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The End Of Major Combat Operations (2010)

by Nick McDonell(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1934781967 (ISBN13: 9781934781968)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

McSweeney's

review 1: The novelist Nick McDonell is embedded in the 1st Cavalry Division for 2 weeks ostensibly on behalf of Time magazine to gather information on an article about the tensions between the Arabs and the Kurds and whether this would escalate into a civil war. The book is an account of his day to day time in Iraq during those 2 weeks. McDonell sees how soldiers who have been trained to fight have to learn to become diplomatic policeman as they patrol the streets, direct traffic, search houses, and mediate disputes. It's an uneasy situation for the soldiers who mostly seem lost and bored. The book shows how fragile the supposed democracy of Iraq is. Iraqi interpreters (or "terps" in military slang) are saving money to leave the country before the end of 2011 as that's the date set... more for US Military withdrawal. If they stay behind, they will likely be killed. When McDonell talks to soldiers in the Iraqi army, they say quite brazenly that as soon as the US leaves they will take off their uniforms and run away. There is a lot of talk about police chiefs supporting terrorists and taking bribes. Even when the Americans are trying to do good they end up inadvertently causing trouble for the locals. On one occasion, soldiers are monitoring the distribution of rice sacks to the population. 2 masked men show up and begin shooting at the soldiers who shoot back. The masked men run off but 2 young boys who were playing by a nearby truck are shot dead in the crossfire. McDonell wonders if the soldiers had not been there if the boys would not be dead. McDonell organises a basketball game with a friend's cousin but has to reschedule due to meetings. The game never takes place and he receives an email saying the cousin was killed because he was playing basketball and seen to be promoting a Western pastime. The overall impression of the book is faint as, personal tragedies aside, there isn't an overall message or vision that will come as a surprise to many. Iraq is a mess and the occupation is, and always has been, shaky. The American presence is the only reason any perceived progress is made and when the Americans leave, all that they've tried to set up, the infrastructure, the ideology, all the work gone into improving society, will probably come undone. It's a well written book that holds your interest but there isn't anything groundbreaking imparted by the writer. But then he was only there for a fortnight. The book left me with a weariness I feel whenever I think about the Iraq war. It just seems so pointless. One of the soldiers, Specialist Patterson, a medic with the 1st Cavalry, sums it up succinctly: "They were fighting each other before we got here. They're gonna be fighting after we leave." Why are we still bothering this country?
review 2: Fascinating essay on the state of Iraq as our presence there allegedly "winds down." My main critique is that McDonell doesn't sustain some important and hard inquiries about the "embedding" process, and deals with questions of sympathy, identification, and the journalistic desire for access in a somewhat glancing way, once in a footnote and toward the end where he imagines -- but doesn't explore at any length -- what it might feel like to have the United States occupied by a foreign power dedicated to "helping" us overcome our savage and violent ways. Still, worth reading. less

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