Insurgency and counter-insurgency in Iraq /

With continued US military involvement in Iraq planned for the foreseeable future, there is probably no more important a topic than the nature of the conflict. Since 1990, the US military has patrolled Iraq's skies, conducted major combat operations, and is currently waging a counterinsurgency campaign. Because of this, Ahmed Hashim's book is both timely and an important volume to explain an important phase of US military involvement in Iraq. The book not only is thorough in scope, but also provides a critical assessment. For example, Hashim calls into question early Bush administration claims of a significant role played by foreign fighters. Throughout chapter 5, he takes to task the detrimental effects of US neoconservatives, the politics of threat, and failures to properly execute policies to bring security and stability to Iraq. But the overall importance of the book lies in its detailed treatment of the insurgency, exacerbated by material, nonmaterial, and policy concerns (in particular an assault on the Sunni Arab community). Finally, Hashim prophetically speculates on the conflict developing into a civil war, which he sees continued US and coalition presence preventing. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through practitioners. D. S. Reveron Naval War College

Hashim (strategic studies, U.S. Naval War Coll.; Iran: Dilemmas of Dual Containment) has written a much-needed assessment of the Iraqi insurgency. He has spent several months in Iraq from 2003 through 2005; his interviews and experiences there, combined with his use of primary sources, including a range of newspaper and Internet references, have resulted in a compelling account of the socioeconomic factors that spur the insurgency as well as the problems, both political and strategic, that have fed its growth and hampered U.S. counterinsurgency efforts. Hashim has succeeded in putting together an analysis of the violent situation in Iraq that avoids ideological posturing: his analysis is productive, and his intent is to explain rather than to proselytize. One regrettable omission: in a book covering people and organizations not likely to be familiar to all readers, a glossary would have been helpful. Highly recommended for all libraries with military collections and/or collections on current international affairs. John Russell, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.