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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General
How is foreign policy made in Iraq? Based on dozens of interviews
with senior officials and politicians, this book provides a clear
analysis of the development of domestic Iraqi politics since 2003.
Zana Gulmohamad explains how the federal government of Iraq and
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have functioned and worked
together since toppling Saddam to reveal in granular detail the
complexity of their foreign policy making. The book shows that the
ruling elites and political factions in Baghdad and in the capital
of the Kurdistan Region, Erbil, create foreign policies according
to their agendas. The formulation and implementation of the two
governments' foreign policies is to a great extent uncoordinated.
Yet Zana Gulmohamad places this incoherent model of foreign policy
making in the context of the country's fragmented political and
social context and explains how Iraq's neighbouring countries -
Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria before the civil war - have
each influenced its internal affairs. The book is the first study
dedicated to the contemporary dynamics of the Iraqi state - outside
the usual focus on the "great powers" - and it explains exactly how
Iraqi foreign policy is managed alongside the country's economic
and security interests.
On June 25, 1950, as he was flying back to Washington D.C. to deal
with the outbreak of war in Korea, US President Harry Truman
thought, "In my generation, this was not the first occasion when
the strong had attacked the weak. I recalled some earlier
instances: Manchuria, Ethiopia, Austria. I remembered how each time
that the democracies failed to act it had encouraged the aggressor
to keep going ahead. Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler,
Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted, ten, fifteen, and twenty
years earlier... If this was allowed to go unchallenged it would
mean a third world war." In response to North Korea's invasion of
South Korea, the United Nations sent an urgent plea to its members
for military assistance. Sixteen nations answered the call by
contributing combat troops. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, a
stalwart advocate of collective security, dispatched an infantry
battalion composed of his Imperial Bodyguard to affirm this
principle which had been abandoned in favour of appeasement when
the League of Nations (the predecessor to the United Nations) gave
Fascist Italy a free-hand to invade Ethiopia in 1935. The unit
designated "Kagnew Battalion" was actually successive battalions
which rotated yearly and fought as part of the US 32nd Infantry
Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. When they arrived, these warriors
from an ancient empire were viewed with suspicion by their American
allies as they were untested in modern warfare. Their arrival in
Korea also coincided with the de-segregation of the US Army.
However, the Ethiopians eventually earned the respect of their
comrades after countless bloody, often hand-to hand battles, with
all three battalions which served during the war earning US
Presidential Unit Citations. Remarkably, Kagnew was the only UN
contingent which did not lose a single man as prisoner of war or
missing in action. Until now, few have heard the story of their
stand for collective security and against aggression. The Emperor's
Own provides insight into who these men and women were as well as
what became of them after the war.
In war, there is no easy victory. When troops invaded Iraq in 2003
to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, most people expected an easy
victory. Instead, the gamble we took was a grave mistake, and its
ramifications continue to reverberate through the lives of
millions, in Iraq and the West. As we gain more distance from those
events, it can be argued that many of the issues facing us today -
the rise of the Islamic State, increased Islamic terrorism,
intensified violence in the Middle East, mass migration, and more -
can be traced back to the decision to invade Iraq. In The Iraq War,
award-winning documentary maker James Bluemel collects first-hand
testimony from those who lived through the horrors of the invasion
and whose actions were dictated by such extreme circumstances. It
takes in all sides of the conflict - working class Iraqi families
watching their country erupt into civil war; soldiers and
journalists on the ground; American families dealing with the grief
of losing their son or daughter; parents of a suicide bomber coming
to terms with unfathomable events - to create the most in-depth and
multi-faceted portrait of the Iraq War to date. Accompanying a
major BBC series, James Bluemel's book is an essential account of a
conflict that continues to shape our world, and a startling
reminder of the consequences of our past decisions.
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Korea
(Hardcover)
Carlos R Smith
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R659
R544
Discovery Miles 5 440
Save R115 (17%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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The incredible true story of Major Bill Shaw, who having survived
some of the toughest war zones in the world, was faced with the
nightmare of being wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan under a
corrupt legal system From surviving a horrific terrorist attack in
Northern Ireland, to the violence of the Gulf War and an assault
course of harrowing experiences in Iraq, Bosnia, and Columbia,
Major Bill Shaw had seen it all. But Bill's strength and courage
was tested to its absolute limits when he was arrested for a crime
he did not commit. Posted in Afghanistan after two years in Iraq,
Bill was responsible for the safety of 400 men in a full-scale
danger zone in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
The married father and grandfather, who had risen through the ranks
to become a commander of men and an MBE, had long accepted that
each day could be his last. But he never expected to find his own
life at risk under a corrupt legal system. Thrown into prison and
forced to share a cramped, vermin-infested cell with sixteen
Afghans, among them members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Bill had
no idea when, or even if, he would see his family again. This is
the incredible true story of a brave soldier who survived some of
the toughest war zones in the world only to face the nightmare of
being wrongfully imprisoned a very long way from home. Gritty and
gripping, this powerful military memoir is an eye-opening account
of life on the frontline.
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