Irak: Geschichte eines modernen Krieges.

Stefan Aust & Cordt Schibben, Editors.

DVA, Munich & Spiegel Buchverlag, Hamburg.

ISBN: 3-421-05804-0

The Invasion of Iraq has been the dominant theme of the Bush Presidency following the World Trade Centre atrocity. Content-TV has attempted to bring together a range of presentations from authoritative voices with direct experience of the situation in Iraq, since the Gulf War to end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. They include former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, Hans von Sponing, sometime Head of the UN Oil for Food programme and experts such as Professor Joy Fairfax and (Helen) Grahame-Brown, with forthcoming material from the Einstein Forum’s event on the American Religious Right and in March, an event 'Terror - International Law and the Boundaries of Democracy, with contributions from Richard Rorty, Richard Goldstone and others. What we have not attempted to do is to describe the tactics and events of the military campaign in Iraq.

The German news magazine, ‚Der Spiegel‘, had a large team of journalists on the ground in Iraq and their usual correspondents covering foreign affairs and diplomatic issues. Their reports and research material has been used to create a detailed account of the build up to war and its execution, ‚Irak Gesichte eines modernen Krieges‘, edited by Stefan Aust and Cordt Schnibben. As our impressions of the war of invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein are blurred by the continuing violence, the ‚Spiegel‘ account is likely to remain the principal printed source on the Invasion. Written from a independent perspective, rather than by journalists with loyalties to the major combatants, the writing is blunt, yet based on detailed observation. They are subject to the same barrage of wartime information and misinformation as journalists from the US and Great Britain, yet maintain a distance from the events they are reporting. We are also reminded of the opposition to War, demonstrations in February 2003 supported by 10million people in 150 cities, as the US Commanders where proclaiming their troops ‚combat ready‘. On the ground, Speigel journalists follow the campaign at several levels, with journalists attached to specific fighting units, at the centres of command, various major fronts and lines of invasion. As outsiders, they were also able to talk to Iraqis about their experience of the Invasion and the Fall of the Hussein regime.

For anyone who needs a source of basic information about the campaign, this book will be invaluable.