Friendly Fire: The Accidental Shootdown of U.S. Black Hawks over Northern Iraq

Book Description

On April 14, 1994, two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters accidentally shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopters over Northern Iraq, killing all twenty-six peacekeepers onboard. In response to this disaster the complete array of military and civilian investigative and judicial procedures ran their course. After almost two years of investigation with virtually unlimited resources, no culprit emerged, no bad guy showed himself, no smoking gun was found. This book attempts to make sense of this tragedy--a tragedy that on its surface makes no sense at all.

With almost twenty years in uniform and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, Lieutenant Colonel Snook writes from a unique perspective. A victim of friendly fire himself, he develops individual, group, organizational, and cross-level accounts of the accident and applies a rigorous analysis based on behavioral science theory to account for critical links in the causal chain of events. By explaining separate pieces of the puzzle, and analyzing each at a different level, the author removes much of the mystery surrounding the shootdown. Based on a grounded theory analysis, Snook offers a dynamic, cross-level mechanism he calls "practical drift"--the slow, steady uncoupling of practice from written procedure--to complete his explanation.

His conclusion is disturbing. This accident happened because, or perhaps in spite of everyone behaving just the way we would expect them to behave, just the way theory would predict. The shootdown was a normal accident in a highly reliable organization.

Customer Reviews:

Utterly fascinating.......2002-11-29

I went into this book thinking "how in the world could this happen" and finished it asking "how is it that this didn't occur before."

A fascinating book that has significance for all types of emergency responders, who need to understand how such "mistakes" might occur and thus how to potentially prevent such mistakes from occuring in the future.

An Organizational Analysis.......2000-12-14

Friendly Fire is a insightful, intriguing analysis of the 1994 incident that resulted in the needless deaths of 26 peacekeepers in the Iraqi Norther No Fly Zone. Snook presents a compelling tale of a complex system gone awry, an organization operating on the edge of chaos, and the ultimate result of a deterministic system spinning out of control. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of systems theory and organizational behavior, LTC Snook presents his thesis with exceptional clarity and depth of understanding; his conclusions are as disturbing as they are fascinating: a series of rational decisions made by equally rational human beings still failed to prevent the very incident the organization was designed to forestall. A concise, well-written account of and incident with lessons that we should all take to heart.

An Exceptional Account and Evaluation.......2000-09-30

Friendly Fire is a marvelous analysis of one of the most horrific accidents in recent military history. Snook is unfaltering in his tenacity to get to the root causes of this tragedy. The reader is given a broad perspective of how events, even those occuring years previous, led to the fateful day when 26 peacekeepers lost their lives. His ability to put the reader into the mind of each participant is riveting. More than just a recitation of facts or an outpouring of emotion, this book blends all the elements into a comprehensive understanding of a most complicated event. Friendly Fire should be required reading for all military personnel and anyone whose actions hold the lives of others in their hands.

When bad things happen to good organizations.......2000-04-13

In this book, Scott A. Snook, Ph.D. provides a thoughtful and readable account of how things can go tragically wrong in normal, healthy organizations. The author creatively applies several key theories in organizational structure and change to develop an understanding of (1) the tragic shootdown of two Army helicopters by U.S. Air Force jet fighters, which occurred in northern Iraq in 1994, and (2) "friendly-fire" events in general and broadly-defined --- or how it is that bad things can happen to good organizations, and there really is no one to blame. The book begins with an impressive, detailed examination of the data surrounding the 1994 Blackhawk shootdown. This includes thousands of hours of transcribed testimony gathered in hearings and court martial proceedings. In addition to official reports, Snook personally interviewed many of the key players in the Blackhawk friendly-fire incident. Using a "grounded-theory" approach, the author allows the data to shape and guide his reconstruction of the event itself, and his subsequent theoretical formulations to explain what happened. His resultant theory of "practical drift" spans multiple levels-of-analysis, from the individual to the cultural, providing dramatic insight into how such seemingly impossible events can be expected to occur in complex organizations. This book sheds the kind of light which both clarifies and disturbs. It should prove of real value not only to military leaders interested in reducing friendly-fire incidents, but also to leaders in non-military organizations who wish to understand, and perhaps avoid, normal disasters.

Marines in the Garden of Eden: The Battle for An Nasiriyah

Average customer rating:

amazing detail
Thought provoking material
Well written combat narrative with a personal touch.
"Marines in the Garden of Eden" is a must read
Poor Writing Obscures Marines Accomplishments

Marines in the Garden of Eden: The Battle for An Nasiriyah
Richard S. Lowry
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Iraq | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Ambush Alley: The Most Extraordinary Battle of the Iraq War
Fallujah, with Honor; First Battalion, Eighth Marine's Role in Operation Phantom Fury; Expanded 2nd Edition
The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq
We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah
My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story

ASIN: 0425209881

Book Description

The true story of the bloodiest battle in the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein.

