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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The Green Zone, Baghdad, 2003: in this walled-off compound of swimming pools and luxurious amenities, Paul Bremer and his Coalition Provisional Authority set out to fashion a new, democratic Iraq. Staffed by idealistic aides chosen primarily for their views on issues such as abortion and capital punishment, the CPA spent the crucial first year of occupation pursuing goals that had little to do with the immediate needs of a postwar nation: flat taxes instead of electricity and deregulated health care instead of emergency medical supplies.

In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate portrait of life inside this Oz-like bubble, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside. This is a quietly devastating tale of imperial folly, and the definitive history of those early days when things went irrevocably wrong in Iraq.

Customer Reviews: Read 149 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

The Emperor is Buck Naked December 16, 2008
Conspiracy to defraud the American tax payer, by diabolical war profiteering of unprecedented scope, herein becomes obvious. Only the most delusional pollyanna could still believe the precepts of this war or the spin on its aftermath, given the exposure of the bare and simple facts by this level-headed work of pure journalistic daylight.

Iraq war contract awards have themselves completely exposed the truth to anyone who cares to look. No administration could possibly be so idiotic and blind as to have mistakenly allowed for the the graft so adamantly and unapologetically instituted and promoted by the US government in 2003.

Required reading before voting.

5 out of 5 stars

A Disconcerting Picture of US Out of Touch December 11, 2008
Lays out some of the most obvious failures of US invasion and post-war administration in Iraq. Clearly demonstrates that policy makers were so committed to ideology that they blinded themselves to the way things were--with disastrous effect. Administrators were chosen more for partisan loyalty than proven experience, and were tragically out-of-touch with events on the ground.

5 out of 5 stars

A damning indictment July 18, 2008
Since I lived for a year in Baghdad's Green Zone, I felt it was necessary for me to read what happened before I got there, under L. Paul Bremer, bureaucrat extraordinaire. That is why I recently found myself reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City, by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

To say that the Bush Administration and its chosen Iraq occupation overlords made poor choices during and immediately after the invasion of that country would be an understatement so vast that I have no words to describe how big an understatement I would be making. Reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City reinforced for me many of the reasons why I heard the impact of so many mortars during my 2005-2006 sojourn to Iraq's largest city and at the time one of the most violent if not the most violent city in the world.

I met Rajiv Chandrasekaran in Baghdad in 2006, when I credentialed him for access to military bases. The man was humble, unassuming and patient with the bureaucratic process he endured, which is much more than I can say for Geraldo Rivera, who had sycophants hanging all over him and required that we open for a special session to credential him. In any case, the book itself is superly written in a professional tone.

The damning indictments of cronyism and poor decision making due to a complete lack of understanding of the culture and history of Iraq are presented artfully, without the forced overtones of sarcasm that would have appeared had I written Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

From the story of the Iraqi expatriatate who returns post invasion to open a five-star pizza shop only to find his American customers cannot leave their fortified enclave to the tale of the minor minister who is assasinated for trying to help his country without being politically involved, to the detailed descriptions of the "little America" inside a several square mile compound in downtown Baghdad, this book is well worth reading.

I do not know if L. Paul Bremer has yet publicly admitted how arrogant and stupid many of the decisions made in that first year of occupation were, but he knows it in his heart. If he doesn't that would mean the man has no heart.

Having served in Iraq, and having been to a few locales outside the "Emerald Palace" I called the Green Zone, I still hold pain in my heart for the people I met and for their suffering. Things may be turning around now in that country. But in reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City, it becomes clear that much of the violence that wracked the country and the city of Baghdad could have been avoided if things had been done differently in the beginning. We'll never know how many died because of bad decision making, but it is clear that the numbers are in the tens of thousands and possibly much higher.

If you've ever wondered what was really going on in those first days of the occupation, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

reads like a novel June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book that stands out among the host of books that have been written about the Iraq war. The thing that makes it stand out is that it reads like a novel. A scary novel of course. It details the fiasco that has unfolded in Iraq due to poor planning, poor leadership, and the desire to reward loyalty over competency.

4 out of 5 stars

Good Introductory Book May 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I agree with some of the reviewers below who stated that this is a good introductory book. Its well written and very easy to read. That being said, it doesn't contain nearly the level of detail as other books, written by both "sides" (i.e., Bremer's memoir or Ferguson's No End in Sight).

There's not a whole lot of analysis and it seemed that this book focused a lot more on food platters and young staffers than the more substantive issues. I mean, yes, it would have been better to have a more experienced individual in charge of reopening the Baghdad Stock Exchange. That being said, the Stock Exchange was miniscule in importance compared to the more important issues the lack of troops and the disbanding of the Iraqi army, which, in my opinion, needed more treatment.

I think it would be a mistake for us to view the problems we face as a result of the selection of young, inexperienced staffers, and to me, the book gives off that strong impression. The problems are (first) a result of not enough troops on the ground after the initial military victory (Rumsfeld) and (second) the failure to recall at least some of the Iraqi military (Jerry Bremer and Walt Slocombe). These were simply bad decisions made by 3 very experienced officials, with significant experience in both Republican and Democratic administrations.