The Freedom: Shadows And Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq

by Christian Parenti, Teru Kuwayama (Photographs)

Consistently compared with the work of Hunter S. Thompson and Michael Herr, The Freedom provides a fearless and unsanitized tour of the disastrous occupation of Iraq, in all its surreal and terrifying detail. Drawing on the best tradition of war reporting, here is a rare book that "embeds" with both sides―the U.S. military and the Iraqi resistance. Acclaimed journalist Christian Parenti takes us on a high-speed ride along treacherous roads to the centers of the ongoing conflict in Fallujah, Ramadi, and Sadr City through the first year of the occupation. He introduces us to relatives waiting anxiously outside the holding fortress of Abu Ghraib and takes a night drive around Baghdad with the insurgents. He recounts the military's use of drugs and prostitutes, the imperial buffoonery of the Green Zone, and the religious ecstasy of the Shiites. And he allows us to witness, close up and in riveting detail, the cataclysmic violence, rampant gangsterism, and quotidian heroism that is today's Iraq. As predicted by the San Francisco Bay Guardian , when "historians of tomorrow start writing, they will doubtless have copies of The Freedom close at hand."

Genres: War, Nonfiction, Middle East, History, 21st Century

211 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2004

About the author

Christian Parenti is a contributing editor at The Nation, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, and a visiting scholar at the City University of New York. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics. The author of Lockdown America, The Soft Cage, and The Freedom. Parenti has written for Fortune, The New York Times, Los AngelesTimes, Washington Post, Playboy, Mother Jones, and The London Review of Books. He has held fellowships from the Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Brother Fund and the Ford Foundation; and has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Lange-Tailor Prize and “Best Magazine Writing 2008” from the Society for Professional Journalists. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't imagine that there is any need to say what this book is about what I will say is that it is a book still well worth reading. This is quite an accomplishment for a book published nearly twenty years ago but it's great strength lies in the way he writes about events that he covered in a way that frees them from being pure journalism. You will read this and wonder why the USA (and others) were involved for so many more years in Iraq (and Afghanistan) and why no one seemed to grasp why they were so unpopular and everything attempted was unmitigated disaster. The answer of course is ask an Iraqi. If Chandrasekaran's splendid 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City' detailed the insanity and hubris within the occupation HQ then 'The Freedom' tells you what it meant for ordinary Iraqis and coalition troops.

The idiocy and dishonesty of the whole interventionist foriegn policy is ruthlessly exposed but, for anyone old enough to remember, it is impossible not to see the example and lessons of Vietnam being ignored and forgotten.

This book should be read by anyone whenever it is proposed to intervene in countries that we do not speak the language and are ignorant of its culture and history. It is time we stopped complaining about 'being hated' and ask ourselves why we hated or more realistically why shouldn't we be hated.

[Abdalla Nasef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast-paced and scenic like a good movie script. Unless it wasn’t. It was reality.

A good read.

[Disa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells of Iraq going from occupation to reconstruction to handover on the ground as it happened in 2003-2004, and it's really good. It gives a brief history of U.S. involvement in Iraq and then tells of the journalists' day-to-day life, patrols with U.S. soldiers, interviews with resistance fighters and civilians caught in between. It's very brief and to the point and really gets across the chaos and insecurity. I remember hearing about Tikrit, Falluja and Abu Ghraib in the news but The Freedom really gives a strong sense of daily life in an occupied, destroyed country; reconstruction never happens but the companies get paid, itchy soldiers detain civilians and lose the records, commanders put soldiers at risk for their own promotions, people die accidents or misunderstandings and their families get no compensation or explanation, it's so bleak and harrowing.

I found this after listening to a lot of lectures by the author's father, and for much of the book I couldn't shake how terrifying it must be to be a parent and read about how your child was woken up by explosions, caught in crossfire and doing interviews next to unexploded mortar shells that kids were throwing rocks at. It's just too much. It's a terrifying, well-written book I had to read in fits and starts because it was so bleak and made me so mad.

[Walt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better written and much briefer than Nir Rosen's Aftermath, it covers much of the same horrific ground: the shameful early years of the American occupation of Iraq. It is hard to even imagine how history will judge the United States in a hundred, two-hundred, a thousand years. I doubt if this episode will be viewed kindly. Think Attila the Hun, the Mongol Hordes, etc.

Most Americans think little of this, despite the fact that it is still recent history. Yet the downward spiral that was set off here continues today, with devastating human consequences.