It began on March 23, 2003, a clear, sunny Sunday morning in the city of An Nasiriyah, Iraq, where members of the 507th Maintenance Company were stationed during Operation Enduring Freedom. The enemy ambushed the 507th at first light, killing and wounding twenty-one soldiers and taking six prisoners, including the now-famous Private Jessica Lynch. When night fell, 18 marines had given their lives in what would become the battle for An Nasiriyah.

For the next week, An Nasiriyah was rocked with gun and mortar fire, as the marines of Task Force Tarawa fought to wrest control of the city from Saddam's fanatical followers.

This the story of the battle for "The Nas," as seen through the eyes of the Marines, soldiers, and newsmen who made it through those terrible seven days, and would never forget what they experienced, what they learned-or those they lost in the name of freedom.

Customer Reviews:

amazing detail.......2007-06-27

an amazing book. very good read. only complaint is that at this level of detail and intimacy, it is hard to keep track of who is who. author literaly has the minute to minute movements of like 10 different battle groups dialed in and well narrated. all the same... it is a great military NF history read.

Thought provoking material.......2007-01-24

This is a book that shows the acts of heroism of our young men and women that serve our country and look at their military service as helping others. It gives a true feeling of brotherhood between our military armed forces. "Marines in the Garden of Eden: The Battle for An Nasiriyah" brings to question of how ill prepared we truly were in going into Iraq and how our young men and women had to overcome obstacles that were unnecessary. I read this book with pride in our young people but saddness that as a Nation we sent them into battle when it appears that with all the high technology available, we left them hanging out there. I read these accounts of the Battle with great interest as three of my sons are serving in the Marine Corps and I knew several who were mentioned in the book. It is quite clear that the author was giving the true accounts of what happened and was not looking through tinted glasses that showed a bias one way or another.

Well written combat narrative with a personal touch........2006-11-23

Richard Lowry's book is a very well researched and well written combat narrative about the battle for An Nasiriyah. He follows several company, battalion, and regimental size units from their deployment in theater through the battle, describing in gripping detail not only the courage and dedication of those involved, but also the chaos, confusion, and "fog of war" that is part of any battle in any age. Lowry spends equal time covering the good and the bad that was the battle, from well-executed movements to friendly fire incidents, combat deaths to humanitarian assistance, treating each with the same level of attention to detail. I particularly like the way Lowry catches the human side of the Marines involved by noting particular quotes or actions in the heat of combat that makes the Marines come alive and puts a human face on the struggle.
Through the highs and lows, the average grunt Marine shines through, and learning about the "ordinary" heroism that carried the day makes this book one of the better combat narratives I have read.

"Marines in the Garden of Eden" is a must read.......2006-11-12

Mr. Lowry's care and consideration for the Marines he depicts is exemplary. His research and attention to detail gives credence and depth to the story of An Nasiriyah. "Marines in the Garden of Eden" is a must read. I couldn't wait to experience the story as it began to unfold.

Robert Elliot
Associate Producer
"Still There"
[...]

Poor Writing Obscures Marines Accomplishments.......2006-11-05

This is poorly written, with excessive use of adverbs and adjectives intended to portray gallant troops versus evil foes. A straight telling of the story would have been interesting, but the continued effort to bias the reader in such a childish manner caused me to give up after about twenty pages. Of course we are on the side of the troops, but let the events speak for themselves.

Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet

Average customer rating:

Transform Your Home into a Peaceful Sanctuary
Detox Your Life
Declutter, paint and detoxify
Life-changing ideas
Fantastic book with tons of information

Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet
Norma Lehmeier-Hartie
Manufacturer: Lingham Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Herbal Remedies | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Healthy Living | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

The Healthy Living Space: 70 Practical Ways to Detoxify the Body and Home
How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office
Home Enlightenment: Practical, Earth-Friendly Advice for Creating a Nurturing, Healthy, and Toxin-Free Home and Lifestyle
Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living
The Healthy Home Workbook: Easy Steps for Eco-Friendly Living

ASIN: 0977963306
Release Date: 2007-01-01

Product Description

Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, by Norma Lehmeier Hartie, is an indispensable reference book for anyone who cares about their health and well being and for the future of the planet. Hartie concisely covers a wide range of subjects and includes a comprehensive listing of advisory organizations, product and service resources. Part I of the book, Banish the Ugly from Your Life, is a blueprint for green, sustainable living. Discover how to replace toxic and unsustainable products from household cleaners to food (including recipes) to furniture to personal care products with safe, eco-friendly ones. Hartie is the tough but motivational Life Coach in her approach to cleaning, removing clutter and on organizing the home or office. Part II, Bring in the Beautiful to Create a Harmonious Environment and Self, includes a chapter on Earth-based spirituality and a fascinating look at the Four Elements (Earth, Fire, Air and Water) and the Medicine Wheel. The core of Hartie s philosophy blossoms in Chapter Seven, Applying Harmonious AdjustmentsTM: Using Feng Shui and Other Techniques for Powerful Results. Unlike other Feng Shui authors, Hartie has experience as a designer and her skills are apparent in this chapter and the following two. She has combined principles of Feng Shui, the Four Elements, color, energy, Vastu, and good design principles that create a unique and eclectic approach to home decorating. Finally, Hartie provides guidance on how to manifest personal or professional desires. In Part III, Putting the Pieces Together, Hartie skillfully integrates the many subjects of the book into a unified and cohesive whole. At its cover price of $19.95, Harmonious Environment is a value alone for the comprehensive green living product suppliers in the Resources section. What makes this book so truly ambitious, however, is what lies beneath the surface. In a sense, this book is only marginal

