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The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq
One of the New York Times ' 100 Notable Books of 2015
One of Financial Times ' Books of the Year, 2015
A New York Times Editors' Choice
A New Statesman [UK] Essential Book of the Year 2015
A Times [UK] Book of the Year 2015
Shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction
Shortlisted for the 2016 Orwell Prize
When Emma Sky volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, she had little idea what she was getting in to. Her assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivaled perspective of the entire conflict.
As the representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk in 2003 and then the political advisor to US General Odierno from 2007-2010, Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of US troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support; and to the takeover of a third of the country by the Islamic State.
With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique insights into the US military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. The Unraveling is an intimate insider's portrait of how and why the Iraq adventure failed and contains a unique analysis of the course of the war. Highlighting how nothing that happened in Iraq after 2003 was inevitable, Sky exposes the failures of the policies of both Republicans and Democrats, and the lessons that must be learned about the limitations of power.
One of Financial Times ' Books of the Year, 2015
A New York Times Editors' Choice
A New Statesman [UK] Essential Book of the Year 2015
A Times [UK] Book of the Year 2015
Shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction
Shortlisted for the 2016 Orwell Prize
When Emma Sky volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, she had little idea what she was getting in to. Her assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivaled perspective of the entire conflict.
As the representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk in 2003 and then the political advisor to US General Odierno from 2007-2010, Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of US troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support; and to the takeover of a third of the country by the Islamic State.
With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique insights into the US military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. The Unraveling is an intimate insider's portrait of how and why the Iraq adventure failed and contains a unique analysis of the course of the war. Highlighting how nothing that happened in Iraq after 2003 was inevitable, Sky exposes the failures of the policies of both Republicans and Democrats, and the lessons that must be learned about the limitations of power.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2015
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September 4, 2015
I first encountered Emma Sky when briefing General Odierno in late 2008. She was not introduced and sat unobtrusively beside the Commanding General. An inquisitive elfin-like character, Sky observed and listened to my brief to the General. Unlike Odierno’s many questions, she asked just one; but it was very good one. I had to ask my boss who she was after we left the room – suspecting she was some kind of CIA station chief. But no – Sky was there as a civilian advisor to provide a different perspective on the war and the myriad of challenges facing the Odierno.
The Unravelling is Sky’s memoir of her experiences in Iraq between 2003 and 2010; and reflections between 2012 and mid-2014. Her story is closely intertwined with that of General Raymond Odierno who spent a total of more than five years in Iraq in three different command appointments. It is part of General Odierno’s greatness as a commander that he realized he needed the independent viewpoint that Sky could provide to avoid the ‘groupthink’ that so often characterises military command. He made her his indispensable aide, and she stayed by his side, not only during his tour as the deputy commander in Iraq in 2006-2008, but also when he was the top commander, from 2008 to 2010.
There was no more unlikely duo than the hulking, 6-foot-5 former football player with the shaved head and his petite English adviser. To add to the incongruity, Sky needled Odierno relentlessly in a way that no one else would have dared – and he returned the favour. As a British female civilian, Sky’s account contains a unique analysis of the course of the war and assessment of how and why the Iraq adventure ultimately failed. In the preface she states that the book “describes the challenges of nation building and how the overthrow of an authoritarian regime can lead to state collapse and conflict”.
Sky had come to assist the American war effort in Iraq by chance in 2003 after having spent a decade as a humanitarian worker in the Middle East. Employed by the British Council, a cultural organisation sponsored by the Foreign Office, she received an email asking for volunteers to help the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Single, 30-something, and somewhat of an Arabist, she raised her hand and wound up in Kirkuk, where she eventually became political adviser to Colonel William Mayville, commander of the United States Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Sky had no experience of the military and was “wary” of her new colleagues. Upon first meeting Mayville, she threatened to haul him to The Hague if he did anything that violated the Geneva Convention. “I took my brown Filofax with me everywhere,” she writes, “and began documenting everything Colonel Mayville said and did.” Before long, however, she realized that behind his “bravado was a deep intellect – and a wicked sense of humour”. She developed such admiration and affection for the soldiers of the brigade that when they rotated home in early 2004 she “sobbed inconsolably all afternoon”.
She won the confidence of top United States military officials, among them General Odierno, who became a friend, confidant and mentor. Two years later Sky was back in Britain when she received an email out the blue from Odierno. It was time for the prosecution of ‘the surge’: would she help? Sky became Odierno's key political advisor, and found herself at the very heart of United States operations during the perilous and volatile days of the surge. At the end of 2007 she left once more, but almost immediately was recalled for a final tour, when once again Odierno sought her help. This time she worked alongside him until September 2010, leaving only when United States combat operations ended.
Sky’s original assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivalled perspective of the entire conflict. Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of United States troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support.
With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique perspectives on the United States military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. In recognition of her service in Iraq, Sky was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2003 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2008.
When Odierno last departed Iraq in September 2010 the United States military presence continued to drawdown for a further 15 months until the end of 2011. Sky left with Odierno in 2010 but later visited Iraq three times between January 2012 and July 2014. This last part of her book covering this period is less informed by first-hand experiences or research of machinations at the higher echelons. It also stops short of the replacement of Nouri al-Maliki by Haider al-Abadi as prime minister and the return of United States and allied forces in August 2014 in the ‘new’ war between the Iraqi government and the forces of the Islamic State.
In her preface Sky states: “If we refuse to honestly examine what took place there, we will miss the opportunity to better understand when and how to respond to instability in the world”; but her memoir offers little strategic analysis or finite suggestions on how that might be achieved. Nonetheless, her account adds to the sources for historians and analysts to perhaps perform this role in future. But I am fairly certain that Sky would be even more flummoxed by developments in Iraq since mid-2014 and of the view that nothing substantiative has been learned.
The Unravelling includes two maps of Iraq and a number of black and white photographs embedded in the text. There is a useful list of abbreviations at the start as well as glossary of political parties and militias at the end. The index is comprehensive.
Sky ended up disenchanted with the United States administration she had once supported: “Biden was a nice man, but he simply had the wrong instincts on Iraq. If only Obama had paid attention to Iraq … but his only interest in Iraq was in ending the war.” By contrast, her respect for the United States military and in particular for Odierno – who warned the administration of al-Maliki’s authoritarian tendencies – was never higher. He told her: “I gave my best military advice”. She laments: “But he had been ignored”. The Unravelling sub-title “High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq” is as fitting an epitaph as any.
In writing The Unravelling Sky has become the unlikely eulogist of the war in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. Her account is insightful, reflective and well considered; it deserves attention.
Marcus Fielding
The Unravelling is Sky’s memoir of her experiences in Iraq between 2003 and 2010; and reflections between 2012 and mid-2014. Her story is closely intertwined with that of General Raymond Odierno who spent a total of more than five years in Iraq in three different command appointments. It is part of General Odierno’s greatness as a commander that he realized he needed the independent viewpoint that Sky could provide to avoid the ‘groupthink’ that so often characterises military command. He made her his indispensable aide, and she stayed by his side, not only during his tour as the deputy commander in Iraq in 2006-2008, but also when he was the top commander, from 2008 to 2010.
There was no more unlikely duo than the hulking, 6-foot-5 former football player with the shaved head and his petite English adviser. To add to the incongruity, Sky needled Odierno relentlessly in a way that no one else would have dared – and he returned the favour. As a British female civilian, Sky’s account contains a unique analysis of the course of the war and assessment of how and why the Iraq adventure ultimately failed. In the preface she states that the book “describes the challenges of nation building and how the overthrow of an authoritarian regime can lead to state collapse and conflict”.
Sky had come to assist the American war effort in Iraq by chance in 2003 after having spent a decade as a humanitarian worker in the Middle East. Employed by the British Council, a cultural organisation sponsored by the Foreign Office, she received an email asking for volunteers to help the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Single, 30-something, and somewhat of an Arabist, she raised her hand and wound up in Kirkuk, where she eventually became political adviser to Colonel William Mayville, commander of the United States Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Sky had no experience of the military and was “wary” of her new colleagues. Upon first meeting Mayville, she threatened to haul him to The Hague if he did anything that violated the Geneva Convention. “I took my brown Filofax with me everywhere,” she writes, “and began documenting everything Colonel Mayville said and did.” Before long, however, she realized that behind his “bravado was a deep intellect – and a wicked sense of humour”. She developed such admiration and affection for the soldiers of the brigade that when they rotated home in early 2004 she “sobbed inconsolably all afternoon”.
She won the confidence of top United States military officials, among them General Odierno, who became a friend, confidant and mentor. Two years later Sky was back in Britain when she received an email out the blue from Odierno. It was time for the prosecution of ‘the surge’: would she help? Sky became Odierno's key political advisor, and found herself at the very heart of United States operations during the perilous and volatile days of the surge. At the end of 2007 she left once more, but almost immediately was recalled for a final tour, when once again Odierno sought her help. This time she worked alongside him until September 2010, leaving only when United States combat operations ended.
Sky’s original assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivalled perspective of the entire conflict. Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of United States troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support.
With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique perspectives on the United States military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. In recognition of her service in Iraq, Sky was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2003 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2008.
When Odierno last departed Iraq in September 2010 the United States military presence continued to drawdown for a further 15 months until the end of 2011. Sky left with Odierno in 2010 but later visited Iraq three times between January 2012 and July 2014. This last part of her book covering this period is less informed by first-hand experiences or research of machinations at the higher echelons. It also stops short of the replacement of Nouri al-Maliki by Haider al-Abadi as prime minister and the return of United States and allied forces in August 2014 in the ‘new’ war between the Iraqi government and the forces of the Islamic State.
