Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

by Chris Hedges, Eugene Richards (Photographer), Laila Al-Arian

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568584164
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	02/10/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He spent nearly two decades as a correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, with fifteen years at the New York Times. He is the author of numerous bestselling books, including Empire of Illusion; Death of the Liberal Class; War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning; and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with Joe Sacco. He writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Introduction     xi
A Note on Methodology     xxxiii
Convoys     1
Checkpoints     29
Raids     51
Detentions     71
Hearts and Minds     87
Acknowledgments     115
Index     118

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Narrator Lloyd James...delivers a respectful and ultimately powerful reading." —-AudioFile

Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant, thoughtful, timely and unsettling book.... Abounds with Hedges' harrowing and terribly moving eyewitness accounts.... Powerful and informative."

"Bitterly poetic and ruthlessly philosophical....A powerful message to people contemplating the escalation of the war against terrorism."

From the Publisher

This is one disturbing and devastating audiobook. Hedges and Al-Arian don't hold back, providing the listener with many detailed accounts of brutal death and destruction inflicted upon Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces. But what makes their work so profound and heartfelt is that most of their information comes from the U.S. military itself. Through their interviews and research, it becomes apparent that this culture of disdain and disregard for Iraqis and their possessions resides at the top and filters down through the ranks with dreadful result, thus prolonging and continuing to fuel the war. Lloyd James has a gentle but solid voice that invokes the solemnity of the larger ramifications. Listeners will be moved by the restraint and resolve in his voice as he recounts some of the more disastrous events. He weaves back and forth from the prose to the dialogue with ease and detectable transition. A Nation Books hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 21). (July)

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Publishers Weekly

Two award-winning journalists team up to deliver this controversial yet well-researched account, which details the venality of war and the murders and slayings of innocent Iraqi citizens at the hands of American soldiers. With a large number of recorded interviews conducted with combat veterans, the true dogs of war are revealed for all to hear. Narrator Lloyd James is aware of the controversial nature of the material and delivers a respectful and ultimately powerful reading that presents it in a matter-of-fact light. Never preaching or editorializing in its tone, James’s narration is affecting without sounding manufactured. Endlessly heartbreaking yet vital for all to hear. L.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 08 - AudioFile