Customer Reviews:

Transform Your Home into a Peaceful Sanctuary.......2007-04-10

"The energy from flowers is so bright and strong that they can be put anywhere in the home and they will enhance your life." ~ pg. 217

Norma Lehmeier Hartie is a design consultant and Harmonious Adjustment practitioner who enjoys gardening and cooking. She created the practice of Harmonious Adjustments to give her clients the chance to reconnect with nature and to manifest their personal and professional dreams. Through her book she introduces ideas for detoxing and decluttering your home environment.

If you want a happier, healthier lifestyle that is more in harmony with nature, then Norma Lehmeier Hartie's book has a world of information to make this possible. She can help you:

Remove toxic products from your home and garage
Clean and organize your home
Buy environmentally friendly cleaning products
Organize your home for more peace and harmony
Find healthy personal care products
Grow plants that help to control pollution - A list of the Fifty Best Houseplants
Find the best choices in flooring
Figure out how to recycle larger items like a refrigerator
Cook more safely and use kitchen scraps for your garden
Formulate a plan to keep your house clean
Organize every room in the house
Decorate with Confidence

Reading through the list of harmful products gives you an idea of the ingredients to avoid in cleaners and how they can affect your health. For an antibacterial spray, the author suggests water and essential oils and for cleaning silver she also suggests more natural solutions like baking soda and vinegar. Using Borax and water is less dangerous than chlorine bleach fumes and you may want to try this in your shower. You may enjoy products by Seventh Generation.

Chapter three felt a little out of my personal range of expertise, although we know that thoughts can affect our environment and life and can move our life in a positive or negative direction. This chapter deals more with spiritual practices. Chapter 6 also delves into a deeper connection with nature, personality types and elemental powers. The list of Yin and Yang is helpful to create a balance of the two in your home. An entire chapter is also dedicated to plants, gemstones and crystals.

"If you are the average American woman, you expose yourself to over two hundred synthetic chemicals that are found in the products you use as you prepare yourself for the day. These products do not simply sit on your skin; approximately sixty percent of these ingredients get absorbed into your bloodstream." ~ pg. 91

Chapter four is especially informative and essential if you are trying to be healthier and want to find organic alternatives to products filled with synthetic chemicals. Why should you avoid petroleum and talc? Why is there lead in hair dye?

The section on an Eco-Friendly Kitchen is interesting and the chapter on natural and organic foods also gives ideas on how to save time in the kitchen. A few recipes are included:

Vegetarian Pasta Primavera
Fajitas
Risotto with Scallops or Shrimp
Lemon Rice
Grilled Vegetables

An extensive list of resources and a very handy index complete this well-researched and extremely helpful book. If you enjoy Feng Shui or decorating and organizing your home, there is a lot to enjoy and you may find the information in this book can also help with fatigue, anxiety and sleeping problems.

~The Rebecca Review

Detox Your Life.......2007-04-04

No matter what your goals are, this book has the starting point for you. Learn how to make your life less toxic and get a better relationship with Mother Earth.

Declutter, paint and detoxify.......2007-04-02

Using the principles of Feng Shui, you can create a harmonious home environment with this book as a guide.

Author Lehmeier-Hartie has you choose colors, elements and design based on your birthday. If you suffer from problems feeling disorganized or headachey at home, it could be your home is not organized properly or the flow of energy is impeded.

The author extends this tranquility to finding the right job and the right mate. Whether or not it is the alignment of elements in the home, focusing on clearing clutter in your life can only have positive effects. A very pretty book.

Life-changing ideas.......2007-02-02

Worried about what your family is being exposed to? Are you hoping to increase your wealth or find love this year? Trying to decide on the best color to paint your walls? If you answered "yes!" to any of these questions, then Harmonious Environment is a must read.

The goal of this book is to create positive energy both in your home and your life and to be kinder to the earth. Hertie is a design consultant, chef, gardener, and healer. She shares her professional and personal experiences with the readers, i.e., homemade earth-friendly cleaning products, tasty recipes for carnivores and vegetarians, etc. She recommends that after reading this book, you apply the process in the following order:

1. Remove toxic products from your home and garage
2. Clean, declutter, clear and organize your home
3. Buy/use environmentally friendly products
4. Learn how to use place objects (furniture, mirrors, etc.) to manifest change in your life

The relationship between people and the Earth is an important part of Harmonious Environments. To remind ourselves of this interconnection, Hertie recommends bringing the natural world into your home. Some ways to do this include displaying rocks and minerals and using houseplants as pollution busters.

