Collateral Damage, Laila AlArian
Collateral Damage, Laila AlArian
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Collateral Damage
America's War Against Iraqi Civilians

Author: Laila Al-Arian, Chris Hedges

Narrator: Lloyd James

Unabridged: 3 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/07/2008

Categories: Nonfiction, History, Wars


Synopsis

Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila Al-Arian spent several months interviewing Iraqi war veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation and how it affects Iraqi civilians. The testimonies of these soldiers and marines provide a disturbing window into the indiscriminate killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqis that is carried out daily by the occupation forces.

Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations on the battlefield—convoys, checkpoints, detentions, raids, suppressive fire, and "hearts and minds." Hedges and Al-Arian uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis. The military convoys that speed through the centers of towns, often driving on the wrong side of the street or on sidewalks, have become trains of death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints; pregnant women being rushed to the hospital have been killed at roadblocks when their husbands failed to slow down, and children have watched in horror as their parents have been killed.

Hedges and Al-Arian show how this widespread pattern of civilian killing has fueled the insurgency in Iraq, giving rise to instability, sectarian violence, and total chaos.

About Laila Al-Arian

Laila Al-Arian is a freelance journalist living in New York. A graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, she has interned for USA Today and Nation magazine and has written for the United Press International, the Dupont Current newspaper, and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on February 10, 2018

2 types of war books impress me: 1) Reveal and deconstruct "war culture", that which facilitates society to commit the greatest evil, 2) Imprint the depravity of war onto your soul so it can never be forgotten. This book falls into the latter category, such vivid illustrations of how war wrenches th......more

Goodreads review by Eduardo on September 03, 2008

I had to put it down after the first page because I was getting a knot in my throat, watery eyes and a flushed face. Every responsible U.S. citizen needs to read this stuff.......more

Goodreads review by Bilal on March 06, 2025

The interviews with American Iraq War veterans do a good job of breaking down the reality of what an occupation actually is: the raids, the checkpoints, the convoys, the prisons. Just utter dehumanization of an occupied people so soldiers can cope with inflicting mass violence upon them. My problem......more

Goodreads review by Ulrich on January 20, 2013

A lean, no bullshit account told from the perspective of soldiers who were fed up and disgusted by the humiliation, degradation and uncounted carnage visited upon the Iraqi civilian populace. Most of America's problems among the infantry and mechanized units evolved from a combination of a language b......more

Goodreads review by Petter on December 22, 2010

It's easy to forget the wars going on. This book is collected from interview with american soldiers about their experiences in Iraq. It's not glamorous or pretty. It's bad. I recommend it highly.......more