Author(s): John Martinkus

Philosophy, Politics & Current Affairs

'As I struggled against the wave of terrified women and men outside the hotel, the fourth blast went off less than 100 metres away in the middle of the already fleeing crowd ... The orange flash was followed by screaming and the crowd thinned ... two men were still dying from horrible blast wounds and there was blood and parts of bodies all across the intersection ... An angry man came and shouted that "This was no car. Believe me the Americans dropped this bomb right here. I see this.' - John Martinkus, report from Karbala in The Age, 3 March 2004 In Travels in American Iraq, John Martinkus - one of our most intrepid foreign journalists - provides a riveting portrait of a city and country on the brink of civil war. This book differs from other reports from Iraq: it is more immediate, more intimate, more sceptical. Martinkus evokes everyday life in Baghdad and the events that take place beyond the official perspective. Tracing the ever-widening gap between rhetoric and reality, he shows that, amidst a developing guerrilla war and a chaotic reconstruction, the line between liberation and occupation has become thin indeed. This is a rare insight into the realities of liberation and the limits of US power.