Hertie uses Harmonious Adjustments (TM) that combines "the best principles of Feng Shui, the application of the Four Elements based on your birth date, color, Vastu, energy work and good design." I've read a few Feng Shui books in the past, but the author's clear instructions and enthusiasm has given me the confidence to actually try this at home.

I liked how the author reminded me to use this book as a guideline but to also trust my intuition. Do what looks and feels right for you. I also liked how the Resource section listed all the suppliers, organizations and further readings mentioned throughout the book.

Even if you aren't interested in Feng Shui, this book has valuable information about becoming an informed consumer and living a more eco-friendly life.

Armchair Interviews says read Harmonious Environment and get ready to change your life!

Fantastic book with tons of information.......2007-01-18

I got this wonderful book as we are moving our place of business, and wanted to make smart choices. From the first page, Ms. Lehmeier-Hartie shares her expertise in an organized, thoughtful way. The day after I got the book, I negotiated a much more logical and healthier ventilation system, and the section on colors was far and away the most organized and logical explanation I have ever seen.

Some aspects of our project are beyond our control, but I became a much more active participant. We anxiously await our new space, and know that the suggestions made here will add to the beauty and functionality of our space. I wish I could have rated this 10 stars!

Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century

Average customer rating:

No mention made of Khadafi quitting his nuke bomb project due to Dubya's taking down Saddam!
Of all the recent critiques of U.S. foreign policy, this is the most constructive and cutting-edge
Tedious

Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century
Julia E. Sweig
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
Uberpower: The Imperial Temptation of America
Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy
America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy

ASIN: 1586483005

Book Description

A masterly and caustic examination of America's role in fostering anti-Americanism over fifty years, by a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and award-winning writer

In 1945 the U.S. was the founding impulse behind the cornerstones of the International Community: the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and most of all the United Nations. Untainted by colonialism or fascism, heroic in warfare and idealistic at home, the U.S. presented itself as a paragon to inspire a less noble and divided world. Sixty years later, that perception had been almost completely reversed.

America had, in fact, quietly sowed the seeds of its own decline in the eyes of the world in its own back yard. Anti-Americanism, now a global phenomenon, was road tested in South America when most of the rest of the world was too distracted to notice or care. There, under the guise of anti-communism, we sponsored dictatorships, turned a blind eye to killing squads and tolerated the subversion of democracy. Almost nobody knew, so it didn't matter, right?

Wrong. On two counts. First, South America remembered. And second, encouraged by our success, we convinced ourselves that pre-emptive Americanism was a policy that could be shipped worldwide. This proved to be a big misjudgment. The world noticed and, helped by better scrutiny and faster technology, anti-Americanism flourished among America's closest allies beyond the Americas in a way and to a depth not seen before. As this reaches a crucial tipping point, Julia Sweig offers a brilliant and blistering history of what went wrong, and a feisty and compelling prescription for how to sort it out.

Customer Reviews:

No mention made of Khadafi quitting his nuke bomb project due to Dubya's taking down Saddam!.......2006-05-13

I wonder why author Sweig in all her hard research has neglected to mention this fact. Could it be that Khadafi (Quadafi) quitting the nuclear bomb game is support that the US was good in taking Iraq over.

Fidel Castro gets a pretty good review by this author too ignoring what a kangaroo court murderer he was once he took Cuba over. The author talks about the US taking over Cuba in 1898 ignoring things like how the USA eradicated some diseases and set up a good school system down there too. This author seems also strangely convinced that giving away the US owned-and-deserved Panama Canal to the Panamanians was a good thing. Back to Iraq the author is quick to quote how many Kurds were killed by Turkey (well over 30,000) but not how many ultra-creep Saddam bumped off (over 200,000!).

Of all the recent critiques of U.S. foreign policy, this is the most constructive and cutting-edge.......2006-04-23

Moderates and conservatives skeptical of the wartime proliferation of anti-U.S. treatises will find themselves falling unexpectedly in love with Julia Sweig's brilliant and provocative work, "Friendly Fire." This is the best nonfiction book I've read this year.
Though the author is probably somewhere on the center-left, "Friendly Fire" is no knee-jerk, know-nothing, America-bashing critique. Sweig provides a trenchant and thoughtful analysis of other nations' growing antipathy to American foreign policy, completely without any ax to grind.
Sweig's region-by-region analysis is practically a blueprint for how to get American foreign policy back on track while at the same time, keeping American interests in mind.
Sweig offers the kind of proscriptive analysis too seldom found in the cheap, Michael Moore-style lefty critiques. She not only identifies the problems in U.S. foreign policy, she also offers solutions, including many that defy easy ideological categorization.
As brilliant as this book is, Sweig's writing style is conversational and breezy - a sheer delight. "Friendly Fire" combines the intellectual heft of a Pulitzer Prize-winner with the easy-to-read narrative of a book that can remain atop the best seller list for a year.
I loved this book.

