From a State Department insider, the first account of our blundering efforts to rebuild Iraq. A shocking and rollicking true-life tale of Americans abroad, and a vividly rendered tale of ineptitude and corruption.

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2005" Noah Feldman is Professor of Law at New York University and, in 2003, was Senior Constitutional Adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is the author of After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003). What do we owe Iraq? America is up to its neck in nation building--but the public debate, focused on getting the troops home,...

I feel that I have been sleeping all my life and I have woken up and opened my eyes to the world. A beautiful world! But impossible to live in. These are the words of fifteen-year-old Hadiya, blogging from the city of Mosul, Iraq, to let the world know what life is really like as the military occupation of her country unfolds. In many ways, her life is familiar. She worries about exams and enjoys watching Friends during the rare hours that the electricity...

Love first. Ask questions later.In the middle of the Iraq War, Jeremy and Jessica Courtney found themselves with their two children caught up in the turmoil, just hoping to make a difference. After an encounter with a father whose little girl was dying from a heart defect, they began to investigate options for helping and learned that untold thousands of children across Iraq were in similar need, waiting in line for heart surgery in a country without...