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"* probably the most valuable book about the lead-up to the war, and the period before the Iraqi election of January 2005 - The Times * informative and lively... An excellent reporter, Packer emerges as one of the few Western journalists who developed a feel for Iraq. - Mail on Sunday * absorbing... It's a riveting tale of mixed motives, willful connivance, skewed ideology and sheer incompetence... Meanwhile, the invasion of Irq seems to defy analysis, although Pakcer does an excellend job here. He has trodden the dusty ground, talking to countless Iraqis, and he knows how awful Saddam really was. - Guardian * Packer's strengths in telling this story are fastidious research and his parallel career as a novelist... he is drawn to the intimacy of human experience... He is an intellectual too but, unlike most of the Iraq war intellectuals, Packer came to Iraq burdened neither by the rigid certainties of the pro-war camp, not the absolutism of the anti-war camp... Instead, Packer admits he was an ambivalently pro-war liberal. And it is exactly this sense of ambivalence... that allows him to cross-examine so powerfully what unravelled in Iraq. - Observer"
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Astonishing in its scale and ambition, this is the most balanced and accomplished book about the Iraq war so far.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Like many others, I receive my news from a variety of electronic and print sources and almost always in small portions. One of few exception is The New York Times. Another is The New Yorker magazine to which I have also subscribed for decades. I vividly recall articles written by Elizabeth Drew, for example, who brought uncommon intelligence and sensitivity to sometimes highly controversial issues in the 1973-1992 period. Today, I read with special appreciation articles written for The New Yorker by Hendrik Hertzberg and George Packer. I mention all this by way of suggesting why I was so eager to read Packer's The Assassins' Gate and then having done so, why I now hold it in such high regard. Actually, there are several reasons. First, Packer provides convincing, indeed disturbing answers to questions such as these:
1. What were the intellectual origins of the Iraq war? Who were its principal advocates? Why?
2. How do these origins explain initiatives and events which preceded and then followed the invasion and subsequent occupation by American troops?
3. What are are Packer's own eyewitness observations of the consequences?
4. Which of the Iraqi dissidents does Packer consider most significant? I was especially interested in what he has to say about Kanan Makiya.
5. What did Packer learn while traveling within Iraq, especially from conversations with Iraqis now living there who had personally observed and experienced (for better or worse) the regime of Saddam Hassein? Of special interest to me is what Packer observed (and shares) during a visit to the northern city of Kirkuk.
Also, Packer makes every effort to acknowledge as fairly as he can a remarkably wide range of political opinions, extending from Far Left Liberals to Far Right Conservatives. He even notes the nuances of difference between Vice President Cheney's realism and Paul Wolfowitz' neoconservatism. Of course, Packer has opinions of his own, several of which were changed -- some significantly -- by what he personally experienced while in Iraq.
Also, Packer reveals a great deal about current day-to-day life there for Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. He seeks (and welcomes) their opinions, respects their aspirations, and shares their concerns. Certain ideas led to the war. Which ideas will prevail as Iraq now struggles to achieve self-determination, in whatever form that eventually proves to be? What do the Iraquis themselves think about all this?
Finally, in this volume Packer demonstrates skills of the highest level both as an exceptionally astute reporter and as an erudite interpreter of what he has observed. That is to say, his reader is provided with both a wealth of detailed information and a frame-of-reference within which to understand that information.
Like a gate, Packer's book offers a point-of-entry. He guides his reader to a broader and deeper understanding of both a complicated process and the consequences, to date, of that process. Now what? Where is the gate which provides an acceptable point-of-departure?
Meanwhile....
1. What were the intellectual origins of the Iraq war? Who were its principal advocates? Why?
2. How do these origins explain initiatives and events which preceded and then followed the invasion and subsequent occupation by American troops?
3. What are are Packer's own eyewitness observations of the consequences?
4. Which of the Iraqi dissidents does Packer consider most significant? I was especially interested in what he has to say about Kanan Makiya.
5. What did Packer learn while traveling within Iraq, especially from conversations with Iraqis now living there who had personally observed and experienced (for better or worse) the regime of Saddam Hassein? Of special interest to me is what Packer observed (and shares) during a visit to the northern city of Kirkuk.
Also, Packer makes every effort to acknowledge as fairly as he can a remarkably wide range of political opinions, extending from Far Left Liberals to Far Right Conservatives. He even notes the nuances of difference between Vice President Cheney's realism and Paul Wolfowitz' neoconservatism. Of course, Packer has opinions of his own, several of which were changed -- some significantly -- by what he personally experienced while in Iraq.
Also, Packer reveals a great deal about current day-to-day life there for Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. He seeks (and welcomes) their opinions, respects their aspirations, and shares their concerns. Certain ideas led to the war. Which ideas will prevail as Iraq now struggles to achieve self-determination, in whatever form that eventually proves to be? What do the Iraquis themselves think about all this?
Finally, in this volume Packer demonstrates skills of the highest level both as an exceptionally astute reporter and as an erudite interpreter of what he has observed. That is to say, his reader is provided with both a wealth of detailed information and a frame-of-reference within which to understand that information.
Like a gate, Packer's book offers a point-of-entry. He guides his reader to a broader and deeper understanding of both a complicated process and the consequences, to date, of that process. Now what? Where is the gate which provides an acceptable point-of-departure?
Meanwhile....
27 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is easily the best book written so far on the subject of America's occupation of Iraq. It is a forceful - yet balanced - account of what went wrong before, during and after the invasion: absurd idological neo-con expectations, too few troops because of a "new paradigm" Army, no plan and no funds for reconstruction. It all produces a sad picture of astounding incompetence on the part of the US administration.
Was it worth it? The author avoids easy answers, relying instead on portraits of ordinary Iraqis and Americans who have been directly affected by the war to tell their own stories and opinions. The chapter on elections is particularly heartening for the prospects of democracy in Iraq.
The writing is fluid, accurate and economical, as befits a world-class journalist (Mr. Packer usually writes for "The New Yorker"). Avoiding verbal pyrotechnics, the author creates a compelling book that is difficult to put down - rare for a work on current events.
A must-read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have a whole bookcase of books about the Iraq business and this is far and away the best - and that is saying something! I would agree with everything that the previous reviewer wrote, and so I won't repeat his detailed summary; suffice it to say that the story is alarming, the writing amazing, the breadth and the depth are awe-inspiring. If you have to read only one book on Iraq, make it this one. (All my friends got compulsory copies).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Yet another American Invasion
Having just reread after a 2 year break George Packers "The Assassins Gate" I find it an excellent read showing that he pulled no punches writing this in depth look at yet another... Read more
Published 21 months ago by James
Vertical Journalism at its Worst
This book by a prominent cheerleader for the war is one of the worst examples of what Eduardo Galeano refers to as 'vertical journalism'. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2008 by M.I.Ahmad
Great Book
Alongside John Andersons "The Fall of Baghdad" the best books Ive read about the Iraq conflict.
Published on 16 Nov 2006 by Maison Noir
An intellectual history of the Dubya Crusade
Packer's disclaimer that "This is mainly a book of reporting" is somewhat modified by his opening chapters. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2006 by Stephen A. Haines
A great account of why things have gone so wrong...
A brilliant book that avoids all the usual partisan mud throwing you find in a lot of American accounts of the war. Read more
Published on 6 April 2006 by S. R. Barton
Superb
This book is an excellent introduction to post Cold War politics. It outlines the changing world environment, and the development of neo-conservative policy, that led to the second... Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2006 by Neil
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