Review Anthony Cordesman, and Ahmed Hashim, Iraq Sanctions and Beyond, Westview Press, 1997

  

Anthony Cordesman has been one of the longest tenured Iraq analysts in the United Sates. His Iraq Sanctions and Beyond with Ahmed Hashim is a perfect example of his thorough and detailed work. Written at the end of the 1990s it attempted to break down the major political, economic and military aspects of Iraq as a backgrounder to American policy makers. The two authors represented the conventional wisdom during this period that Saddam Hussein remained a threat to the Middle East but that the policy of containment and especially sanctions was faltering requiring adjustments.

Review David Malone, The International Struggle Over Iraq, Politics in the UN Security Council 1980-2005, Oxford University Press, 2006

  

The International Struggle Over Iraq is a study by David Malone of the relationship between the United Nations, its permanent members and Iraq from the Iran-Iraq War to the U.S. occupation. The book is up and down in parts but the conclusions are sound. The author argues that from the 1980s-90s the U.N. was increasingly effective in dealing with Iraq because the great powers agreed on using it as a tool in their foreign policy but afterwards the U.S. and U.K. acted increasingly on their own sidelining the organization until it was largely irrelevant although Malone wouldn’t agree with that last point.

Review Yasmin Husein Al-Jawaheri, Women in Iraq, The Gender Impact of International Sanctions, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008

Al-Jawaheri, Yasmin Husein, Women in Iraq, The Gender Impact of International Sanctions, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008

 

Women’s issues is an understudied topic in Iraq. In Women in Iraq, The Gender Impact of International Sanctions Yasmin Husein al-Jawaheri dives into how United Nations sanctions in the 1990s impacted women in the workplace, educationally and within society and the family. Part of the work was research into government and international studies and the other was surveying and interviewing 227 Iraqi women from three parts of Baghdad. She found that sanctions had a profound effect upon women driving them not only from jobs but public space as the government stepped back from protecting their rights.

Review Saddam Hussein The Politics Of Revenge

Aburish, Said, Saddam Hussein The Politics Of Revenge, Bloomsbury, 2000

 

Said Aburish’s Saddam Hussein The Politics Of Revenge is full of ups and downs. He makes some astute observations about Saddam’s assumption of power and the U.S. and U.K. policy of regime change in the 1990s. On the other hand, he was a Baathist sympathizer up to the 1980s having worked for the Iraqi government. Second, Aburish’s writing is full of Saddam gossip about his excesses. Most importantly almost all major issues are explained via Western conspiracies which robs Iraqis of any agency and responsibility throughout history. The problems with his writing end up undermining any good points the author might have made.

Review Martyrs’ Day, Chronicle of a Small War

Kelly, Michael, Martyrs’ Day, Chronicle of a Small War, New York: Vintage Books, 2001

 

Michael Kelly was a journalist who traveled throughout the Middle East during the Gulf War. His book, Martyrs’ Day, Chronicle of a Small War reads like a travel journal. It is full of all the places he went from Iraq to Jordan to Israel to Egypt to Saudi Arabia to Turkey, the people he met and the adventures he had. There are some interesting parts like his interviews with Kuwaitis right after the Gulf War and Iraqis during the sanctions, but it is not essential reading. It’s more of a deep background book or for someone who wants a light read.

Review Iraq Against The World, Saddam, America, And The Post-Cold War Order

Helfont, Samuel, Iraq Against The World, Saddam, America, And The Post-Cold War Order, New York: Oxford University Press, 2023

 

Professor Samuel Helfont of the Naval War College has written his second book, Iraq Against The World, Saddam, America, And The Post-Cold War Order, again largely based upon Baathist documents that were captured after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This time he focuses upon how Iraq tried to break down the new world order that President Bush proclaimed after the Gulf War. The U.S. hoped that there would be an international system based upon rule of law and enforced by the United Nations. Iraq was the focus of this strategy as it had U.N. sanctions and weapons inspectors for over a dozen years. Saddam’s response was to have Baathist offices and embassies around the world organize information campaigns and protests against Iraq’s treatment. Helfont breaks new ground with this work as few have delved into this topic before.

