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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General
During the Iraq War, thousands of young Baghdadis worked as
interpreters for US troops, becoming the front line of the
so-called War on Terror. Deployed by the military as linguistic as
well as cultural interpreters-translating the ""human terrain"" of
Iraq-members of this network urgently honed identification
strategies amid suspicion from US forces, fellow Iraqis, and, not
least of all, one another. In Interpreters of Occupation, Campbell
traces the experiences of twelve individuals from their young
adulthood as members of the Ba'thist generation, to their work as
interpreters, through their navigation of the US immigration
pipeline, and finally to their resettlement in the United States.
Throughout, Campbell considers how these men and women grappled
with issues of belonging and betrayal, both on the battlefield in
Iraq and in the US-based diaspora. A nuanced and richly detailed
ethnography, Interpreters of Occupation gives voice to a generation
of US allies through their diverse and vividly rendered life
histories. In the face of what some considered a national betrayal
in Iraq and their experiences of otherness within the United
States, interpreters negotiate what it means to belong to a
diasporic community in flux.
LTC Harry Tunnell's Red Devils is the history of one Soldier's and
one unit's experience in Operation Iraqi Freedom. War must be
studied from a variety of perspectives if one hopes to understand
it and profit from that understanding. Like studies of grand
strategy and operational histories, personal accounts of war are a
critical aspect of understanding that immensely complex phenomenon.
Using a journal which he kept during the war, then reflecting on
his experiences while recovering from the wounds he suffered and
while at student at the National War College, LTC Tunnell tells the
story of the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in
Northern Iraq. The story of the Red Devils covers that crucial
period of time from early 2003 when the Army prepared for war,
through the end of so called 'major combat operations, ' and into
the start of the insurgency and counterinsurgency which goes on to
this day. This is not a comprehensive, polished historical
analysis, but a first-hand account of Operation Iraqi Freedom's
earliest period. Red Devils represents one man's attempt to make
sense of his and his unit's experiences in Iraq. It represents only
a small part of the history of many units and individuals which
have taken part in, and continue to take part in, the defining
military campaign of our time. We hope this study will be useful as
readers attempt understand that complex campaign
Eyewitness to War Oral History Series: Eyewitness to War The US
Army in Operation AL FAJR: An Oral History is a unique publication
for the Combat Studies Institute. This study is a derivative of the
CSI Operational Leadership Experience (OLE) project, a program that
collects and archives first-person experiences from the Global War
on Terror. It can also be considered a companion to the recently
published CSI Occasional Paper #20: Operation AL FAJR: A Study in
Army and Marine Corps Joint Operations. Interviews collected for
the OLE project formed the basis for that occasional paper and were
so compelling, we felt a need to publish those interviews in a book
series. In November 2004, the second battle for Fallujah was a
brutal and bloody fight so characteristic of urban terrain. Under
the overall command of the 1st Marine Division, four Marine
infantry and two US Army battalions (Task Forces 2-2 Infantry and
2-7 Cavalry) were committed to the streets of Fallujah. At this
same time, the Army's 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division formed a
cordon to hold and isolate the insurgents in the city. Using the fi
repower and mobility of the Army's heavy armor and mechanized units
to full effect, the Marine Regimental Combat Teams were successful
in destroying the enemy and securing Fallujah in ten days.
Eyewitness to War interviews span a wide spectrum of participants,
from commanders and senior non-commissioned officers at all levels
to the first-hand accounts of combat and combat service support
personnel on the battlefield. We make no claim that this history is
a comprehensive work, as these 37 people are but a fraction of the
thousands who took part in the operation. This is primarily an Army
oral history, though one of the Marine Regimental Commanders agreed
to provide his story. The USMC bore the brunt of fighting in
Fallujah and this study does not attempt to overlook their
tremendous accomplishments. The individuals featured in this work
volunteered to work with our staff over many months. Their stories
are a tremendous testimony to the skill, flexibility, and bravery
of the US Army today. This collection of personal experiences is
the raw material history is made of. It is a riveting and useful
way to study the past. And it is our hope that the insights derived
from their roles in the second battle for Fallujah will better
prepare the US Army for tomorrow's endeavors.
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