Descriptions that cannot be found anywhere in the English language

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG22Ak02.html

BOOK REVIEW
On the ground in Iraq
In the Belly of the Green Bird by Nir Rosen

Reviewed by Michael Schwartz


<snip>The text is so rich with these insights that a list is impossible, so I will offer only two examples. His chapter on the January 2005 elections makes a familiar point in an important new way: the vast majority of Sunnis were not kept away by the threats of violence issued from jihadists in the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi camp. Instead, they boycotted the elections as part of an organic protest organized largely through the mosques in Sunni communities. This point is not so much argued in a formal sense; it rises out of pointed vignettes such as this one:

Driving through deserted Arab slums, I could find no evidence of the election. No posters, no banners, no prominent voting locations bustling with people. When I finally found several men in the street, they could not point me in the direction of a voting location; they did not know where any would be found. (p 224) snip


At one point Rosen triangulates the contrasting realities experienced by American commanders, by enlisted personnel in the occupation, and by the residents of Anbar cities and towns. We read about Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg Reilly, the man in charge, saying: "When we go search houses, we're very polite ... We knock on their door ... They ask us in. They wouldn't appreciate us if we treated them like criminals." (p 76)

But then we read about his subordinate, a Captain Alfieri, saying, "I wonder how I would feel if someone was breaking down my door ..." (p 78) And, even closer to the ground, a sergeant "who quipped that after such treatment the ones who were not guilty 'will be guilty next time'." (p 82) And finally a local resident commenting: "Until now we have not seen anything good, only killing, searches and curfews ... It has never been so bad ... There is a reaction for every action ... If you are choking me, I will also choke you." (p84)

These sorts of descriptions cannot be found anywhere in the English language and maybe not anywhere at all. They are one of the few treasures that have emerged from this war, offered to us by a reporter of consummate skill and courage.