Richard Engel. A Fist in the Hornet’s Nest: On the Ground in Baghdad Before, During, and After the War. 2004.

How a BA from Stanford went from being broke in Cairo to having $20,000 in his sock while living in Baghdad hotels during Operation Enduring Freedom

You can tell by the subtitle that the author considered the war over, and the dreadful insurgency just a lingering aftershock. And you can probably guess that he doesn’t object to the invasion or occupation. The occupation has been good for his career, as he was one of the only American journalists to stay in Baghdad. But he is also, as a speaker of Arabic and fairly intrepid journalist, in a good position to know about the horror of life under Hussein’s dictatorship. So perhaps the book is balanced. But then again,.he is pissed that the Palestine Hotel (where he and other journalists stayed) was shot at by a US tank, killing two journalists, but doesn't worry too much about Iraqi cibilian casualties. But then again he regrets that liberating the Iraqi people was only reason #3—almost an afterthought—for the war. And he makes a decent point when he writes about how the (on the surface) positive gesture removing a totalitarian regime—a positive thing—can have negative repercussions, as all the repressed anger of the citizenry is released, and old scores are settled. And about how the US soldiers were neither trained nor equipped to act as police, as they drove Bradley tanks and not police cruisers, and wielded big guns instead of handcuffs and nightsticks.

But the book is good, offering some insight into Arab culture and the war. It is clear and lucid and of course pretty exciting—an easy read. He neither represses the first person nor glorifies himself. I’m grateful to have read it, grateful that Richard Engel offers another example of what a writer can do.