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The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein

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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.

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.

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.

"The Reckoning, Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein", is a very readable book that describes how Iraq got to where it is today and the roles that British colonialism, religious issues, Saddam Hussein, the Baath party and Arab nationalism have played in that journey. The book provides a good history of Iraq from the early Mesopotanian civilizations to the present time. This history is used to develop an understanding of the three legs of Iraqi society, the dominant but minority Sunni's, the less powerful but majority Shia's and the minority Kurds, and how the complicated interactions of these three groups have shaped modern Iraq and the potential role the same issues will play in the future of Iraq. I recommend it to anyone seeking to understand to develop a better understanding of the basic issues involved with the present Iraqi situation.

Many of the other reviewers state that there is nothing new in the book. That may, to some extent, be true. However, for readers who want a good overview and perspective in one book, "The Reckoning" does a good job of providing that overview.

While it is true that this book contains little original research, it is an excellent introduction to Iraqi history. The author obviously has been to Iraq -- many chapters begin with a personal account which she uses to frame her historical material. I found these passages particularly revealing. The writing is very accessible and the author has a knack for making complex subjects -- such as the various ethnic divisions within Iraqi society -- comprehensible by a layperson. I received this book as a gift and opened it with few expectations, but found much of the narrative truly gripping. Recommended.

This book is a solid primer on the history of Iraq. It covers the entire history, from early Mesopotamia through the modern day. It's a decent primer, and good for someone with a limited knowledge of the subject, but is not much more.

The book has several large flaws. First, it was fairly obviously rushed to print to take advantage of the the interest in Iraq folowing 9-11 and the recent invasion. As such, there are many sections that are confusing or don't flow well (she has an annoying habit of telling a narrative history, then jumping back 20 years and retelling a whole new big thread that went completely unmentioned in the previous chapter.) The book is also fairly repetetive in its basic themes about the disjointedness of the country, repeating them a half dozen or more times.

Lastly, as other reviewers have noticed, there is little firsthand information or new insight here. While her book the Saudis provided a lot of unique personal knowledge and analysis, this book is almost completely a basic history, reading like an extended encyclopedia entry rather than an important new contribution.

So, while it gets the basic information across, there are (hopefully) better and more interesting books that would do the same. It's not a bad book, but neither is it anything special.

I'm not sure why the previous two reviewers asked whether the author had ever been to Iraq - if they'd taken the time to read the preface they'd see that MacKey HAS been to the country. I found the book thorough and interesting and an excellent starting point for people who are unfamiliar with the topic. Also a useful contribution to the debate on what to do next that gets around the simple hawks and doves approach.

In The Reckoning, author Sandra Mackey gives us a historical and current view of the nation of Iraq. By doing so, she points out that any attempt at governance will be met with fierce opposition from diverse groups that were, more or less, randomly placed together.

The book begins with the creation of the state of Iraq, which I found is not an Iraqi creation. The name is not even an Iraqi creation. From the book, the British organized the areas of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul into what we know of as Iraq. Every leader since the creation of the state has struggled to build a state where all the different groups think of themselves as Iraqi.

Oil made the Iraqi state successful. Saddam Hussein and his party moved in power to benefit from that wealth, but they realized quickly that for them to maintain control, they have to be ruthless. Saddam has a long history of this.

After reading this book, the articles I read in the newspaper and the news segments I see on TV make more sense to me. I would highly recommend reading this book. This is a very enlightening read.

I had read Sandra Mackey's book, "The Saudis" a couple of years ago and found it fascinating and insightfully true. I saw her on C-SPAN talking about this new book, "The Reckoning", and I knew I had to buy it. Waldenbooks let me buy their "store copy" which came in a couple of days earlier than the normal shipment. I read all night long. This book is more historical and concentrates on the early history of the Arab world. I thank Ms. (Professor?) Mackey for researching everything so deeply for those of us who have a very difficult time understanding why or how some peoples of the world behave as they do. I also found many of her observations to be so true. I'm holding on to my copies. Please try to read these books for yourselves and reflect upon how we are all human beings with very unique perspectives on life.

Sandra Mackey has somehow attracted the scorn of many amazon reviewers. The most familiar criticism is that she's never been to these countries and is just recycling old information. I don't beleive that just because a person has never been to a certain place, that that disqualifies that person from writing about it. I've never been to Iraq, but I'd like to think I know more than a bit about the place.

There are more general history books such as this about Iraq than perhaps any other Middle Eastern country, and of the ones I've read I would definitely say that Mackey has written one of the "good" ones. Some of the other books are too short, some focus heavily on certain time periods while breezing through others. Mackey's book covers a very broad time span and is of sufficient length and detail. There are some issues that she glosses over, particularly if the U.S. was doing something questionable, but on the whole, this is a book worth reading.

If you're only able to read one of these books about Iraq, I would recommend Anderson and Stansfield's Future Iraq: Democracy, Dictatorship, or Division? However, if you'd like to read multiple books about Iraq, make sure you get around to this one at some point.