My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope - Rilegato

'When dealing with a primary source on given events, it is customary to say that anyone interested in them must read it. In this case, read it and weep'
Financial Times 4/2

'At the end of his tour of duty, still struggling to offload sovereignty to these men [Iraqi leaders], Mr Bremer admits: 'We've become the worst of all things - an ineffective occupier'
The Economist 28/1

'The book points up the huge gap between the reality on the ground in Iraq and the wishful thinking and bad intelligence that informed administration hawks thinking'
International Herald Tribune 18/1

'One of the important questions this book leaves us contemplating is whether the venture was always doomed to failure or was sabotaged by ineptitude and carelessness'
Scotland on Sunday 12/2

'Bremer's memoir, an amalgam of spin and sincerity... paints a troubling portrait of the administration's handling of the occupation. It underscores the degree to which certain fixed ideas held by the Bush White House hobbled post-war planning, such as the notion that America could "quickly turn full authority over to a group of selected Iraqi exiles", and flags up the chasm between what was actually happening in Iraq and the wishful thinking and bad intelligence that informed the thinking of administration hawks. Oil would pay for the country's reconstruction, the US blithely assumed: in fact, sabotage of pipelines and a decrepit industry infrastructure meant it did nothing of the sort. Administrative back-up was bogged down in red tape; the generals focused on the "most wanted" list of Saddam's supporters instead of tackling the resistance effectively; above all, too few troops made lawlessness the norm from the outset'
The Scotsman 11/2

Book by Bremer III L Paul McConnell Malcolm