In her preface Sky states: “If we refuse to honestly examine what took place there, we will miss the opportunity to better understand when and how to respond to instability in the world”; but her memoir offers little strategic analysis or finite suggestions on how that might be achieved. Nonetheless, her account adds to the sources for historians and analysts to perhaps perform this role in future. But I am fairly certain that Sky would be even more flummoxed by developments in Iraq since mid-2014 and of the view that nothing substantiative has been learned.
The Unravelling includes two maps of Iraq and a number of black and white photographs embedded in the text. There is a useful list of abbreviations at the start as well as glossary of political parties and militias at the end. The index is comprehensive.
Sky ended up disenchanted with the United States administration she had once supported: “Biden was a nice man, but he simply had the wrong instincts on Iraq. If only Obama had paid attention to Iraq … but his only interest in Iraq was in ending the war.” By contrast, her respect for the United States military and in particular for Odierno – who warned the administration of al-Maliki’s authoritarian tendencies – was never higher. He told her: “I gave my best military advice”. She laments: “But he had been ignored”. The Unravelling sub-title “High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq” is as fitting an epitaph as any.
In writing The Unravelling Sky has become the unlikely eulogist of the war in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. Her account is insightful, reflective and well considered; it deserves attention.
Marcus Fielding
June 14, 2015
Emma Sky does a wonderful job in describing the Iraq War from a non-military perspective, moreover, her observations on military culture are spot on. Sky, over the course of nearly a decade developed a profound understanding of Iraqi politics and culture, there may be no better expert other than Iraqis themselves. However...her expertise on Iraqi politics is tempered on what seems to be a lack of understanding of U.S. and British politics. She found it difficult to comprehend why President Obama was set on withdrawing from Iraq...good or bad, it was a campaign promise that he ran on and was elected to do. Ultimately the military exists as a form of national power to achieve political ends. Sky, in her service to the U.S., Britain, and Iraq seemed to miss this aspect.
I think the most profound statement within the book was her observation that General Odierno commanded nearly 150k troops in Iraq, yet only had 1 POLAD to guide the actions of his forces and staff. Sky was invaluable to U.S. military decision making, the U.S. military would be well advised to find more people like her for future conflicts...every General Officer needs a civilian adviser who can speak truth-to-power when the military staff is unable to.
I think the most profound statement within the book was her observation that General Odierno commanded nearly 150k troops in Iraq, yet only had 1 POLAD to guide the actions of his forces and staff. Sky was invaluable to U.S. military decision making, the U.S. military would be well advised to find more people like her for future conflicts...every General Officer needs a civilian adviser who can speak truth-to-power when the military staff is unable to.
June 28, 2016
I am extremely surprised that this is such a highly lauded book. First off, the prose is horrendous. Second, it reads as both self-serving and self-aggrandizing, while also failing to address and/or acknowledge any of the substantial criticisms of the author's American bosses (other than a couple of sentences to dismiss the issues as "exaggeration" and to state that the criticism hurt the general's feelings-- really?!-- p.148-149). The entire book seemed like an infantilization of a complex and important region. As though the author didn't respect the intellect of her readers (as she clearly did not respect the intellect of so many that she was writing about) enough to shoot straight. So much of the book involved her sharing petty gossip and jokes at the expense of others, rather than substantive discussion of the Iraqi occupation/war. I thought this was supposed to be a detailed exploration of policy! Instead, it read like a high school memoir: "Oh, General O! You're so big, and powerful, and important!!" Just awful. Overall, reading this book was a tortuous waste of time with enough smatterings of insight and content to keep me from completely giving up on reading it. (Luckily, this is a library book, so I can now return it. Though, I wish I could add a warning to the cover: GROSSLY OVERRATED. SEEK INFORMATION ELSEWHERE.)
February 22, 2022
Very insightful and readable book that Iraq students/scholars should definitely check out. Sky skillfully blends analysis and memoir of her time as an adviser to Generals Odierno and Petraeus. In all she spent at least 5 years in Iraq during the height of the war with incredible access to top policy-makers from all sides. Plus, as a British woman of anti-war sentiments, she was uniquely positioned to offer critical advice to US policy makers and to see the whole of the conflict, which was a great challenge for military and political leaders who tended to serve short terms in Iraq.
A few big things stand out in this book. A lot of it runs through familiar mistakes the US and its partners made, like overzealous de-Baathification, disbanding the military, and failing to provide security and services for the IQ people early on. Sky pointed out a few other failings. One big missed opportunity came in 2010 during the pivotal elections that IRaqiyya (a nationalist party that tried to de-emphasize sectarian identity) won. Maliki, with the tacit support of a disengaged Obama admin, contested the election on sham grounds, intimidated his way into forming a government, and then proceeded to prosecute rivals from Iraqiyya on trumped up charges of corruption or violence. Iraqiyya was probably the best chance we had to bring the Sunnis into the political process rather than the insurgency, and Maliki's corrupt sectarian authoritarianism combined with our sins of omission set the stage for further persecution and marginalization of the Sunnis, who turned to radical groups like ISIS for protection. Sky was rightfully frustrated at US disengagement with this process and suspicious that the US just wanted to keep Maliki in power so he would let US troops stay in the region and that the US had grown suspicious of the potential of Iraqi democracy and just wanted a strongman to keep the lid on things. Of course, a peaceful transfer of power after an election would have been a huge step for IRaqi democracy, although there was no guarantee this would have put Iraq on a better track.
The intensive sectarianism of Iraqi politics is another major theme of this book. This is not a story of "ancient hatreds" because A. Iraq is only a century old and B. throughout most of its history sectarianism hasn't been an enormous problem. Still, by the time of the US occupation, sectarianism had burrowed into Iraqi politics and become its primary demarcation. Millions of pretty reasonable, moderate Iraqis saw this as a problem, but political behavior (and violence especially) still lined up on sectarian lines. Sky examiens this problem in different and fascinating contexts like Kirkuk (Kurd v Arab) and Baghdad (Sunni v Shia) and shows Americans slowly becoming wise to this problem.
Finally, Sky's book stresses the complexity and contingency of this conflict in both a moral and political sense. The majority of occupation forces were earnestly invested in making a better Iraq even if they were often unable or unwilling to see themselves as Iraqis saw them or to re-examine their assumptions. Sky was brilliant at this as somewhat of an outsider. Moreover, Sky shows all the moments in which things could have turned a different way had people made different decisions or had different outlooks. The Iraq War wasn't doomed to failure, but it was put on a rough path by the inherent difficulty of rebuilding this complex, traumatized society, the blunders of the earl occupation, the malign interference of regional actors, and the power of bad actors in Iraq itself. Still, Sky shows that human decisions and policies still mattered and there were opportunities to but Iraq on a better footing. This is a book that offers no cheap points nor easy lessons.
My only fault with this book is that the writing is a little staccato (lots of short, choppy sentences) and there are a LOT of stories of her going around and meeting with Iraqis whose names I can't keep straight and dealing with a variety of problems. Some of these were interesting, but they started to blend together for me. The political analysis is good but not terribly in depth, which means that readers should complement this book with other accounts of the Iraq War. Still, as a mix of memoir and recent history, this book is very strong and interesting.
A few big things stand out in this book. A lot of it runs through familiar mistakes the US and its partners made, like overzealous de-Baathification, disbanding the military, and failing to provide security and services for the IQ people early on. Sky pointed out a few other failings. One big missed opportunity came in 2010 during the pivotal elections that IRaqiyya (a nationalist party that tried to de-emphasize sectarian identity) won. Maliki, with the tacit support of a disengaged Obama admin, contested the election on sham grounds, intimidated his way into forming a government, and then proceeded to prosecute rivals from Iraqiyya on trumped up charges of corruption or violence. Iraqiyya was probably the best chance we had to bring the Sunnis into the political process rather than the insurgency, and Maliki's corrupt sectarian authoritarianism combined with our sins of omission set the stage for further persecution and marginalization of the Sunnis, who turned to radical groups like ISIS for protection. Sky was rightfully frustrated at US disengagement with this process and suspicious that the US just wanted to keep Maliki in power so he would let US troops stay in the region and that the US had grown suspicious of the potential of Iraqi democracy and just wanted a strongman to keep the lid on things. Of course, a peaceful transfer of power after an election would have been a huge step for IRaqi democracy, although there was no guarantee this would have put Iraq on a better track.
The intensive sectarianism of Iraqi politics is another major theme of this book. This is not a story of "ancient hatreds" because A. Iraq is only a century old and B. throughout most of its history sectarianism hasn't been an enormous problem. Still, by the time of the US occupation, sectarianism had burrowed into Iraqi politics and become its primary demarcation. Millions of pretty reasonable, moderate Iraqis saw this as a problem, but political behavior (and violence especially) still lined up on sectarian lines. Sky examiens this problem in different and fascinating contexts like Kirkuk (Kurd v Arab) and Baghdad (Sunni v Shia) and shows Americans slowly becoming wise to this problem.
Finally, Sky's book stresses the complexity and contingency of this conflict in both a moral and political sense. The majority of occupation forces were earnestly invested in making a better Iraq even if they were often unable or unwilling to see themselves as Iraqis saw them or to re-examine their assumptions. Sky was brilliant at this as somewhat of an outsider. Moreover, Sky shows all the moments in which things could have turned a different way had people made different decisions or had different outlooks. The Iraq War wasn't doomed to failure, but it was put on a rough path by the inherent difficulty of rebuilding this complex, traumatized society, the blunders of the earl occupation, the malign interference of regional actors, and the power of bad actors in Iraq itself. Still, Sky shows that human decisions and policies still mattered and there were opportunities to but Iraq on a better footing. This is a book that offers no cheap points nor easy lessons.
My only fault with this book is that the writing is a little staccato (lots of short, choppy sentences) and there are a LOT of stories of her going around and meeting with Iraqis whose names I can't keep straight and dealing with a variety of problems. Some of these were interesting, but they started to blend together for me. The political analysis is good but not terribly in depth, which means that readers should complement this book with other accounts of the Iraq War. Still, as a mix of memoir and recent history, this book is very strong and interesting.
