Table of Contents
PRAISE FOR AFTERMATH
A searing, first-hand account of the consequences of Americas war on terrorism by one of the most respected voices on the Middle East. Honest, fearless, devastating. No one but Nir Rosen could have written this book.
Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Beyond Fundamentalism
A brilliantly told story of post invasion Iraqand the Middle Easts descent into a sectarian hell mess well all pay for generations to come. Theres no one out there more courageous or better equipped to tell it than Nir Rosen. And when Rosen speaks, I listen.
Robert Baer, author of See No Evil
Nir Rosen has been reporting from Iraq for years the way it should be reportedfrom the inside out. He spends his time in Iraq not at American news conferences in the secure Green Zone, but in the villages and cities of the battered nation, interviewing the victims of Saddam Hussein as well as the victims of our seven-year-old war. His dispatches, and this book, reflect the madness of the mission.
Seymour Hersh
Nir Rosen is always provocativehe makes you see another side of an issue. In Aftermath, Rosen, at great personal risk, captured how Iraqis, Lebanese and Afghans from across society view U.S. actions in their nations. You may disagree and you will probably be angry, but if you wish to understand these conflicts and their impacts into the future, you need to read this book.
Colonel Thomas X. Hammes, United States Marine Corps (Ret.), author, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century
For Americans, the story of U.S. military involvement in the Islamic world centers on us not them, with Afghans and Iraqis cast as victims or bystanders. In this brilliantly reported and deeply humane book, Nir Rosen demolishes this self-serving picture, depicting the relationship between the occupied and the occupiers in all its nuanced complexity.
Andrew J. Bacevich, author of Washington Rules: Americas Path to Permanent War
If you think you understand the war in Iraq, or just think you should try to, read this book. This is a deep dive through the last seven years of Americas foray into the Middle East. No one will agree with everything here, but anyone interested in what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan will benefit from reading it.
Thomas E. Ricks, author of Fiasco and The Gamble
The world would be a more dangerous place without Nir Rosens Aftermath . His bracing recounting of the invasion of Iraq and subsequent insurgency, and blunt dissection of the myths surrounding the surge are an essential antidote to the complacency that has set in as America exits Iraqand which could lead to similar debacles in the future.
Parag Khanna, author of The Second World: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition in the Twenty-first Century
Aftermath is a masterwork, the product of a life devoted to a relentless pursuit of the knowledge and understanding of strange men who walk in nearly unimaginable paths across the far places of the world. I first met Nir Rosen when we sat together on a panel discussion on the Newshour. I wondered then how this quiet young man could have acquired so much expertise so early in life. By the time of our next meeting years later I had learned of his incredible persistence and willingness to go and sit among those whom most of us would fear to meet at all. Over the years I have come to expect to hear from him or of him in his wanderings in places so perilous that one would expect that only soldiers would venture there. Nir Rosens marvelous book is the record of the disaster that ignorance, often willful ignorance produced in Iraq, continues to produce in Afghanistan and is likely to produce in places like Yemen and Somalia. Read Aftermath and hope not to repeat this history.
Colonel Walter Patrick Pat Lang, United States Army (Ret.), former executive at the Defense Intelligence Agency
It is a painful experience to read Nir Rosens highly informed account of the destruction of Iraq and the spread of the plague of sectarian violence incited by the invasion to Lebanon and beyond. The image this meticulously detailed rendition brings to mind is of a brutal ignoramus wielding a sledgehammer to smash a complex structure he does not understand, with unpredictable but predictably awful consequences. Amazingly, Rosen finds rays of hope in the ruins. No less compelling, and distressing, is his vivid account of his experiences in Taliban-controlled territory. An indispensable contribution to the understanding of great contemporary tragedies.
Noam Chomsky
Nir Rosen has almost single handedly rescued the name of journalism in the Middle East from a class of reporters who function as courtiers and propagandists for the military and our political elite. Rosens fierce independence and honesty, as well as an ability to see the wars we are fighting from all sides, make his book exceptional for its nuance, complexity and insight into our bloody march through the Muslim world. Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of Americas Wars in the Muslim World is a stark, unvarnished account of the folly of empire, the futility of violence as an instrument of reform and democracy and the gross ineptitude of our political and military class. Rosen lays before his readers the anguished voices and experiences of those we occupy. He does this with a sensitivity and cultural literacy that is as rare as it is essential. Aftermath is one of the most important contemporary accounts of Americas misguided war on terror.
Chris Hedges, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and Empire of Illusion
Nir Rosen has written a deeply reported, authoritative account of the American occupation of Iraq and the regional fallout from that adventure. Aftermath deepens our understanding of the events of the troubled past decade in a rich and satisfying manner. Rosen also gives voice, character and nuance to the Iraqi side of the story, which very few have had the courage or ability to do.
Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. , and The Osama bin Laden I Know
As a reporter, Nir Rosen scares the dickens out of me. Hes willing to go where few will follow and to give voice to those who are rarely heard. His reporting is all the more precious because of it.
Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower
Also by Nir Rosen
In the Belly of the Green Bird:
The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq
To my mother and father for making me who I am,
To Tiffany, my love, my challenge,
To Dakota, may you defy the world
the way you defy me.
OUR COUNTRY IS A GRAVEYARD
Gentlemen, you have transformed
our country into a graveyard
You have planted bullets in our heads,
and organized massacres
Gentlemen, nothing passes like that
without account
All what you have done
to our people is
registered in notebooks
Mahmoud Darwish
Translation: Asad Abu Khalil
Research support for this book was provided by
THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION INVESTIGATIVE FUND AT THE NATION INSTITUTE
Baghdad
