Voices of the Iraq War: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life

Voices of the Iraq War: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life illuminates the complex and poorly reported realities of the conflict that those without direct experience cannot possibly fathom, presenting detailed personal accounts of what the conflict in Iraq was like across multiple disciplines and through a variety of viewpoints. The accounts are based on interviews with American, Iraqi-American, and British officers who deployed and fought throughout the country of Iraq. The book begins with the story of an Iraqi boy who flees Iraq with his family after Desert Storm and then returns to Iraq as a translator to assist U.S. forces nearly 16 years later. The book is filled with personal accounts of combat and training as well as other real-world experiences that define what the Iraq War meant to thousands of U.S. and allied service members. These personal accounts are supported with national level policy speeches and official statements that help readers put the individual stories and events in national, regional, and global perspective. The book concludes by examining the impact of this war on thousands of young men and women that will last for decades to come.

• Provides readers with an understanding of the causes of successes and failures in Iraq and how these events contributed to the volatility of the Middle East in the early 21st century

• Includes dozens of primary source documents, such as presidential speeches, congressional testimony, and interviews with U.S., Iraqi-American, and British officers who deployed and fought throughout the country of Iraq

• Presents a thought-provoking, personal perspective on modern war that will enable students to have an intelligent dialogue on the complex, confusing experiences associated with the conduct of modern war