April 19, 2020
ما اعرف اذا نظام النجوم ينطبق على الي اريد اكوله عن هلكتاب، خاصة لمن تكون عراقي. بس ما كانت قراءة سهلة، الكتاب مذكرات ايما سكاي، مواطنة بريطانية (عدها سوابق مع السياسة) انتهى بيها الأمر تشتغل مع قوات التحالف الي دخلت العراق وآخر شي اشتغلت مستشارة سياسية للجنرال الأمريكي اوديرنو، قائد قوات التحالف بسنة من السنين.
ايما حسب حجيها اجت تعتذر للعراقيين بسبب دمار بلدهم فركبت طيارة و وصلت العراق بال ٢٠٠٣ واشتغلت مع قوات التحالف وكان الها ادوار إدارية بمحافظة كركوك بالبداية بس بعدين صار شغلها استشاري للضباط.
ايما تحجي عن السنين الي تحول بيها العراق من نظام دكتاتوري شمولي الى اللادولة والانقسام والطائفية وضياع البلد للعنف والسياسين "الجدد" بالرغم من الخطط الوردية الي جانت قوات التحالف مخططتها للعراق الي فشلت فشل تاريخي بالنهاية (اعتقد).
ايما ما تكشف أسرار وخفايا بالكتاب، هي بس تسولف عن الجانب الي ما جان للعراقي يعرفه بسبب رحى الحياة اليومية، علاقة السياسيين بقوات التحالف، الأصدقاء والاعداء، الصفقات واللهاث للسيطرة والسطوة.
سكاي حبّت العراقيين، وتحس بهل الشي بالفصول الأخيرة من الكتاب، هي حاليا مديرة برنامج من واحد من معاهد جامعة ييل الأمريكية، وتقريبا اكو مقعد للعراق كل مرة، احمد البشير مشارك بي حالياً.
الكتاب مهم، بالرغم من مسألة مدى مصداقية ايما، بس مهم ينقري.
ايما حسب حجيها اجت تعتذر للعراقيين بسبب دمار بلدهم فركبت طيارة و وصلت العراق بال ٢٠٠٣ واشتغلت مع قوات التحالف وكان الها ادوار إدارية بمحافظة كركوك بالبداية بس بعدين صار شغلها استشاري للضباط.
ايما تحجي عن السنين الي تحول بيها العراق من نظام دكتاتوري شمولي الى اللادولة والانقسام والطائفية وضياع البلد للعنف والسياسين "الجدد" بالرغم من الخطط الوردية الي جانت قوات التحالف مخططتها للعراق الي فشلت فشل تاريخي بالنهاية (اعتقد).
ايما ما تكشف أسرار وخفايا بالكتاب، هي بس تسولف عن الجانب الي ما جان للعراقي يعرفه بسبب رحى الحياة اليومية، علاقة السياسيين بقوات التحالف، الأصدقاء والاعداء، الصفقات واللهاث للسيطرة والسطوة.
سكاي حبّت العراقيين، وتحس بهل الشي بالفصول الأخيرة من الكتاب، هي حاليا مديرة برنامج من واحد من معاهد جامعة ييل الأمريكية، وتقريبا اكو مقعد للعراق كل مرة، احمد البشير مشارك بي حالياً.
الكتاب مهم، بالرغم من مسألة مدى مصداقية ايما، بس مهم ينقري.
April 19, 2022
Weird book, it contains interesting information about the failure of the American invasion and occupation of iraq, but 1/2 of the book reads like a bad, nearly flippant adventure novel of an author who absolutely loves her life story. It’s also bizarre that the few criticisms, outside of joking asides, of the military or the invasion are all in the passive voice meanwhile the author effusively characterizes virtually everyone she meets. I’m happy that she seemed to really like her coworkers, but considering her access and her seemingly outsider perspective it should be a better book for understanding the colossal failures of the invasion and occupation
“Violence continued to drop even if Iraqis often failed to acknowledge what we had done for them and constantly complained. (I was sometimes reminded of the sketch from Monty python…”
“Violence continued to drop even if Iraqis often failed to acknowledge what we had done for them and constantly complained. (I was sometimes reminded of the sketch from Monty python…”
May 1, 2015
One of the best “fly-on-the-wall” observations into what went right and wrong in Iraq written to explore what might have been, Emma’s insights, tinged with self-effacing humor, are a bitter-sweet chronicle of the last, lost decade. From the admissions at the Chilcot Inquiry that preparations, strategies, goals and end games had not been considered to the realization in Erbil that the herculean efforts by generals and ambassadors and armies of talented military and civilian personnel were all being lost in the Iraqi sands, Emma portrays the very human faces of the “boots on the ground” that tried to make “it” work.
November 9, 2015
Were I President of the U.S., or if I had power of any kind, would make this book required reading for all politicians. Amen. I'm not quite sure why this book has not received more publicity and more praise than it has. Perhaps most Americans won't like the message? Oh why wasn't Miss Emma Sky, or someone like her, around to be political advisor to President Bush, his aides Cheney & Rumsfeld, before they took such short-sighted action and sent our military to invade Iraq? And why were there not any political advisers with the talents of Miss Emma Sky to advise President Obama and VP Biden against so unwisely choosing to retain Iraqi President Maliki after he had lost the elections? Will leaders never learn the lesson that only short-term goals can be attained through the use of force? Perhaps too many male leaders with too much testerone?
The author, Emma Sky, is a British citizen and civil servant, and an Arabist who volunteered in 2004 after seeing a request made by the British government to serve in Iraq to help put Iraq together again after the invasion. She found herself landing in Northern Iraq as a political advisor to American General Mayfield. She eventually became an advisor to Paul Bremer in Bagdhad, and then advisor, at Genral Odierno request, when he became the overall American military commander in Iraq. At 5'3" to Gen Odierno's 6'5, she was at his side constantly. She also befriended many of the Iraqi leaders including the Sheiks, in different parts of the country, gaining their respect, while NOT wearing the traditonal Muslim women's body coverings! She was able to converse in Arabic, and felt free to visit different areas and get to know the Iraqi people, which enabled her to give invaluable advice to the Americans.
The errors made during this conflict are thoroughly delineated, beginning with the decision to invade, Bremer's appointment though he had no background in the area, the dissolution of the Iraqi military, and de-Baathification. The surge under Gen. Odierno and Petreaus did succeed, there were free elections - and of course the U.S. screwed it up again! In the name of political expediency President Obama and V.P. Biden backed Iraqi President Maliki even though he lost the election - easy way out to withdraw troops to fulfill a political promise made, and they unexplicably did not appear to know that Maliki was a tool of the Irani's - as was Chalabi. The author presents the case very well that the true victor in Iraq is Iran.
A very interesting and engrossing read, though most will need to rather ignore the many acronyms used to describe the different military groups. I found this author to be someone I totally admire, perhaps the person in contemporary history that I would most like to know. The question she ultimately raises -- politics was responsible for so many lives lost, and at the present time, it appears, all for naught! (and in fact, to our great harm). Recommend highly. May be a bit of a challenge, though very much worth the effort. I worked for the U.S. military for a period, and also 'served' the U.S. military as the wife of a Naval officer. Totally concurred with Miss Sky's views. Was able to convince my gung-ho military husband to read this book - surprise, surprise he's part way thru the book, totally moved and impressed. There's hope yet!
The author, Emma Sky, is a British citizen and civil servant, and an Arabist who volunteered in 2004 after seeing a request made by the British government to serve in Iraq to help put Iraq together again after the invasion. She found herself landing in Northern Iraq as a political advisor to American General Mayfield. She eventually became an advisor to Paul Bremer in Bagdhad, and then advisor, at Genral Odierno request, when he became the overall American military commander in Iraq. At 5'3" to Gen Odierno's 6'5, she was at his side constantly. She also befriended many of the Iraqi leaders including the Sheiks, in different parts of the country, gaining their respect, while NOT wearing the traditonal Muslim women's body coverings! She was able to converse in Arabic, and felt free to visit different areas and get to know the Iraqi people, which enabled her to give invaluable advice to the Americans.
The errors made during this conflict are thoroughly delineated, beginning with the decision to invade, Bremer's appointment though he had no background in the area, the dissolution of the Iraqi military, and de-Baathification. The surge under Gen. Odierno and Petreaus did succeed, there were free elections - and of course the U.S. screwed it up again! In the name of political expediency President Obama and V.P. Biden backed Iraqi President Maliki even though he lost the election - easy way out to withdraw troops to fulfill a political promise made, and they unexplicably did not appear to know that Maliki was a tool of the Irani's - as was Chalabi. The author presents the case very well that the true victor in Iraq is Iran.
A very interesting and engrossing read, though most will need to rather ignore the many acronyms used to describe the different military groups. I found this author to be someone I totally admire, perhaps the person in contemporary history that I would most like to know. The question she ultimately raises -- politics was responsible for so many lives lost, and at the present time, it appears, all for naught! (and in fact, to our great harm). Recommend highly. May be a bit of a challenge, though very much worth the effort. I worked for the U.S. military for a period, and also 'served' the U.S. military as the wife of a Naval officer. Totally concurred with Miss Sky's views. Was able to convince my gung-ho military husband to read this book - surprise, surprise he's part way thru the book, totally moved and impressed. There's hope yet!
December 29, 2016
Impressive memoir of Emma Sky's time as a political advisor to the U.S. military in Iraq. I read it for research purposes but what was particularly moving was her deep empathy and love for all parties involved in the war, both the Iraqis and the Americans. Despite her deep opposition to the conflict (she is essentially an Arabist) she ends up quite enamored with the U.S. military and its leaders, particularly Ray Odierno, but unlike in other stories I don't think this is just a product of proximity. She clearly loves Iraq, its people and its culture and the book is much more "outside the wire" than most military memoirs.