[Bruce Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing Changes in America's recurrent foreign policy bungle of regime change. Treasure is spent, blood is spilled, and people suffer. Well written and as entertaining to read as such a painful subject can be. Christian Parenti has a keen ability to connect with the reader so that they can connect with the subject matter.

[Adam Schendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Saddam is gone and that is good, but much of Iraq spirals toward greater chaos or perhaps a return to brutal despotism. Where it will end is impossible to say, but for Iraq and the Middle East as a whole this war has been a tragedy of staggering proportions. It has directly caused immeasurable damage and indirectly unleashed irredentist and fundamentalist dynamics that are already playing out in horrifically brutal ways. Perhaps the only aspect of the current crisis that is remotely positive is that the official vision of Planet America, run by bullying from Washington, is beginning to dissolve like a bad hallucination ebbing away."

-Christian Parenti, 2004

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good investigative reporting.

[Simon Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE "FREEDOM"

"The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq" is an account of the first 18 months of the occupation by well known journalist and writer Christian Parenti. The story is familiar now but has not lost the ability to shock. It is stunning to realise that the situation became even worse after the book was written.

Parenti is a brave man. He doesnt just spend time temporarily embedded with the US army but has contact with members of the Iraqi resistance aswell. The feeling of disorentation and nightmare is palpable no matter who he is speaking too and on which side. His portrait of the rag-tag army of Western Journalists is a rarely seen side of the war; some of them, are frankly nuts. In marked contrast the dignity of many of the Iraqis he speaks to is inspiring, their plight depressing.

The book also has an awareness of the context this is all happening in which makes it more than just good reportage. Parenti is also aware of the plight of young soldiers, often brutal and brutalised, serving and fighting in Iraq. He re-interviews them when their tour ends and they are at home in the U.S. and documents their lack of curiousity regarding what it was all about. The tour of duty for the Iraqis unfortunately has no end.

Although I found the style (Hunter S.Thompson meets John Pilger?) a tad wearing at times I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the nitty-gritty of the occupation. Another excellent piece of reportage on the Iraq War is "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq" who is a journalist whose stay in Iraq coincided with Parenti's; his account covers similar territory from a different angle.

[Eric G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not sure if this Christian Parenti has any relation to Michael Parenti (Author of Democracy for the Few) but it seems like he would. Both are very concise and precise in formatting information. I gave this text a five star rating because of the sheer difficulty it must have taken to put something like this together. The 'this' is referring to an amalgam of crucial details from the ground in Iraq. With writing surrounding US military actions as well as actions stemming from the Iraqi resistance, The Freedom provides a grim yet visceral depiction of where the war is and how it is going. Recorded are incidents and missions from both "sides," the aggressors and defenders (who both believe that human beings can be means to an end). I appreciate such honesty in the midst of the highly politicized nature of the literal war, reporting and propagandizing thereof, and also the complete ignorance of the Iraqi population. If we are going to destroy homes, families, and infrastructure, at the very least (and yes, I am being satirical and cynical) the US left could do is print some of the details from the ground. We owe the people of the destroyed country that much, to have their thoughts and assertions be heard in the perpetual vacuum.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian Parenti doesn't pull any punches when examining occupied Iraq. The risks he takes for an honest, balanced story are extraordinary and I know that I'll be willing to pick up and read any of his other endeavors. A map of Iraq and the surrounding areas would probably be handy when reading this, even though the descriptions are very good, because it covers a lot of ground and how locations physically relate to one another plays a part in the political/religious/cultural landscape that is the backdrop of this amazing book. If you have any strong faith in our purpose in Iraq, prepare to have it shaken.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short book about crazy reporter running around Iraq. When the book is talking about his experiences, it feels like a guy showing off his scars, but when the Iraqis or the troops are the focus the book it because worth reading. It supports the notion that the resistance is mainly Iraqi & not foreign. What makes this book reading are the very few reports from Iraqi that are outside the Green Zone and Un-Embedded. And can’t we run a check point without killing Moms & Dads? Jesus Christ what are we doing there? (7.5/10)

[chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parenti gives a chilling account of his stay in Iraq as an independent journalist, pulling no punches in his writings about his interactions and opinons involving both the US occupying force, as well as the Iraqi resistance.

[Daniel Burton-Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hardboiled Iraq war reportage. A revised edition would be welcome; this one suffers from various signs of hasty editing, such as introducing documentary filmmaker David Martínez three separate times.