Tedious.......2006-04-18

Sweig writes: "In 1945 the U.S. was the founding impulse behind the cornerstones of the international community - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations. We were untainted by colonialism (Philippine Islands?) and heroic and war - a paragon to inspire those less noble. Sixty years later that perception has almost been reversed."

Then Sweig takes us through some of U.S. actions since 1900 - beginning with 28 interventions in Central America between 1900 and 1921, followed by Guatemala in '54 (200,000 killed in the next 30 years), our Iran-Contra involvement in Nicaragua, invasions of Grenada and Panama, and our 60-year increasing enmity against Cuba, including the Bay of Pigs fiasco and near-doomsday events of 1962.

Sweig's objective, with this introduction, is to explain why Latin America got a head-start in anti-Americanism (demonstrated by the rock-throwing at V.P. Nixon's car during a tour in 1950). All well and good, it you like beating an issue to death by focusing on the 80% of activities causing 20% of the problem.

The topic is much more easily handled if one simply begins with American actions after 9/11, when we enjoyed very high ratings and sympathy. Bush's "bring it on" rhetoric, our facts-be-damned invasion of Iraq, detainee and prison scandals quickly combined with resentment over our Kyoto rhetoric, casting aside the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, repeal of support of HIV/AIDS initiatives that included family planning and abortion, supporting a coup against President Chavez (80% support) in Venezuela, derision of Iraq invasion opponents and the U.N. in general, and bungling of the Iraq occupation to create a dramatic fall-off in international support. Then came the ineptness exposed by Katrina, growing federal and trade deficits, and increasing income/wealth inequality within the U.S. All easily recalled, and coverable in a few pages.

Sweig's Recommendations? Hardly imaginative - some dramatic policy reversals, such as endorsing Kyoto, adopting a mannered posture, giving Guantanamo back to Cuba.

Save yourself a headache - just read my review!

Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot by U.s. Forces

Average customer rating:

Ironic Ordeal
Civics Lesson Folks
Especially recommended for military and public library collections.
Insightful, exciting
With Friends LIke These...

Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot by U.s. Forces
Giuliana Sgrena
Manufacturer: Haymarket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Journalists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change
STATIC: GOVERNMENT LIARS, MEDIA CHEERLEADERS, AND THE PEOPLE WHO FIGHT BACK
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)
The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq

ASIN: 1931859396

Book Description

"Giuliana Sgrena's work is forever curious, powerful, and brave. I salute her."-John Pilger

Giuliana Sgrena brings us inside the US occupation of Iraq as no other journalist has done.

The leading Italian journalist, whose personal story was featured on 60 Minutes and in other major media worldwide, describes the real story of her capture, dramatic release, and shooting in 2004.

While reporting for the Italian daily newspaper Il Manifesto in Iraq, Sgrena was taken hostage by a group of Iraqis on February 4, 2005, and held until March 4, 2005. On the day of her release, as she was being escorted to Baghdad International Airport by Italian security, US forces fired on her vehicle. The attack killed Major General Nicola Calipari, the number-two man in Italian military intelligence, as he shielded Sgrena.

In the book, Sgrena describes her experience as a hostage and provides unique insights into the situation in Iraq under occupation, exposing US war crimes there.

In her foreword to this edition, radio and television host and best-selling author Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! situates the attack on Sgrena in the context of the increased targeting of journalists in conflict zones around the world.

Customer Reviews:

Ironic Ordeal.......2007-08-19

Irony is hardly the word to describe the situation of this hostage. Not only is she a stalwart champion of the suffering Iraqis including the ones who kidnapped her, but also she has little politically in common with the Italian Prime Minister who negotiates her release.

The book was most interesting when Sgrena spoke to her own experience. More that 1/2 or more text was devoted to the issues such as utilities and insecutiry in Baghdad, the factions, the role women, religion, etc. 50% (or maybe more) of the text could have been written by others.

It seems to me, readers interested in Sgrena and her story would be well versed in the Iraqi situation and would buy her book to hear what she has to say that speaks to her experience.

I would have liked this book to be more about her captivity, her understanding of others who have been held hostage in this way, her observations of her captors, and a more precise reconstruction of the negotiations to free her.

Civics Lesson Folks.......2007-05-30

I have not read this book but I am going to buy it today. This is a comment on the editorial review and this line in particular.

"either she or translator Riva fail to distinguish between government and citizens in reference to "the Americans"

Uh, last I checked (just watched School House Rock to make sure) the American People ARE the government. There are no two separate entities as "the government" and "the people" as we are a government "by the people, for the people, of the people".

If they don't treat the Americans as two separate entities, then maybe they know something about our system of governing ourselves that we'd do well to remember.

Yes, that makes me and you and anyone of voting age responsible for the war and for letting "our government" get away with what's happening.