There is a lot of detail of how Iraq could have gone differently had different choices been made. Her time as a government advisor in the ethnically-diverse city of Kirkuk was a microcosm of how Iraqis could work together across ethnic and religious lines. The anecdotes of Americans and Iraqis positive interactions and relationships were quite moving. There is also a lot of history told over the course of her reflections.
The last part of the book deals with the causes of Daesh, which Sky mainly attributes to the abuses of the Maliki regime. Although this section felt a little rushed and tacked on (after all it was what had brought Iraq back into public consciousness) she had an insider view of all the events and nonetheless provides a valuable addition the historical record. Aside from the knowledge gleaned about contemporary Iraq, this is an enjoyable memoir written by a clearly extraordinary woman.
There is a lot of detail of how Iraq could have gone differently had different choices been made. Her time as a government advisor in the ethnically-diverse city of Kirkuk was a microcosm of how Iraqis could work together across ethnic and religious lines. The anecdotes of Americans and Iraqis positive interactions and relationships were quite moving. There is also a lot of history told over the course of her reflections.
The last part of the book deals with the causes of Daesh, which Sky mainly attributes to the abuses of the Maliki regime. Although this section felt a little rushed and tacked on (after all it was what had brought Iraq back into public consciousness) she had an insider view of all the events and nonetheless provides a valuable addition the historical record. Aside from the knowledge gleaned about contemporary Iraq, this is an enjoyable memoir written by a clearly extraordinary woman.
October 16, 2016
This is another (terrifying) work describing the disaster that was the Iraq invasion.
It should be requiring reading. Like Rory Stewart's work, Prince of Marshes, describing his being put in charge of a section of post-invasion Iraq by the British with no training and no support - this work describes a similar situation.
The opening pages describing the absence of a plan, support, expectations are an eye-opener.
The author dedicates large blocks of her life, with good intentions, to the reconstruction efforts.
She is involved early on, and oddly (as a British civilian) stays on as a major advisor to the US military in what must be a fairly unprecedented fashion. She then continues her dedication to Iraq after the US leaves, and is therefore able to describe the early chaos, the attempt at order, and the return to chaos that has characterized events.
Like many works on the subject, this one is disheartening.
But it should be read.
It should be requiring reading. Like Rory Stewart's work, Prince of Marshes, describing his being put in charge of a section of post-invasion Iraq by the British with no training and no support - this work describes a similar situation.
The opening pages describing the absence of a plan, support, expectations are an eye-opener.
The author dedicates large blocks of her life, with good intentions, to the reconstruction efforts.
She is involved early on, and oddly (as a British civilian) stays on as a major advisor to the US military in what must be a fairly unprecedented fashion. She then continues her dedication to Iraq after the US leaves, and is therefore able to describe the early chaos, the attempt at order, and the return to chaos that has characterized events.
Like many works on the subject, this one is disheartening.
But it should be read.
January 26, 2016
Emma Sky has undoubtedly had some interesting experiences in Iraq, and is a knowledgeable narrator about the region. That being said, I thought this book was dramatically overrated. Much of it seems like almost a recitation of her various activities - meetings, people, events from day to day and week to week during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The writing style is mostly matter-of-fact, and it's hard to be interested in moving from one chapter to the next. If you are extremely interested in the topic, this might be a good addition to your reading list, but for a general interest audience, there are (much) better books about U.S. policy in Iraq.
May 28, 2017
It's not often that I consider stopping reading a book. I think I am fairly well-read on the different perspectives on Iraq. Do not waste your time on this book. At least she reveals her bias as she continually states her hatred of war (like all of us) as well as near-contempt for those who would be called to fight it. This is a self-serving memoir that paints Ms Sky as a tireless hero and the majority of Americans as stupid war-mongers.
Perhaps the most telling exchange is when Genera O asks her who she believes has killed the most people and she replies with something akin to "besides Americans"?
Perhaps the most telling exchange is when Genera O asks her who she believes has killed the most people and she replies with something akin to "besides Americans"?
February 27, 2017
Wanted more accounting and a little less memoir. That said, her perspective is unique, informative, and utterly fascinating. Probably challenging to make this digestible and palatable to general audience but think it largely succeeded in doing so.
January 28, 2018
A very good story about the unlikely adventures of Emma Sky in Iraq. She did more, for more people, with less, than I'd have thought possible. The woman's story should be made into a movie, but nobody would believe it.
October 26, 2017
Very enlightining
July 19, 2015
Who knew the man behind the curtain in Iraq was actually a five-foot-four, petite woman born in London, England? Who knew that same woman would first serve U.S. Army Colonel William Mayville and later U.S. General Ray Odierno as their personal POLAD? (If you live anywhere close to Minnesota, until now, the only POLAD you knew was the Pohlad family, owners of a Major League Baseball team.) Who knew that American military officers even employed civilian political advisers?
In this personal, 363-page memoir, Emma Sky discusses the “high hopes and missed opportunities” she observed while working for Mayville and Odierno in Iraq between June 2003 and July 2014. The 47 year-old author freely admits she “was opposed to the (Iraqi) war, (and was) concerned about its legality and the rationale behind it.” In addition to being a pacifist, (at least when it comes to Iraq), Sky describes herself as “an abiding (skeptic) towards organized religion.” After living briefly on a kibbutz in Israel, Sky “came away a humanist.”
With that as keys to Sky’s personality and politics, it might explain why she responded to American military personnel upon her first arrival in Iraq the way she did. “Soldiers viewed themselves as liberators and were angry that Iraqis were not more grateful for their liberation.” Sky was asked, “What do we need to do to be loved?” The author writes, “I told them that people who invaded other people’s countries and killed people who were no threat to them would never be loved.” Sky found it hard “to understand why intelligent Americans would choose to join the army and kill other people in wars which were ideological rather than defensive.”
Sky once told General Odierno that America’s involvement in Iraq “is the greatest strategic failure since the foundation of the United States.” That coming from a self-defined “internationalist, who was dedicated to fighting injustice and promoting peace” and who opposed “state terrorism and Western foreign policy which propped up oppressive regimes.” I think the closest Sky gets to spelling out why the Iraqi invasion was “the greatest strategic failure” was in her summary of her work as part of General Odierno’s initiatives group. Four military colonels and Sky met in the evenings for a couple of weeks to “define the nature of the threat facing Iraq and how Coalition forces should respond.” Sky’s group “redefined ‘success’ (in Iraq) in a much more modest way as ‘sustainable stability.’" The panel “identified different drivers of instability (including) sectarian violence, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Sunni insurgency, Shia extremists, Kurdish expansionism, Shia-on-Shia violence, external subversion, criminality and weak state institutions.”
Emma Sky, who General Odierno once described as his “secret weapon,” charges here that “Washington had reneged on the promises it had made to Iraqis to protect the political process and it had betrayed the very principles the U.S. military believed it was fighting to uphold. Instead, (the U.S. government) had reverted to supporting the status quo rather than reform. But this was a status quo which was not tenable.”
Sky summarizes General Odierno’s role in the nineteenth chapter, titled “Losing Iraq.” “General Odierno had gone as far as he could to try to get the US administration to engage more, to uphold the election results and to try to broker the formation of the Iraqi government through an agreement among the leaders.” Sky writes, (Odierno) “had warned of the authoritarian tendencies of Maliki. He had campaigned at the highest level in person and written countless reports.” The general told Sky, “I gave my best military advice.” It was ignored.
While reviewing a counter-insurgency manual at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Sky once asked a group of American military officers, “Should we not examine why we did not win? Was it due to lack of overall strategy, wrong tactics or poor leadership?” Perhaps Sky will address those questions in her next book. If so, hopefully it will be a lot easier to read. For my tastes, there were just too many impossible to spell or pronounce Arabic names, far too many governmental committees, agencies, political parties and militias mentioned. Not to mention a totally chaotic and extremely complicated country with an equally chaotic and complicated history. I’m still not sure I know what caused “The Unraveling.”
In this personal, 363-page memoir, Emma Sky discusses the “high hopes and missed opportunities” she observed while working for Mayville and Odierno in Iraq between June 2003 and July 2014. The 47 year-old author freely admits she “was opposed to the (Iraqi) war, (and was) concerned about its legality and the rationale behind it.” In addition to being a pacifist, (at least when it comes to Iraq), Sky describes herself as “an abiding (skeptic) towards organized religion.” After living briefly on a kibbutz in Israel, Sky “came away a humanist.”
With that as keys to Sky’s personality and politics, it might explain why she responded to American military personnel upon her first arrival in Iraq the way she did. “Soldiers viewed themselves as liberators and were angry that Iraqis were not more grateful for their liberation.” Sky was asked, “What do we need to do to be loved?” The author writes, “I told them that people who invaded other people’s countries and killed people who were no threat to them would never be loved.” Sky found it hard “to understand why intelligent Americans would choose to join the army and kill other people in wars which were ideological rather than defensive.”
Sky once told General Odierno that America’s involvement in Iraq “is the greatest strategic failure since the foundation of the United States.” That coming from a self-defined “internationalist, who was dedicated to fighting injustice and promoting peace” and who opposed “state terrorism and Western foreign policy which propped up oppressive regimes.” I think the closest Sky gets to spelling out why the Iraqi invasion was “the greatest strategic failure” was in her summary of her work as part of General Odierno’s initiatives group. Four military colonels and Sky met in the evenings for a couple of weeks to “define the nature of the threat facing Iraq and how Coalition forces should respond.” Sky’s group “redefined ‘success’ (in Iraq) in a much more modest way as ‘sustainable stability.’" The panel “identified different drivers of instability (including) sectarian violence, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Sunni insurgency, Shia extremists, Kurdish expansionism, Shia-on-Shia violence, external subversion, criminality and weak state institutions.”