Review A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War

Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith, A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023

 

A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War by journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is an engaging story about him growing up in Baghdad and then experiencing the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. It’s a tale of a nation beset by problems from the 1990s sanctions that impoverished most to the exiles that created a new ethnosectarian political system that was then used it to justify violence. The new elite ended up killing its youth in the street for protesting against corruption. It’s an important addition to the cannon because it not only includes his own recollections of this period but also many Iraqi civilians, soldiers and officials when most books are by and about Westerners.

Review The Regime Change Consensus, Iraq In American Politics 1990-2003

Stieb, Joseph, The Regime Change Consensus, Iraq In American Politics 1990-2003, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, New Deli, Singapore: Cambridge University Press, 2021

 

The majority of books on the Iraq invasion focus upon the early days of the Bush administration and then how 9/11 changed its perceptions and led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Few have analysis and most just recite the history. Joseph Stieb in The Regime Change Consensus, Iraq In American Politics 1990-2003 is one of those rare releases which focuses upon the ideas that led the conflict with Iraq. It discusses how the first Bush administration created a containment policy around Iraq after the Gulf War and how that broke down in the 1990s so that by the time 9/11 happened the only real debate within the American political establishment was not whether to invade Iraq but how.

Review Hide And Seek, The Search For Truth In Iraq

Duelfer, Charles, Hide And Seek, The Search For Truth In Iraq, New York: Public Affairs, 2009

 

Charles Duelfer was the deputy head of the United Nations inspectors in the 1990s and then in charge of the Iraq Survey Group which investigated Iraq’s WMD programs after the 2003 invasion. His book Hide And Seek, The Search For Truth In Iraq is about those two experiences plus his work with the CIA in between them. He made three main points. One was that the weapons inspections in the 1990s and 2000s were never going to get to the bottom of things because Iraq would never cooperate with something imposed upon it. The second was that he supported the overthrow of Saddam Hussein but then acknowledged that the Bush administration destroyed Iraq afterward. Third he tried to explain why Iraq wanted WMD and acted like it still had them after they were destroyed. Ultimately his goal was to explain what both the U.S. and Iraqis were thinking during their years of confrontation when almost all books are just about the Americans.

Review The Scourging Of Iraq, Sanctions, Law And Natural Justice

Simons, Geoff, The Scourging Of Iraq, Sanctions, Law And Natural Justice, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1998

 

The Scourging Of Iraq, Sanctions, Law And Natural Justice has some detailed information about the devastating impact United Nations Sanctions had upon Iraq. Unfortunately, the start is so bad you don’t want to read that far into the book. That’s because author Geoff Simons’ beginning is an anti-American rant where everything from the invasion of Kuwait onward is blamed upon the United States.

Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis Of Evil” to Crawford

Section 3.1 of the Chilcot Report covers the British dealing with the aftermath of 9/11 and the Bush administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq. The Blair government naively believed that it could maintain its policy since the 1990s of containing Saddam via sanctions and demanding that U.N. weapons inspectors return. The Prime Minister’s decision to stand by President Bush however meant that he eventually agreed to use force against Iraq if everything else failed. That was England’s first step towards war.

Chilcot Report Section 3.1 Development of UK Strategy and Options On Iraq, 9/11 to Early January 2002

Section 3.1 of the Chilcot Report documented the United Kingdom’s continued problems with its Iraq strategy at the start of the 2000s. London realized that international opinion had turned against its containment policy of sanctions and demanding weapons inspectors return to Iraq, yet it had no alternatives. Then 9/11 happened, opening the door to advocates of regime change within the new Bush administration. The Blair government initially believed that his Iraq policy didn’t have to change, but finally decided that getting rid of Saddam had to be on the table. That was the start of London following Washington for the rest of the decade.

Chilcot Report Section 1.2 UK strategy September 2000 To September 2001

Section 1.2 of the Chilcot Report discussed the difficulties the United Kingdom ran into trying to maintain its containment policy on Iraq. First, the international community and Arab states were losing interest in Iraq, so it was more difficult to maintain sanctions against it. Second, elements in the new Bush administration were talking about removing Saddam as soon as they entered office. Despite that, London mistakenly believed that it could continue with its Iraq strategy.

Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000

The Chilcot Inquiry was created to explain the decisions that led to England’s participation in the Iraq War. The first section covered the United Kingdom’s strategy towards Iraq from the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to 2000. London’s main concern during this period all the way to 2003 was Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and nuclear programs. British intelligence believed that Iraq was close to getting a nuclear bomb and had a large and active chemical and biological weapons arsenal. After the Gulf War, the UK committed itself to a containment policy that backed United Nations’ inspectors to destroy Iraq’s weapons programs and a no fly zone to deter any further aggression.

Review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions

Gordon, Joy, Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions, Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 2010

 

If you want to learn about the United Nations sanctions on Iraq which lasted from 1990-2003 then Professor Joy Gordon’s Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions should be on the top of your list. The U.S. wanted to use the sanctions to make sure Iraq could never rebuild its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and contain Saddam Hussein. Washington argued that it was Saddam’s fault that the sanctions lasted, that he abused the system, and that Iraq received all the basic necessities it needed all of which were false. In fact, U.S. policy devastated the people of Iraq and destroyed the economy.

Review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security

Butler, Richard, The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security, New York: Public Affairs, 2001

 

Richard Butler was the second head of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) tasked with disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War. He served as Iraq refused to cooperate and shut down the inspection process from 1997-99 which is the topic of The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security. He characterized that time as one of growing intransigence as Saddam Hussein caused one crisis after another to end inspections.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 - Chapter 1 Prologue The Collision Course 1991-2003

 

After much delay the U.S. Army finally released its official history of the Iraq War in 2019. It was a self-critical report that noted the many flaws and shortcomings in the invasion of Iraq and the following occupation. The first chapter of the two-volume set was about the divisions over doctrine facing the Army after the Cold War and the tremendous changes that Iraq went through in the 1990s due to United Nations sanctions. Both of these factors would go on to affect how the war was conducted and received.

Review Baghdad Diaries: A Woman’s Chronicle of War and Exile

Al-Radi, Nuha, Baghdad Diaries: A Woman’s Chronicle of War and Exile, New York, Vintage, 2003

 

Baghdad Diaries: A Woman’s Chronicle of War and Exile by Nuha al-Radi covers the 1990s to the eve of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. It is broken up into three broad sections. The first is about the Gulf War, the second part is during the sanctions era that followed, and the third is when al-Radi left Iraq and moved to Lebanon. The book covers al-Radi’s day to day activities like seeing her family and friends, taking care of her garden and dog Salvador Dali, her artwork, along with some observations about what was happening in Iraq at that time. Her diary gives a personal insight into what happened to the middle class in Iraq during the end of the Saddam Hussein era.

Review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars

Hiro, Dilip, Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars, London and New York: Routledge, 2001

 

Dilip Hiro was one of the few journalists who consistently covered Iraq from the 1980s to the 2000s. He wrote several books about the country including Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars. Half the book was about Iraq and the other half about Iran and their difficulties after their war with each other. Both faced deep economic problems and dealing with the United States. Saddam Hussein had to deal with a decades’ worth of sanctions and United Nations weapons inspections while Iran struggled with its economy and had a constant battle between the conservatives and reformers. These events are the basis of Hiro’s book.

Review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein

Cockburn, Andrew and Cockburn, Patrick, Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, New York: Harper Perennial, 2000

Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein was written by the Cockburn brothers Andrew and Patrick. It covered Iraq in the 1990s starting with Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to the Bush administration’s plots against Saddam to the United Nations sanctions and inspectors. The book goes back and forth between the hopes of the Bush and Clinton White Houses to overthrow and contain Saddam to his attempts to hold onto power, which proved quite successful. The Cockburns relied upon both press reports along with extensive interviews with Iraqis both inside and outside of the country to tell this story. As the title suggests, the authors believed that Saddam went from the depths of defeat to be comfortably in power during this decade, but at a heavy cost to his country.