I have abstained from rating the book, merely because I have not read it yet, but I felt I must make this comment and I will buy this book immediately and update my rating accordingly.

Especially recommended for military and public library collections........2007-02-09

The journalist author of FRIENDLY FIRE reported under war conditions, was kidnapped, rescued by an Italian secret agent, then shot by U.S. forces. If her name sounds familiar, it's because her story was detailed on 60 Minutes and other world media, but no show could prove the punch and impact of her memoir FRIENDLY FIRE, which chronicles her experience as a hostage. Any who would understand occupied Iraq in general and both military politics and hostage situations will find this packed with insights and answers lending to both study and browser interest. Especially recommended for military and public library collections.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Insightful, exciting.......2007-01-09

"Hostages are weapons of war, a powerful means of blackmail in an asymmetric conflict like that in Iraq. In two years of occupation, all foreigners have become the enemy; there's no longer any distinction between governments and those who oppose them..."(page 68)

In November 2004 the United States launched an especially violent assault on the resistance stronghold of Falluja, laying siege to the city and creating a civilian refugee crisis. On the trail of this crisis, interviewing civilians, antiwar Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena found herself sucked into the war in a most unexpected way: One of the resistance groups kidnapped her.

Sgrena's powerful book not only documents her personal drama as a hostage but reflects on the wider situation in Iraq that led to hers'--and many others'--kidnappings. She clearly explains why the "unbearable" living conditions feed into a general discontent that is (literally) violently stirred up by the presence of Coalition troops and their sledgehammer anti-insurgency tactics...tactics which almost led to her own death and did lead to the death of her liberator, Nicola Calipari.

"What happened to me after my liberation, the car hit by "friendly fire", took me back to the real origins of the current situation in Iraq: the war. The violent fall of Saddam did not bring liberty, but the decline into barbarism of Mesopotamia, cradle of civilization of the Sumerians, the Assyrians and the Babylonians. This is the reality." (page 187)

(Kudos to the translator and editor for producing a highly readable English account of the author's remarkable story and exceptional political insight.)

With Friends LIke These..........2006-09-25

Like many other hostage tales, there are moments of true human interaction between the hostage and her captors in this book. Interestingly enough, but not surprisingly, some of these moments occur during various soccer matches that are watched by the kidnappers. Although Sgrena is anything but a sports fan, her Italian nationality gives her credence if only because of one of the kidnappers obsession with Italian soccer. She describes her discussions of religion and non-belief with the mujaheedin holding her and their difficulty in understanding her relationship to her unmarried longtime partner. Unlike other hostage tales, especially the recent story by US journalist taken hostage Jill Carroll, Sgrena refuses to accept the rationale of the occupiers and insists thgoughout the text that it is the occupation that is the primary culprit in Iraq, not the resistance. The descriptions of the aforementioned conversations reminds the reader of the contradictory nature of the human condition--warriors able to hold a woman prisoner yet curious enought of this person from another culture to converse with her and debate, even though their commanders and clerics might not approve.

As regards Sgrena's thoughts on Iraq, it is her contention that the fighters against the occupiers are primarily composed of two elements: the nationalist insurgency and the jihadists. Sgrena states that the jihadists want the US in Iraq because it gives them a front in their war on the infidels, while the insurgency wants the US and other occupation troops out so they can get on with their lives. As I write this review, the news broadcasts are reporting on a demonstration of hundreds of thousands against the US occupation of Iraq and the Israeli war on Lebanon in Baghdad. The primary component of this demonstration were Shia Iraqis that support Muqtada al-Sadr. According to the news report, US officials claim to be concerned that this massive show of strength by these Shia Iraqis could provoke attacks on them by members of the Sunni community in Iraq. While there may be some truth to this possibility, the fact that the US command is expressing concern is so transparent as to be laughable. After all, the US military and intelligence have certainly killed more of Sadr's supporters than their fellow Iraqis have. It is more likely that the US is concerned that the solidarity being expressed across religious lines and across the Arab world for the resistance of Hezbollah to Israel's onslaught will become the dominant current in Iraq. If that occurred, the resistance to the occupation would be nearly universal among Iraqis. That would spell the end of not only the occupation, but of the jihadists as well.
Of course, the Pentagon and White House (with approval from Congress) remains convinced that the situation can be remedied in favor of Washington via military means. Indeed, the commander of US Central Command, General Abizaid, went on record in early August stating that he could "imagine" the US military "winning" Baghdad. As Sgrena's book clarifies (once again), this imaginary scenario is nothing more than a pipe dream for the US generals and a nightmare for the Iraqis. As the occupation and its consequent mayhem continue no one is certain what the next phase will look like. The civil strife between various religious trends is but one facet of the aforementioned mayhem. Underlying it all is the continuing dismal state of most Iraqis' economic lives and the lack of any apparent future of peace.
Sgrena's understanding of this desperate situation and Washington's fundamental role in creating and maintaining it are the subject of much of her commentary in the book. It is interspersed with a narrative describing the physical realities of her captivity and her means of dealing with the boredom, fear, and hopelessness that are part of any imprisonment. Her journalistic abilities are quite apparent in these descriptions--one feels that they know the characteristics of the room she spent her captivity almost as well if they had seen a walk-through video of it. Her discussion of the emotions she experienced are interwoven into her story in such a way that they become like the darkness of her mask that the kidnappers insist she wear at times of their choosing. Or the daylight that we assume will always be. They exist but they do not overwhelm. In fact, that is how Sgrena tells her story. Perhaps it is her journalistic detachment or perhaps it is the only manner in which she could write it down. No matter what the reason may be, it works. Friendly Fire is more than the tale of one hostage's ordeal and it is more than just another tract on the US-created debacle that is Iraq. It is not a cry for revenge, but a tempered statement on a nation's shattered psyche and an individual attempt to share a perspective influenced by her unforeseen role in that nation's history.

Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade

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Friendly fire in the civil war
this book doesn't hold the readers attention

Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade
Webb Garrison
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Through stories of defective ammunition, accidental shooting, inexperienced troops, and deliberate firings, this book is the first to identify when Yankee killed Yankee and Confederate killed Confederate. These tragic accounts strip away the romanticism of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Friendly fire in the civil war.......2004-01-23

In this book Webb Garrison has compiled a number of incidents in which soldiers fired upon men from their own side, be it in a large battle, a skirmish, or an act upon a lone individual. Although he has consulted numerous works and records, it is most likely that due to fog-of-war or willful supression that the incidents about which he writes are but a fraction of those that occurred.

Friendly Fire in the Civil War is an interesting book, and not without its merits. But overall I find that there is just something about Garrison's writing that makes his books too simplistic, and therefore difficult to read.

this book doesn't hold the readers attention.......2003-12-12

this book is short only 200 pages and it is a very little talked about subject but though informative it just doesn't hold my attention and I really don't recomend it

Average customer rating:

read it in installments
Friendly Fire Spat from a Bitter Mother's Heart

Friendly Fire
C.D.B. Bryan
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

read it in installments.......2004-12-19

I guess you had to be there. I read this book when it first came out, in installments in The New Yorker. When each one arrived in the mail, I put down everything to read it, right then and there. That's how compelling it was, for someone like myself (b. 1951).

Friendly Fire Spat from a Bitter Mother's Heart.......2001-07-28

After seeking out this documentary, I found not a copy in the entire libary system across America. Since it is out-of-print, I was delighted to find it at Amazon. When it arrived, I was extrememly excited to read this account of the parent's perspective during the Vietnam War.

Immediately, I was dissapointed by the writing style which gave me the feeling of watching a Lifetime movie. With repetitive comments from the mother or father trying to find out the how and why of their son's death in Vietnam being over and over "How .... DID ... MY ... SON ... DIE?!?!" That kind of melodramatic ....

Book Description

Hundreds of memoirs, novels, plays, and movies have been devoted to the American war in Vietnam. In spite of the great variety of media, political perspectives and the degrees of seriousness with which the war has been treated, Katherine Kinney argues that the vast majority of these works share a single story: that of Americans killing Americans in Vietnam. Friendly Fire, in this instance, refers not merely to a tragic error of war, it also refers to America's war with itself during the Vietnam years. Starting from this point, this book considers the concept of "friendly fire" from multiple vantage points, and portrays the Vietnam age as a crucible where America's cohesive image of itself is shattered--pitting soldiers against superiors, doves against hawks, feminism against patriarchy, racial fear against racial tolerance. Through the use of extensive evidence from the film and popular fiction of Vietnam (e.g. Kovic's Born on the Fourth of July, Didion's Democracy, O'Brien's Going After Cacciato, Rabe's Sticks and Bones and Streamers), Kinney draws a powerful picture of a nation politically, culturally, and socially divided, and a war that has been memorialized as a contested site of art, media, politics, and ideology.

Customer Reviews:

A great author and a great teacher.......2005-01-12

Katherine Kinney's book is a miniature first class education. Having taken classes from Dr.Kinney I was eager to read her book and found every chapter a satisfying line of criticism. Ignore all negative or unappreciative reviews of this book or this author.

a fascinating read.......2005-01-03

In "Friendly Fire," Katherine Kinney offers a fascinating cultural analysis of the Vietnam conflict as it has been represented through popular media. Writing in a style accessible to the casual reader and the serious Vietnam scholar alike, she explores America's involvement in Vietnam by paying particular attention to how certain cultural fears and desires have been reflected through the portrayal of this historical conflict.

You may have read the only other Amazon review of this book, an embarrassing and cowardly hatchet-job by a disgruntled ex-graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, the university at which the book's author is a well-respected professor and scholar. As a former student at this university, I immediately recognized the author of this character assassination (despite the cowardice of the unsigned post), a student whose shoddy performance on their doctoral examinations was one of the truly embarrassing moments in recent, departmental history (the gulf between expectation and actuality was enormous). My recommendation would be to ignore this vindictive attack from an arrogant and unstable person who is pretty much viewed as a joke in the English Department at UC Riverside.