Emma Sky, who General Odierno once described as his “secret weapon,” charges here that “Washington had reneged on the promises it had made to Iraqis to protect the political process and it had betrayed the very principles the U.S. military believed it was fighting to uphold. Instead, (the U.S. government) had reverted to supporting the status quo rather than reform. But this was a status quo which was not tenable.”
Sky summarizes General Odierno’s role in the nineteenth chapter, titled “Losing Iraq.” “General Odierno had gone as far as he could to try to get the US administration to engage more, to uphold the election results and to try to broker the formation of the Iraqi government through an agreement among the leaders.” Sky writes, (Odierno) “had warned of the authoritarian tendencies of Maliki. He had campaigned at the highest level in person and written countless reports.” The general told Sky, “I gave my best military advice.” It was ignored.
While reviewing a counter-insurgency manual at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Sky once asked a group of American military officers, “Should we not examine why we did not win? Was it due to lack of overall strategy, wrong tactics or poor leadership?” Perhaps Sky will address those questions in her next book. If so, hopefully it will be a lot easier to read. For my tastes, there were just too many impossible to spell or pronounce Arabic names, far too many governmental committees, agencies, political parties and militias mentioned. Not to mention a totally chaotic and extremely complicated country with an equally chaotic and complicated history. I’m still not sure I know what caused “The Unraveling.”
November 8, 2015
An extraordinary and in many ways subversive book. Emma Sky, a British civilian with extensive experience in the Middle East, arrived in Iraq in June 2003, having volunteered to work with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Her assignment was vague, her job description non-existent. "I had been opposed to the war and naturally suspicious of the military. Yet I had volunteered for three months to help get Iraq back on its feet -- and within weeks of the fall of Saddam I had found myself governing a province. By the time I left Iraq many years later, I had served as the political adviser to American generals through the surge and the drawdown of US troops. A British woman, advising the top leadership of the US military . . . I suppose it must have seemed an unlikely story."
Unlikely indeed, and its unlikelihood -- along with Sky's willingness and ability to rise to the occasion -- is what makes The Unraveling so powerful and so subversive on several levels. Her perspective -- as a skeptic, a woman, and a Brit -- illuminated the role of the U.S. military in Iraq for me (also a skeptic, also a woman, but USian, not British) as nothing before it had. It thoroughly demolishes the sloganeering that passes for political discourse in the U.S. and should make the "support our troops" and the "bring them home" factions equally uncomfortable.
She does the same for the situation that unfolded on the ground in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's overthrow, and how it was made worse by the ignorance and political stupidity of the Bush II administration. Sky's account of the personalities and factions involved is daunting in its detail. No, you won't grasp it all in one reading, or even two, but you will get a feel for what was going on, and for why some approaches worked and others backfired. You'll also gain insight into Iran's role in Iraq, which has more to do with regional geopolitics than with religion: Iraq is Iran's buffer against the rest of the Arab world, and a disunited, dysfunctional Iraq is unlikely to pose a threat to its eastern neighbor.
The last chapters of The Unraveling are both heartbreaking and infuriating. When Iraq managed to hold free and fair elections in 2010, the results were undermined by Prime Minister Maliki, who didn't want to give up power -- and the U.S. backed him up. Sectarianism won out over valiant attempts to unify the country, and Da'esh (the Islamic State) has rushed into the breach. As Sky notes of the tribes who were instrumental in the "Sunni Awakening": "Despite its perverted interpretation of Islam, they viewed the Islamic State as the lesser of two evils when compared with Maliki."
The same Maliki about whom President Obama said, in November 2013, "And we appreciate Prime Minister Maliki's comitment to honoring that sacrifice [of American and Iraqi lives] by ensuring a strong, prosperous, inclusive and democratic Iraq." One wonders if the president knew better and was lying, or if he just didn't care.
As Sky points out: "No US official had been held accountable for the decision to invade Iraq; nor for what happened after the overthrow of the regime; nor for the way in which the US departed. And few showed any signs of remorse."
This book is well written, but it's not an easy read. In a way, it's like watching a train wreck unfold in slow motion, when you know just how bad it's going to get. But Emma Sky was the right person in the right place at the right time to tell the story -- perhaps the only person in the world who could have told this story. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have read it.
Unlikely indeed, and its unlikelihood -- along with Sky's willingness and ability to rise to the occasion -- is what makes The Unraveling so powerful and so subversive on several levels. Her perspective -- as a skeptic, a woman, and a Brit -- illuminated the role of the U.S. military in Iraq for me (also a skeptic, also a woman, but USian, not British) as nothing before it had. It thoroughly demolishes the sloganeering that passes for political discourse in the U.S. and should make the "support our troops" and the "bring them home" factions equally uncomfortable.
She does the same for the situation that unfolded on the ground in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's overthrow, and how it was made worse by the ignorance and political stupidity of the Bush II administration. Sky's account of the personalities and factions involved is daunting in its detail. No, you won't grasp it all in one reading, or even two, but you will get a feel for what was going on, and for why some approaches worked and others backfired. You'll also gain insight into Iran's role in Iraq, which has more to do with regional geopolitics than with religion: Iraq is Iran's buffer against the rest of the Arab world, and a disunited, dysfunctional Iraq is unlikely to pose a threat to its eastern neighbor.
The last chapters of The Unraveling are both heartbreaking and infuriating. When Iraq managed to hold free and fair elections in 2010, the results were undermined by Prime Minister Maliki, who didn't want to give up power -- and the U.S. backed him up. Sectarianism won out over valiant attempts to unify the country, and Da'esh (the Islamic State) has rushed into the breach. As Sky notes of the tribes who were instrumental in the "Sunni Awakening": "Despite its perverted interpretation of Islam, they viewed the Islamic State as the lesser of two evils when compared with Maliki."
The same Maliki about whom President Obama said, in November 2013, "And we appreciate Prime Minister Maliki's comitment to honoring that sacrifice [of American and Iraqi lives] by ensuring a strong, prosperous, inclusive and democratic Iraq." One wonders if the president knew better and was lying, or if he just didn't care.
As Sky points out: "No US official had been held accountable for the decision to invade Iraq; nor for what happened after the overthrow of the regime; nor for the way in which the US departed. And few showed any signs of remorse."
This book is well written, but it's not an easy read. In a way, it's like watching a train wreck unfold in slow motion, when you know just how bad it's going to get. But Emma Sky was the right person in the right place at the right time to tell the story -- perhaps the only person in the world who could have told this story. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have read it.
August 5, 2016
A lot has been written on the US invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, but this book adds some new elements. The author, Ms Sky, is British, was appalled by the US and UK decision to go to war, describes herself as an internationalist and a supporter of Barack Obama. The tenor of the book however, has several themes that are in tension to her orientation.
As the war was underway, she took a reasonable position to participate in bringing positive change into the aftermath, due to her knowledge of the Arab world. When the aftermath went sour - and she doesn't hold back as to her disgust with the lack of post conflict planning by the US and UK - she found herself working with Iraqis (Kurds, Sunnis, Shites, Turkmen, etc, and all the pro and anti factions among these ethnic and religious groupings) to work towards reconciliation and progress. This work and her observations on the complexity of the Iraqi/Iranian/Syrian human landscape is worth the read itself.
Sky finds herself working closer and closer with the US military (including the big guy himself - General Odierno) on more fully understanding the conflicts between alliances and spaces for reconciliation. While not giving an inch to President Bush, she accepts his decision of the surge in 2006 as a legitimate attempt to deal with the divisions and tensions let loose by the removal of Saddam. Then she details the increasingly unhelpful political polarity back in the US, which in turn begins to squander the progress made at that point after 3 years of carnage.
Sky maintains that 2007-2009 represents the near success of creating a truly resilient, if not stable, Iraq out of the desolation of both the Saddam years and the factions fighting round one of the civil war between Sunni and Shia factions. Her characterization of the conflict between the two Islamic perspectives from 2004-2007 as a civil war was an eye opener. She then goes on to note that "round two" began in earnest in 2011 with the American withdrawal - a civil war that pulled in and tore apart Syria - no small thanks to Assad and his savagery - and saw the emergence of ISIS.
Sky details the lack of interest by the Obama administration between 2009 and 2011 regarding Iraq's political fragility. She laments that in her view, the new administration threw away the hard work of the US military which had made great progress in sorting out and supporting true Iraqi nationalists. Instead, Obama's campaign promise to leave Iraq meant that an increasingly factional Maliki was left in place without little interaction. She states that the all important election in 2009 where Iraqiya's Allawi was unable to form a new government due to Maliki's manipulation was the point of decision, and one where the US involvement was absent. The trajectory of Iraq steadily declined from there, and the result in 2016 is clearly seen.
A tough book - as the title goes, "High hopes and squandered opportunities in Iraq." I must say that the second biggest impression for me (after the dis-interest by the new White House in 2009), was the utter lack of thought put into the invasion aftermath. What is the book on that?
As the war was underway, she took a reasonable position to participate in bringing positive change into the aftermath, due to her knowledge of the Arab world. When the aftermath went sour - and she doesn't hold back as to her disgust with the lack of post conflict planning by the US and UK - she found herself working with Iraqis (Kurds, Sunnis, Shites, Turkmen, etc, and all the pro and anti factions among these ethnic and religious groupings) to work towards reconciliation and progress. This work and her observations on the complexity of the Iraqi/Iranian/Syrian human landscape is worth the read itself.
Sky finds herself working closer and closer with the US military (including the big guy himself - General Odierno) on more fully understanding the conflicts between alliances and spaces for reconciliation. While not giving an inch to President Bush, she accepts his decision of the surge in 2006 as a legitimate attempt to deal with the divisions and tensions let loose by the removal of Saddam. Then she details the increasingly unhelpful political polarity back in the US, which in turn begins to squander the progress made at that point after 3 years of carnage.
