's a compelling, horrifying, and guilt-inducing read.
Yet, it's also well worth reading for anyone who wants to better understand refugees or more specifically, “the human rubble of war”.
January 21, 2014
An extremely well-written book. I knew some (but not all) of the story in the book. I heard the This American Life episode, I saw Kirk Johnson on 60 minutes years ago, I remember a bunch of his op-ed articles when they ran, and I have corresponded with Kirk off and on over the past ten years. But even knowing all of that, I simply could not put it down.
Aside from its readability, "To Be a Friend" is a terrible indictment of the U.S. While America's failure to help its Iraqi employees is but one of a long list of failures that come out of the Iraq War, this one is particularly damning. Those Iraqis helped the U.S. at great personal risk, and now the U.S. is letting them die for it. This is a book that all Americans should read. But the sad thing is that even if they did, I don't know if that would be enough to move the bureaucratic machinery to make things any better.
Aside from its readability, "To Be a Friend" is a terrible indictment of the U.S. While America's failure to help its Iraqi employees is but one of a long list of failures that come out of the Iraq War, this one is particularly damning. Those Iraqis helped the U.S. at great personal risk, and now the U.S. is letting them die for it. This is a book that all Americans should read. But the sad thing is that even if they did, I don't know if that would be enough to move the bureaucratic machinery to make things any better.
September 23, 2013
Scary and anger-inducing. It was eye-opening to me to learn how the US government uses local people as interpreters and other types of workers during a war zone and then almost completely abandons those people when they leave. Quite frankly, it is despicable. Apparently, other governments operating in these war zones will sweep up those folks and help them move to their respective countries. Not so, in the USA. I also found it a bit shocking to see how the executive agencies simply ignore the political intentions of Congress. I suppose I shouldn't have found it so. Sadly, what I didn't find shocking is how faceless, useless, ridiculous and sometimes illiterate the bureaucracy within the INS can be.
October 19, 2013
This is an incredible, vital book to read for all Americans. People need to know how the American government and the American people who elected them essentially abandoned the Iraqis who worked with us during the war, consigning many of them to bureaucratic hell. This is something that both the Bush and Obama administrations are incredibly guilty of. These brave Iraqi men and women deserve our support and respect. I know the war is long over and we as a people, out of embarrassment and shame, have tried to forget. This cannot happen any longer. We owe these people their lives and safety and far more. An essential read.
August 3, 2021
I heard the author on the radio and what he was talking about stopped me on my track. Then I got his book and did understood what he was talking about. This book is one of those books, after reading the last page, will leave you staring at the last page for a long time, thinking and asking "why?".
I enjoyed it very much...a great read! It's such a thoughtful, witty, at times cynical and above all honest account of a consciences man trying to right what his countrymen broke for no good enough reason (other than greed and of course personal gain maybe?)
I enjoyed it very much...a great read! It's such a thoughtful, witty, at times cynical and above all honest account of a consciences man trying to right what his countrymen broke for no good enough reason (other than greed and of course personal gain maybe?)
February 21, 2014
Very eye opening book regarding the repercussions heaped upon Iraqis who assisted American forces during the Iraq war. We really left them hung out to dry. Seems unimaginable that our country could be so heartless to our "friends".
Read
February 6, 2014Kirk Johnson, AB'02
Author
From our pages (The Core, Winter/14):
http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter201...
Read an excerpt:
http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter201...
Author
From our pages (The Core, Winter/14):
http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter201...
Read an excerpt:
http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter201...
Want to read
January 31, 2015As seen in
The New Yorker
.
Also, apparently Kirk W. Johnson is a fellow U of C alum.
Also, apparently Kirk W. Johnson is a fellow U of C alum.
July 9, 2015
There is no reason to expect that any of this will be on he Foreign Service Officer Test, but I still think it is important to know how he bureaucracy can fail and the painful consequences of that failure. More questions than answers after reading this book, and certainly a lot of heartache.
July 5, 2013
A good, solid memoir that often reads a bit like fiction with its descriptive writing.
May 2, 2014
upsetting at times and frustrating at times.
March 31, 2014
Not for the faint of heart.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews