Book Review - Battle for the City of the Dead

There are already tons of books out there about the US presence in Iraq, from the war to what happened after the invasion was successful. I'm sure there will be many more.

Many of them are either for or against the invasion, though there are some books that are just accounts of a certain situation there.

Those are the most enjoyable, I think.

I just read and reviewed on of those books, Dick Camp's Battle for the City of the Dead. It tells the story of the month-long battle with the Sadr Militia in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, in August 2004. There are no politics in this book whatsoever. The closest it comes is frustration with the rules of engagement, when Militia snipers were using mosques as sniper points because they knew the Americans couldn't fire back out of respect for religious sensibilities.

This is a straightforward "what happened, day to day" account of the battle, and it's a marvelous book.

My review's now up on Curled Up With a Good Book.

"In 2004, the Iraqi government was in disarray. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the US military were at odds about how to end the violence partially caused by the disbanding of the Iraqi army after the end of the invasion. Disgruntled ex-soldiers were looking for ways to strike back, and religious leaders clamored for resistance to the "occupation force." Muqtada al-Sadr used this chaos to make a power play from his Najaf base, a holy Shiite city with the Golden Dome mosque and massive, ancient cemetery. The US military was brought in to shut him down."

Camp is a retired Marine, so his respect for all of those involved in the battle comes through greatly.

I'll let you read the review for the rest, but all I can say is that if you have any interest in the military happenings in Iraq, then this is a great book for you.

Check out the review, and let me know what you think.