Sky maintains that 2007-2009 represents the near success of creating a truly resilient, if not stable, Iraq out of the desolation of both the Saddam years and the factions fighting round one of the civil war between Sunni and Shia factions. Her characterization of the conflict between the two Islamic perspectives from 2004-2007 as a civil war was an eye opener. She then goes on to note that "round two" began in earnest in 2011 with the American withdrawal - a civil war that pulled in and tore apart Syria - no small thanks to Assad and his savagery - and saw the emergence of ISIS.
Sky details the lack of interest by the Obama administration between 2009 and 2011 regarding Iraq's political fragility. She laments that in her view, the new administration threw away the hard work of the US military which had made great progress in sorting out and supporting true Iraqi nationalists. Instead, Obama's campaign promise to leave Iraq meant that an increasingly factional Maliki was left in place without little interaction. She states that the all important election in 2009 where Iraqiya's Allawi was unable to form a new government due to Maliki's manipulation was the point of decision, and one where the US involvement was absent. The trajectory of Iraq steadily declined from there, and the result in 2016 is clearly seen.
A tough book - as the title goes, "High hopes and squandered opportunities in Iraq." I must say that the second biggest impression for me (after the dis-interest by the new White House in 2009), was the utter lack of thought put into the invasion aftermath. What is the book on that?
January 23, 2017
OK, I will start by admitting that there may be a degree of subjectivity in my giving this book 5 stars in that, with both my parents coming from Iraq, this book undoubtedly resonated with me more than it would with most. That said, at the time of posting it's scoring 4.13 stars on Goodreads, from which I see that it was also 'shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction 2015 One of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015 One of Financial Times Books of the Year, 2015 A New York Times Editors' Choice'. Even leaving my personal interest aside, this is clearly therefore objectively a 4-5 star book.
The premise is fascinating. Emma Sky lived in Jerusalem for 10 years working for NGOs. As a fluent Arabic speaker she volunteered to go to Iraq just after the allied invasion in 2003 to help the situation on the ground. She went in with visions of setting up women's cooperatives or the like, but somehow in the chaos (or more accurately, the absence of anyone else capable of doing the job) ended up attached to a US Colonel, effectively acting as his political adviser in respect of an entire province. She later went on to become the political adviser to the N0. 2 in the US Army in Iraq.
That in itself would be an amazing story, but what makes the book so excellent is that it's a story that's wonderfully told. From the preface, where she attends the Chilcot Enquiry and leaves them open-mouthed ("What briefing were you given before you went to Iraq?" "Turn up at RAF Brize Norton. As soon as you get to Basra there will be somebody to meet you..." [there wasn't]) the pages just turn themselves. The cast of characters can be a bit difficult to follow (though there is an index), but otherwise this is basically the story of an 'ordinary' (though she clearly isn't) person in extraordinary circumstances, mixed in with an explanation of the complexity of Iraqi sectarianism and politics, and mixed in with an explanation of the complexity of US sectarianism (diplomatic vs. military) and politics.
An exceptionally good book.
The premise is fascinating. Emma Sky lived in Jerusalem for 10 years working for NGOs. As a fluent Arabic speaker she volunteered to go to Iraq just after the allied invasion in 2003 to help the situation on the ground. She went in with visions of setting up women's cooperatives or the like, but somehow in the chaos (or more accurately, the absence of anyone else capable of doing the job) ended up attached to a US Colonel, effectively acting as his political adviser in respect of an entire province. She later went on to become the political adviser to the N0. 2 in the US Army in Iraq.
That in itself would be an amazing story, but what makes the book so excellent is that it's a story that's wonderfully told. From the preface, where she attends the Chilcot Enquiry and leaves them open-mouthed ("What briefing were you given before you went to Iraq?" "Turn up at RAF Brize Norton. As soon as you get to Basra there will be somebody to meet you..." [there wasn't]) the pages just turn themselves. The cast of characters can be a bit difficult to follow (though there is an index), but otherwise this is basically the story of an 'ordinary' (though she clearly isn't) person in extraordinary circumstances, mixed in with an explanation of the complexity of Iraqi sectarianism and politics, and mixed in with an explanation of the complexity of US sectarianism (diplomatic vs. military) and politics.
An exceptionally good book.
September 13, 2017
The Unravelling by Emma Sky traces the high hopes and missed opportunities in Iraq. Or so it claims. It felt more like: The Unravelling by Emma Sky traces Emma Sky's adventures and achievements in Iraq.
This rather poorly-edited book focused a great deal on the US military's perspective in Iraq, which is fine, because Sky was serving as POLAD to the four-star Commanding General of the US forces in Iraq. (Being British and a woman, this was an interesting place to be for her, a fact she reminds us of many times.) But I wanted more insight into how things fell apart, on a larger scale. (And better writing! And more context! And less name-dropping!)
She does share quite a few instances of good intentions gone awry, the military's attempts foiled by a lack of support from diplomats and most disappointingly, the Obama administration. Enough to leave me seething and raging at the world, for its callous indifference and its selective filters and its bumbling ineptitude.
Fuck us all.
This rather poorly-edited book focused a great deal on the US military's perspective in Iraq, which is fine, because Sky was serving as POLAD to the four-star Commanding General of the US forces in Iraq. (Being British and a woman, this was an interesting place to be for her, a fact she reminds us of many times.) But I wanted more insight into how things fell apart, on a larger scale. (And better writing! And more context! And less name-dropping!)
She does share quite a few instances of good intentions gone awry, the military's attempts foiled by a lack of support from diplomats and most disappointingly, the Obama administration. Enough to leave me seething and raging at the world, for its callous indifference and its selective filters and its bumbling ineptitude.
Fuck us all.
January 20, 2018
Very interesting insight into just how easy it is for an individual completely lacking in state building and country-specific expertise to use innate skills in human relations to perhaps make a difference on the margins (e.g., leveraging her natural empathy to become an astute negotiator in affairs that in retrospect are unlikely to matter). Emma was essentially a POLAD for senior military commanders, though from my experience working with the Iraqis, her influence and insight with those that remained after each successive wave of Coalition deployments ebbed, were both short lived. Further, the naïveté exhibited in her memoir is at times a bit breathtaking. For example, the generalizations about an individual’s/tribe’s/commander’s/U.S. policy maker’s decision making process - it’s a chess board not a checkers game! Nevertheless, the book is informative particularly for those wishing to dip a toe into Iraq before a tour of duty.
November 26, 2018
Emma Sky entered a country in 2003 where just five years previously, between 1991 - 1998 half a million children (that's 500,000) under the age of five died from curable or preventable diseases. The children died from malnutrition, diseased water lack of medical care. "If you include adults, the figure would be well over a million...." Felicity Arbuthnot, "Tell me no lies: Iraq's Child Mortality", 539. Feb. 1999. And it was all from preventable or curable diseases. Iraq has become a war zone, a disaster zone and it will take at least a generation to recover.
With this firmly in this reader's mind, he was surprised by the passion, determination and resolve of Emma Sky to try to help the Iraqi people. To try to understand the enormity of the situation, however, this person had to read around the topic and found the following information helpful. He found that in the north of Iraq (in Kurdistan), there are people called the Yazidi and in 2014 ISIL's actions against the Yazidi population, had resulted in 5000 men being slaughtered and about 10,800 women and children were abducted. In 2016, Lori Hinnant, Maya Alleruzzo and Balint Szlanko of the Associated Press report that ISIL had tightened "its grip on the estimated 3,000 women and girls held as sex slaves" and selling them, “on encrypted smart phone apps”. On November 7th 2018, it was reported on multiple media sources that over 200 ISIL mass graves had been found and may include up to 12,000 bodies from the Yazidi (northern Iraq) area.
In 2014, (when things fell apart) an additional 2.5 million people (half a million were Yazidi), including more than a million children, were forced to leave their homes and were displaced inside Iraq or have fled across international borders. ‘Save the Children’. 2015. It totalled more than four and half million refugees from Iraq that fled the country to find safe passage elsewhere.
In Iraq itself, civilian death was everywhere.
in 2009, 5376 civilians were killed.
In 2010, there were 4167.
In 2011, there were 4162.
In 2012, there were 4622.
In 2013, there were 9852.
But, in 2014, there were 20,218 civilian deaths in Iraq which was a spike from previous years. The 2014 figures are only similar, if you have to go back 2006 & 2007 where an astounding 29,517 & 26,078 civilians were killed. Statista.com.
Iraq has certainly become a terrible blight on the human race. So, when Emma Sky said that, in 2014, "Things fall apart", well they certainly did. A void had occurred and ISIL was quickly trying and fill it. "Iran was resurgent, a proxy war was raging... and the US appeared to be in global retreat". p.360. There were no clear answers about what went on there but, this person liked the following quotes or comments from her book: that the US didn't even have a strategy in place for when they ousted Saddam Hussein; "It was the greatest strategic failure since the foundation of the US", p.147. The US didn't even know that the country was roughly divided amongst the Sunni's, Shia's and the Kurd's in the north. President Obama had inherited a 1.2 trillion dollar deficit from the previous government. He was awarded the Noble Peace Prize (probably for his 'humanitarian' aid efforts) and then two years later he passed the biggest ever war budget in US history. In 2013, he then cited that ending the Iraqi War as his biggest foreign policy success!!? Really! Lastly, back in Iraq, corruption was rife, no gave orders to fight, some had taken the funds for food and bought weapons and then kept the rest for themselves. And the most damning comment of all was that, "No US official had been held accountable for the decision to invade Iraq..... and few showed any signs of remorse", p.362.