Oxford University Press, long noted for publishing interesting, relevant, and cutting-edge work, has done so yet again with "Friendly Fire." For those interested in the Vietnam War, post-WWII masculinity, or media studies, this book will provide a fascinating read.

Signed,

Andrew Howe

An interesting and important book.......2004-12-27

Friendly Fire: The Secret War Between the Allies

Average customer rating:

A valid point, but conspiracy idiocy soft on Hitler
Carnage and Profits

Friendly Fire: The Secret War Between the Allies
Lynn Picknett , Clive Prince , and Stephen Prior
Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up
War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy
The Sion Revelation: The Truth About the Guardians of Christ's Sacred Bloodline
The Stargate Conspiracy: The Truth about Extraterrestrial life and the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It

ASIN: 1840189967
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Book Description

Friendly Fire investigates the intrigue and treachery between—and within—the nations that were ostensibly allies during the Second World War. It asserts that the Allied war effort was more concerned with the balance of power in the postwar world than with the defeat of Germany and Japan. These machinations allegedly prolonged the duration of the war by as much as two years. Based on extensive research, this study contains information obtained from key archives as well as the testimonies of those individuals actively involved in the events. The result is a provocative re-evaluation of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and the real agenda behind the formation of the postwar world—and the consequences for us all.

Customer Reviews:

A valid point, but conspiracy idiocy soft on Hitler.......2007-09-28

The point of this book is true: World War II for Washington and London was a power struggle for influence in the world for their big business operators, not a crusade for freedom or a war against fascism. Neither Washington nor London favored freedom for the vast colonial empire Britain established or for the empires of their somtimes allies, the French, the Dutch, or the Belgians. Indeed, in the context of the war, both countries--or more accurately the governments big business interests controlled in them- worked to strengthen or weaken each other and their socalled allies such as France.

While the world needed a war against Fascism and the oppressed of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific islands needed a war for independence against the colonial empires of Britain, the US, France, Japan, Holland, Italy, and Belgium, but the Second World War as fought by Britain and the United States was not that war.

However, this book is only coincidentally a picture of that true nature of the Second World War. It is actually the product of conspiracy-oriented right-wing fantatics who are sympathetic to Fascism including Nazism who like to point to such disasters as the products of consipiracies or bad men, rather than the fundamental nature of the capitalist system that dominated and continues to dominate both countries. These conspiracies deflect the real blame from the real criminals onto individuals, or worse, into reactionary ideas like anti-Semitism,

The war was the inevitable product of capitalist competition for control and domination of markets and of colonies. From the end of the First World War until the early 1930s, both Britain and the United States prepared for war against each other. The emergence of a revitalized German imperialism and Japanese imperialism's rejection of its previous role as the junior partner of Britain in the East, forced these two rivals to band together both against these insurgent imperialists and against the movement for freedom and independence in the colonies and resistance among working people.

Carnage and Profits.......2006-07-14

I remember being taught about World War 2 at school. It went something along the lines of how there were these evil people called German Nazis who were trying to conquer the world, with their friends the Italians and the Japanese and they were defeated by the brave British with some help from the Americans, and a few Canadians.

This book, which looks very well researched to me, examines what really went on, and profiles some of the leaders and their motivations, including some facts that may not be widely known. For example, about how British covert agents rigged the American presidential elections to get Roosevelt re-elected, to engineer America joining the war. Or about Roosevelt's close working relationship with the Communist Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, including the financing and supplying of the Soviet regime with nuclear material, via his colleague and Soviet agent Harry Hopkins.

What emerges is that World War 2 was a massive victory for America, in that America's economy was far stronger at the end of the war than during the "Roosevelt Recession" before hostilities commenced. It was a massive failure for Poland, who refused to negotiate with Germany at the start of the war and consequently suffered a total Soviet take-over. It was also a defeat for Britain, in that the British Empire was broken up. But of course the big winner was Stalin and Communism, thanks to Roosevelt, who was keen to end Western European imperialism and unfair European trade practices, and who backed the Soviets to ensure that this occured.

Friendly Fire: Explaining Autoimmune Disease

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Friendly Fire: Explaining Autoimmune Disease
David Isenberg , and John Morrow
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

AIDS | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

One in twelve people will eventually be affected by an autoimmune disease, a broad family of diseases which include rheumatoid arthritus, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. All are characterized by the immune system turning traitor and attacking the body that houses it, the effects of which range from serious skin disease to disease of the heart, lungs, or central nervous system. Friendly Fire first provides the reader with a historical guide to various autoimmune diseases, and a comprehensive explanation of a healthy and fully functioning immune system, followed by a description of the development and diverse forms of autoimmune disease, the current types of treatment, and ideas for future therapy. Accessibly written by two international experts, this book will appeal to general readers and those who need to know more about autoimmune diesease.

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