Peace Action West

When we've wanted to deepen our understanding of the war in Iraq and Iraq's history, these are some of the resources we've reached for. If you decide to buy a copy for yourself on Amazon* by following the links below, a portion of your purchase will support our work. This is made possible through our partnership with Alonovo.

The Assassins' Gate, by George Packer

Packer takes readers inside the vicious bureaucratic warfare between the Pentagon and State Department that turned U.S. policy on Iraq into an incoherent mess. We see the consequences in the second half of The Assassins' Gate, which takes the reader to Iraq after the bombs have stopped dropping.

What We Owe Iraq, by Noah Feldman

America is up to its neck in nation building--but the public debate, focused on getting the troops home, devotes little attention to why we are building a new Iraqi nation, what success would look like, or what principles should guide us. What We Owe Iraq sets out to shift the terms of the debate, acknowledging that we are nation building to protect ourselves while demanding that we put the interests of the people being governed--whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, or elsewhere--ahead of our own when we exercise power over them.

Bush in Babylon, by Tariq Ali

The assault and capture of Iraq—and the resistance it has provoked—will shape the politics of the twenty-first century. In this passionate and provocative book, Tariq Ali provides a history of Iraqi resistance against empires old and new, and argues against the view that sees imperialist occupation as the only viable solution to bring about regime-change in corrupt and dictatorial states. Like the author’s previous work, The Clash of Fundamentalisms, this book presents a magnificent cultural history.

*Book and movie descriptions are excerpted from reviews and product descriptions published on Amazon.