What this person really liked the most about the book was her understanding of the factions, secularism and her ability to dissect between the Sadrists (the Shia political party), the Shia population, extremism Shia who became the militia; the Sunni's (who boycotted the elections), the Sunni caliphate (ISIL) and other Sunni extremism which became Al Qaeda; the CPA (the US) the Coalition Provisional Authority and the many players in Iraq such as Rafi who represented the forgotten Sunni's, Maliki who become President of a country in civil war and General Odierno who fought for the US. Yes, Emma Sky was able to describe what she saw in Iraq with academic precision, diplomacy and compassion when often all around her, there was violence, bloodshed and death.
Finally, Emma Sky discussed reconciliation processes ( or the lack of them). Not only did the US infantry not do reconciliation, but NO infantry does reconciliation. All infantries around the world are taught and trained to do one thing and that is too 'shoot the enemy' (whoever they maybe). Reconciliation must be multi-sourced and be implemented from a high levelled structured organisation, it doesn't and CANNOT come directional and solely from the infantry.
Some other references that are worth reading include:
Anderson Tim, "The Dirty War on Syria". 2016.
Baer, Robert, "See No Evil". 2002.
Baer, Robert, "Sleeping with the Devil: The truth about Saudi Arabia crude". 2004.
Fisk, Robert, "The Great War For Civilisation: The conquest of the Middle East". 2005. All 1100 pages
Murad Nadia, "The Last Girl: The story of my captivity and my fight against the Islamic Sate". 2017.
Pilger John, "Tell Me no Lies: Investigative Journalism that changed the world". 2005.
Pilger, John, "Freedom Next Time ".'Liberating Afghanistan', Chapter 5, p.351-415.
Wright Lawerence , "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11". 2005.
Lastly, some knowledgable people that know a lot about Iraq, Syria and the Middle East on social media (Facebook) include: Tim Anderson, Vanessa Beelley, Eva Karene Bartlett, Elijah J. Magnier and you could even try Damascus-now for what's happening in Syria.
With this firmly in this reader's mind, he was surprised by the passion, determination and resolve of Emma Sky to try to help the Iraqi people. To try to understand the enormity of the situation, however, this person had to read around the topic and found the following information helpful. He found that in the north of Iraq (in Kurdistan), there are people called the Yazidi and in 2014 ISIL's actions against the Yazidi population, had resulted in 5000 men being slaughtered and about 10,800 women and children were abducted. In 2016, Lori Hinnant, Maya Alleruzzo and Balint Szlanko of the Associated Press report that ISIL had tightened "its grip on the estimated 3,000 women and girls held as sex slaves" and selling them, “on encrypted smart phone apps”. On November 7th 2018, it was reported on multiple media sources that over 200 ISIL mass graves had been found and may include up to 12,000 bodies from the Yazidi (northern Iraq) area.
In 2014, (when things fell apart) an additional 2.5 million people (half a million were Yazidi), including more than a million children, were forced to leave their homes and were displaced inside Iraq or have fled across international borders. ‘Save the Children’. 2015. It totalled more than four and half million refugees from Iraq that fled the country to find safe passage elsewhere.
In Iraq itself, civilian death was everywhere.
in 2009, 5376 civilians were killed.
In 2010, there were 4167.
In 2011, there were 4162.
In 2012, there were 4622.
In 2013, there were 9852.
But, in 2014, there were 20,218 civilian deaths in Iraq which was a spike from previous years. The 2014 figures are only similar, if you have to go back 2006 & 2007 where an astounding 29,517 & 26,078 civilians were killed. Statista.com.
Iraq has certainly become a terrible blight on the human race. So, when Emma Sky said that, in 2014, "Things fall apart", well they certainly did. A void had occurred and ISIL was quickly trying and fill it. "Iran was resurgent, a proxy war was raging... and the US appeared to be in global retreat". p.360. There were no clear answers about what went on there but, this person liked the following quotes or comments from her book: that the US didn't even have a strategy in place for when they ousted Saddam Hussein; "It was the greatest strategic failure since the foundation of the US", p.147. The US didn't even know that the country was roughly divided amongst the Sunni's, Shia's and the Kurd's in the north. President Obama had inherited a 1.2 trillion dollar deficit from the previous government. He was awarded the Noble Peace Prize (probably for his 'humanitarian' aid efforts) and then two years later he passed the biggest ever war budget in US history. In 2013, he then cited that ending the Iraqi War as his biggest foreign policy success!!? Really! Lastly, back in Iraq, corruption was rife, no gave orders to fight, some had taken the funds for food and bought weapons and then kept the rest for themselves. And the most damning comment of all was that, "No US official had been held accountable for the decision to invade Iraq..... and few showed any signs of remorse", p.362.
What this person really liked the most about the book was her understanding of the factions, secularism and her ability to dissect between the Sadrists (the Shia political party), the Shia population, extremism Shia who became the militia; the Sunni's (who boycotted the elections), the Sunni caliphate (ISIL) and other Sunni extremism which became Al Qaeda; the CPA (the US) the Coalition Provisional Authority and the many players in Iraq such as Rafi who represented the forgotten Sunni's, Maliki who become President of a country in civil war and General Odierno who fought for the US. Yes, Emma Sky was able to describe what she saw in Iraq with academic precision, diplomacy and compassion when often all around her, there was violence, bloodshed and death.
Finally, Emma Sky discussed reconciliation processes ( or the lack of them). Not only did the US infantry not do reconciliation, but NO infantry does reconciliation. All infantries around the world are taught and trained to do one thing and that is too 'shoot the enemy' (whoever they maybe). Reconciliation must be multi-sourced and be implemented from a high levelled structured organisation, it doesn't and CANNOT come directional and solely from the infantry.
Some other references that are worth reading include:
Anderson Tim, "The Dirty War on Syria". 2016.
Baer, Robert, "See No Evil". 2002.
Baer, Robert, "Sleeping with the Devil: The truth about Saudi Arabia crude". 2004.
Fisk, Robert, "The Great War For Civilisation: The conquest of the Middle East". 2005. All 1100 pages
Murad Nadia, "The Last Girl: The story of my captivity and my fight against the Islamic Sate". 2017.
Pilger John, "Tell Me no Lies: Investigative Journalism that changed the world". 2005.
Pilger, John, "Freedom Next Time ".'Liberating Afghanistan', Chapter 5, p.351-415.
Wright Lawerence , "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11". 2005.
Lastly, some knowledgable people that know a lot about Iraq, Syria and the Middle East on social media (Facebook) include: Tim Anderson, Vanessa Beelley, Eva Karene Bartlett, Elijah J. Magnier and you could even try Damascus-now for what's happening in Syria.
July 11, 2017
(After a few days:) The prologue sets the tone for this memoir. Emma Sky was asked at the British inquiry: How did she know what to pack? An anti-war activist, she was only going to Iraq for 3 months as a volunteer to assist in governance (institutional) reconstruction. I am at page 105, it's more than 3 months, and I know she's going to be there a lot longer. I can only guess that she will earn her OBE, and what to have packed becomes the least of her concerns under fire. Yes, institutions matter, and already the missed opportunities are piling up.
(Later:) I have finished and this book was incredibly insightful. Those three months became years and Emma Sky was involved in history making. Great background on where and how the west failed Iraq.
(Later:) I have finished and this book was incredibly insightful. Those three months became years and Emma Sky was involved in history making. Great background on where and how the west failed Iraq.
October 9, 2015
Her writing style is disappointing.I found the factual parts interesting but could have done without her personal life.
January 27, 2016
Yes, Emma. We know you're wonderful. Please stop telling us.
July 2, 2025
This is an account of Emma Sky's experience of the Iraq War, serving as a political advisor to the US Army. It covers most of the war, following the initial invasion in 2003, through the Surge and up to the withdrawal of US forces in 2011. It was a really interesting perspective as Emma was involved very closely in the efforts to build up the Iraqi state and promote stability in the country, particularly amongst the Kurds, Sunni and Shia. This was extremely difficult given the longstanding sectarian divisions in the country, as well as those entrenched during the decades long reign of Saddam Hussein. For example, Saddam's government was Sunni and his party (the Baath party), and therefore the government/public service was made up of Sunni's. When his regime was topplied, the US forces enacted De-Baathification, meaning that everyone in the top 4 layers of the government who was a Baath party member was removed (or something like that). This meant the public service collapsed, as there was no one else with the experience of running important functions such as transport, administration etc. As well, the Shia were newly empowered, as were the Kurds. This led the Kurds to trying to make up for injustices suffered under Saddam Hussein. For example, under Saddam's rule, Arabs (Sunni or Shia) were incentivized to move to parts of Kurdistan, displacing the locals there. Rather than going on a tangent, the main point is that there are 3 ethnic/religious groups in the state of Iraq (which was formed as a 'state' sometime in the last 100 years), and they all have such a strong sense of identity that there is constant conflict between them. As well, there is corruption, frequent insurgent/terrorist violence and constant efforts by Iran and the US to shape the direction of Iraq in a direction favourable to them. The attempt to fundamentally change Iraq to a democracy is therefore extremely challenging, as the concept of the state of Iraq would ultimately need to be believed by the people to be more important than sectarian differences, which run deep throughout history and ideology. It was particularly interesting to see the journey of Maliki, who goes from a somewhat timid prime minister into someone who 'grows into power' and ultimately becomes a strong man who causes a good amount of the catastrophe that follows the US leaving the country. The failed shift from the post-Saddam vacuum into a functioning democracy hinges, as far as it can hinge on one thing, in the view of the author, on Maliki's party refusing to give an opposing party the chance to attempt to form government after winning the most votes in a national election. This then led further into his authoritarian shift, which was countered by the part of the country outside his sect giving up on peaceful protest and resorting to violence. This is the period where ISIS (who were tolerated by much of the country due to their opposition to the Iraqi government, even though ISIS was against the state of Iraq itself while others were simply against Maliki as dictator) captured large parts of Iraq, before finally being pushed back by the government (although this happens after the events of the book). Regarding the US military, the author had a largely positive view of their role in Iraq, describing the great persistence and efforts they went to in building up the state of Iraq, and the substantial progress they did in fact make during the Surge, prior to leaving the country. The author went to Iraq expecting to be vehemently opposed to the US military's actions, being a strong 'humanitarian', but ended being supportive. This was interesting because the surface level view of the Iraq War is that it was nothing but a massive failure. In the author's view, it actually wasn't a failure. It made great progress, although there were a number of severe, potentially fatal problems all along the way, and if not for a few things going the wrong way (particularly Maliki's subversion of the election, and the US decision to support this based on the view that he could bring stability, and it would be a foreign policy win to end the Iraq war, and the priority had shifted to Afghanistan regardless), then the progress may have continued and led to a strong, secular (non sectarian Iraq). Or something else may have gone wrong and left the country in disaster regardless. Either way, this book is an interesting insight into the nuts and bolts of nation-building, including how its done and the forces that shape it.
October 14, 2024
Emma Sky's memoir, The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq, offers a compelling and nuanced perspective on the complexities of the Iraq War from an insider's viewpoint. As a British Arabist who initially opposed the invasion, Sky provides a unique lens through which to understand the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's regime and the subsequent American involvement.
Sky's narrative is both personal and political, blending her experiences as an advisor to U.S. forces with her observations of Iraqi society. The memoir is characterized by its dark humor and candid reflections, making it accessible while still addressing profound themes of hope and disillusionment. Critics have noted that Sky's writing is engaging, often weaving in anecdotes that illustrate the chaotic reality on the ground.
Sky emphasizes the importance of understanding Iraqi culture and politics on their own terms. She critiques both American strategies and the limitations of foreign intervention, highlighting missed opportunities for genuine engagement with local communities. The memoir is also introspective, detailing Sky's emotional journey as she navigates the challenges of her role in Iraq. Her affection for the Iraqi people shines through, as she recounts both the struggles and resilience of those she worked with.
Sky does not shy away from critiquing U.S. policies and military strategies. She presents a sobering account of how decisions made far from the battlefield often overlooked the complexities of Iraqi society, leading to unintended consequences. Emma Sky's The Unraveling stands out as a significant contribution to the literature on Iraq, offering readers a deeply personal yet broadly relevant exploration of one of the most contentious conflicts in recent history.
Sky's narrative is both personal and political, blending her experiences as an advisor to U.S. forces with her observations of Iraqi society. The memoir is characterized by its dark humor and candid reflections, making it accessible while still addressing profound themes of hope and disillusionment. Critics have noted that Sky's writing is engaging, often weaving in anecdotes that illustrate the chaotic reality on the ground.
Sky emphasizes the importance of understanding Iraqi culture and politics on their own terms. She critiques both American strategies and the limitations of foreign intervention, highlighting missed opportunities for genuine engagement with local communities. The memoir is also introspective, detailing Sky's emotional journey as she navigates the challenges of her role in Iraq. Her affection for the Iraqi people shines through, as she recounts both the struggles and resilience of those she worked with.
Sky does not shy away from critiquing U.S. policies and military strategies. She presents a sobering account of how decisions made far from the battlefield often overlooked the complexities of Iraqi society, leading to unintended consequences. Emma Sky's The Unraveling stands out as a significant contribution to the literature on Iraq, offering readers a deeply personal yet broadly relevant exploration of one of the most contentious conflicts in recent history.
October 15, 2024
2 stars for the writing, 4 stars for the content
Fascinating and disenchanting account of the US invasion in Iraq - my curiosity and wonder at how such things work, and how they fail, kept me going. But I did need perseverence to push through the very factual style, dropping zillions of names and abbreviations but giving very little quality to the people, the connections between events, the intricate motivations and emotions involved. In just a few paragraphs of the first chapter of Politics on the Edge, Rory Stewart already explains events more than in this almost 400 page book...
Glad I read it (1,5 times) but also glad I'm finally done!
Most shocking realisation was that it was Biden, as vice-president to Obama (whose main goal was to retreat from Iraq), who disrespected the outcome of the democratic elections in 2010 and instead supported the seated prime minister, who immediately turned into an autocratic road... the unraveling indeed.
-----
The American Forces Network (AFN) blared out across the base and its announcements still seemed geared towards those with subnormal IGs. Don't drink and drive. Speed kills. Always wear a seat belt. Remember the military code. Don't commit suicide. Never leave a fallen comrade in the field. The nation is grateful to you for defending freedom. Greatest military in the greatest country in the world.
------
We had killed someone who had probably been paid a $100 to place an IED. In the act, we had also killed four children. How many more enemies had we created?
------
I observed General O's feel for the different capabilities of the units and his instinct on how and where to apply them. It was part art, part science.
Fascinating and disenchanting account of the US invasion in Iraq - my curiosity and wonder at how such things work, and how they fail, kept me going. But I did need perseverence to push through the very factual style, dropping zillions of names and abbreviations but giving very little quality to the people, the connections between events, the intricate motivations and emotions involved. In just a few paragraphs of the first chapter of Politics on the Edge, Rory Stewart already explains events more than in this almost 400 page book...
Glad I read it (1,5 times) but also glad I'm finally done!
Most shocking realisation was that it was Biden, as vice-president to Obama (whose main goal was to retreat from Iraq), who disrespected the outcome of the democratic elections in 2010 and instead supported the seated prime minister, who immediately turned into an autocratic road... the unraveling indeed.
-----
The American Forces Network (AFN) blared out across the base and its announcements still seemed geared towards those with subnormal IGs. Don't drink and drive. Speed kills. Always wear a seat belt. Remember the military code. Don't commit suicide. Never leave a fallen comrade in the field. The nation is grateful to you for defending freedom. Greatest military in the greatest country in the world.
------
We had killed someone who had probably been paid a $100 to place an IED. In the act, we had also killed four children. How many more enemies had we created?
------
I observed General O's feel for the different capabilities of the units and his instinct on how and where to apply them. It was part art, part science.
February 21, 2022
Me encontré este libro por casualidad, y lo cogí sin esperar mucho.
Me ha encantado. Explica la ocupación de Irak desde un punto de vista muy interesante: el de una pacifista británica que se ofrece voluntaria para ayudar a la misión del Reino Unido y termina siendo la asesora política (que ni siquiera sabía que existían) del ejército de los EE.UU, acompañando al general Odierno.
Leyendo la narración de Emma Sky te das cuenta de la inmensa complejidad de la tarea. Desde el punto de vista étnico y religioso (chíitas, sunníes, turcos, kurdos) pasando por la violencia generada por la inmediata mala gestión después de la caída de Saddam Hussein. Incluso cuando los responsables eran auténticas "máquinas" de trabajar (Petraeus, Odierno, McChrystal...), la dificultad de la tarea, junto con la interferencia desde Washington, la influencia iraní, y la violencia sectaria, llevaban al límite la capacidad de tod@s los implicad@s.
Emma Sky explica la razón de algunas decisiones que luego resultaron nefastas, y que respondían a criterios políticos en aquel momento más allá de un "gran plan" a largo plazo. Tras leer este lirbo me ha quedado claro porqué surgió con tanta fuerza el Estado Islámico cuando habíamos pensado que el país había sido "pacificado".
Muy, muy recomendable para aquellas personas interesadas en historia militar y política.
Me ha encantado. Explica la ocupación de Irak desde un punto de vista muy interesante: el de una pacifista británica que se ofrece voluntaria para ayudar a la misión del Reino Unido y termina siendo la asesora política (que ni siquiera sabía que existían) del ejército de los EE.UU, acompañando al general Odierno.
Leyendo la narración de Emma Sky te das cuenta de la inmensa complejidad de la tarea. Desde el punto de vista étnico y religioso (chíitas, sunníes, turcos, kurdos) pasando por la violencia generada por la inmediata mala gestión después de la caída de Saddam Hussein. Incluso cuando los responsables eran auténticas "máquinas" de trabajar (Petraeus, Odierno, McChrystal...), la dificultad de la tarea, junto con la interferencia desde Washington, la influencia iraní, y la violencia sectaria, llevaban al límite la capacidad de tod@s los implicad@s.
Emma Sky explica la razón de algunas decisiones que luego resultaron nefastas, y que respondían a criterios políticos en aquel momento más allá de un "gran plan" a largo plazo. Tras leer este lirbo me ha quedado claro porqué surgió con tanta fuerza el Estado Islámico cuando habíamos pensado que el país había sido "pacificado".
Muy, muy recomendable para aquellas personas interesadas en historia militar y política.
July 28, 2017
Interesting and insightful memoir. The author obviously has deep love for Iraq and its peoples, and did convince me of the opportunity lost in Iraq w.r.t the 2010 elections and the rapid pullout by Obama administration. Unlike most mainstream narratives it does correctly attribute significant blame on the Obama administration for the current state of Iraq. I think the biggest achievement of the book is the humanization of atleast a section of the American army and how emotionally some were invested in the success of the Iraqi experiment. Nevertheless, this is a top down view as mentioned by BBC's John Simpson in his excellent review, and in the end she just enabled the continuation of illegal invasion and occupation. I felt the author never thought outside the box and crossed the boundaries set by the embassy/military. For example, why was the decision to stick to the current political state of Iraq, why was partitioning never seriously considered? Why Iran always cast as enemy, I can imagine easily why Iran is deeply interested in the Iraq, and wants to "meddle". Being a neighbor in has stake in Iraq I think it is natural it tries to influence. I think this needs to be maintained by engaging and not casting it as an enemy. But, engaging with Iran was dismissed with a line by General O(and the author).
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