Collateral Damage
America's War Against Iraqi Civilians
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Collateral Damage brings together testimony from the largest number of on the record, named, combat veterans who reveal the disturbing, daily reality of war and occupation in Iraq.
Through their eyes, we learn how the mechanics of war lead to the abuse and frequent killing of innocents. They describe convoys of vehicles roaring down roads, smashing into cars, and hitting Iraqi civilians. They detail raids that leave families shot dead in the mayhem. And they describe a battlefield in which troops, untrained to distinguish between combatants and civilians, are authorized to shoot whenever they feel threatened.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pulitzer Prize winner Hedges (War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning) collaborates with journalist Al-Arian in this slight polemic that investigates "the suffering of Iraqi civilians" at the hands of American troops. With the help of groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace, the authors identify and interview 50 combat veterans their methodology, however, is noticeably flawed: their sample is too small and their selection process is skewed toward critics of the war. Interviewees like Sgt. Camilo Majia, who was court-martialed for desertion and given a bad-conduct discharge, are allowed to relate not only eye-witness but also secondhand accounts. Broad allegations implying that "most troops" are complicit in murdering unarmed Iraqis or that it is "standard" practice to plant weapons on murdered civilians go unchallenged, while the authors point to "a culture of terror and hatred among U.S. forces" for whom abusing civilians has become "a kind of perverted sport." However admirable the authors' aims, their selective and biased interpretation of events might disappoint readers looking for a more objective analysis.
