The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein [Hardcover]

Sandra MacKey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393051412 | ISBN-13: 978-0393051414 | Publication Date: May 2002 | Edition: 1ST

To the dismay of many in the West, the Gulf War ended with Saddam Hussein still in control, still defiant and determined to use any means of striking back. This title considers what the future of Iraq would be without Saddam Hussein. Sandra Mackey Believes that without Hussein Iraq would be even more unstable and more problematic to the secrurity of the United States. "The Reckoning" is an account of the forces that produced Saddam's dictatorship. Hussein, ruling by terror rather than persuasion, has pitted various ethnic groups, religious interests and tribes against one another. In doing this he has achieved the destruction of Iraq's middle class and civilized society. After he goes, however he goes, the country could be the site of conflict even more vicious than the Balkan wars.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A journalist who has long covered the Middle East, Mackey destroys the myth that toppling Saddam Hussein will solve Iraq's problems and America's. She clearly traces the complex and diverse history of the country from its biblical roots to the present day. The most salient feature of the country, she argues strongly, is its fragility: Iraq is a patchwork of peoples (both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, as well as Kurds) that hangs together by a thread. Without addressing how these peoples can form a national identity, the author claims, a post-Saddam Iraq could be worse than the Balkans. But even though much of the book centers on Iraq's long history, it is the author's account of the past 40 years that is the most instructive. While much of the information about Saddam has been presented elsewhere, Mackey summarizes his career well: his seizure of power, with its emphasis on the country's Arab roots, came after a long time of local chaos, and his rule of terror has kept him in charge but led to wars that impoverished his people. "Like Baghdad at the end of the Gulf War, Iraq itself is a body whose skin is intact but whose bones are broken." Mackey's last chapter is her most chilling. If there is no focus on what will come after Saddam, she says,then Iraq's future the disintegration of the country into separate warring cantons will be a nightmare, both for its people and for the United States. With the Bush administration focusing on Iraq as the next step in its war against terrorism, this book sounds an important cautionary note.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Iraq has been a country of great interest to the United States since the 1991 Gulf War. Although that conflict ended over a decade ago with the military defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces and their expulsion from Kuwait, low-level U.S. bombing of Iraqi targets has continued to the present time. The events of September 11 have elevated Iraq to a higher level of concern to U.S. decision-makers. In recent months, calls for a massive attack against Iraq are being heard from different governmental and journalistic corners in the United States. Yet, Iraq and its history remain a mystery to most Americans. This highly readable, jargon-free, and evenhanded book goes a long way in providing a comprehensive account of Iraq's recent political history to Western readers. Mackey, a veteran journalist who has traveled to Iraq and has written extensively on the Middle East, has done an admirable job of explaining the myriad social, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the contours of the contemporary Iraqi state and its authoritarian political system. Recommended for all public libraries. Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 415 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1ST edition (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393051412
• ISBN-13: 978-0393051414
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,215,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The consequences of war with Iraq, September 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein (Hardcover)

The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein by Sandra Mackey

This book provides an extremely important ability to understand the dynamics of Iraq, especially related to a war with consequences not limited to Iraq, but to the whole Middle East and may escalate beyond. The authors states "the road to Baghdad must lead through Jerusalem". Because the writing is so good, this is a very readable book.

The scholarship on the history of the region and Islam, and the development of the post WWI state is essential to the understanding of Iraq and the role of Saddam Hussein. The author traces this history and brings it to the present dilemma. This book chronicles Saddam Hussein's well orchestrated control over his country from the time of his accession to today in light of the various ethnic and religious groups and his strong tribal/military strengths. Control was achieved using techniques of a modern state; economic controls, environmental manipulation, genocide, and removal of the dissenting press and religious leaders resulting in lost of an educated population and alternatives for government.

The last chapter is provocative and terrifying. The author makes the case that removing Hussein will not alone solve the major issues, and may escalate the Arab/Israel conflict with the developed world losing essential oil supplies and potentially the elimination of Israel. The case is made that solutions on Palestine must be part of the Iraq policy. One can debate what that policy should be, but the author suggests that the U.S. has behaved at best as naïve and at worst as manipulative and destructive to the Arab world.

The book shows that the U.S. must look beyond the elimination of Hussein to the larger view of the consequences and methods to ensure stability in the region. She questions if a large U.S. (UN) military force in Iraq would ensure oil production, minimize the conflict with Israel, and eventually produce a democratic nation representing the major ethnic religious groups. The author shows that even with a very large police action, these goals may be nearly impossible.

To the world, the only U.S. interest is the strategically important oil and the cruelty of Hussein, who wants to have the military power to protect his position. Without the oil, the brutality would be a minor U.S. concern as it was in the Congo. The book provides a excellent launching pad for the discussion on the long term goals in the region.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Probing the Complexities of Iraqi History and Policy, January 4, 2004

By 

S. Miska (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein (Paperback)

The Reckoning rates as indispensable reading and study for all students, policy analysts and makers, military leaders, and anyone interested in Iraq's historical basis and future development. Mackey begins with the ancient history of Mesopotamia and quickly transitions through to contemporary policy. She includes an afterword written on Christmas Day of 2002, with the winds of war billowing from Washington. Her detailed account of Saddam's legacy and struggle provides valuable insight to anyone with an interest in the region. Although she prescribes no policy recommendations for the future of Iraq, her final words remain an issue the U.S. continues to struggle with today. "To what extent was the U.S. going to be pulled into the abyss of Iraq?" This book provides a fantastic foundation to understand the formation and development of the Iraqi state before and during Hussein's reign.

My one critique: the book provides valuable insight into the complexities of Iraq and how the state became that way, but Mackey does not attempt to break new ground. She proposes no new policies to help future administrations, nor strategies to help military leaders, NGOs, diplomats or others attempting to negotiate the pitfalls of the region. Regardless, I am better off for having read the book, and the author presents plenty of detailed research. Her selected bibliography provides the reader with numerous sources, scholarly and otherwise. Some military units preparing to deploy to Iraq have bought every key leader a copy of Mackey's book. Those leaders will be much better prepared to understand the quagmire they are about to enter, regardless of whether they know what strategies to pursue.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in understanding the region or the news better.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Historical Overview, August 13, 2002

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein (Hardcover)

The subtitle of "The Reckoning" is somewhat misleading, billing itself as being about "Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein," when nearly half of the book's length is devoted to Iraq's history BEFORE "The Butcher of Baghdad" came to power. Nevertheless, it still works quite well as a one volume overview and comes at a very critical time in which the U.S. is again considering military action against the country. It also chillingly portrays the trajedy that has befallen this turbulent country because of its unfortunate history and outlaw leadership.

The book mostly consists of historical accounts drawn from other sources. Author Sandra Mackey did in fact visit Iraq while researching it, but she was very limited in where she could go or who she could talk to. Her first person accounts of Saddam's totalitarian society are brief, but chilling in their implications. Mackey uses them as a backdrop for her straightforward account of Iraqi history from Mesopitamina times until the present. The story is a tragic one, of course, made even more so by the fact that the country enjoyed a brief period of prosperity before Saddam plunged it into the nightmares of the Iran/Iraq war, the Gulf War and internal genocides against the Shia and Kurd populations.

Mackey is a very good writer, and for the most part her prose is crisp and readable. On the downside, she repeats herself a bit too much, and at nearly 400 pages the narrative lags a little at times. Nevertheless, Mackey has provided a valuable service by giving Americans (and other Westerners) the chance to catch up on a subject that seems about to rivet the wrold's attention once again. For that, I give it an enthusiastic recommendation.