Review of "Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World," by Bir Rosen

 Review of

Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World, by Bir Rosen, ISBN 9781568584010

Five out of five stars

Depressing, yet illuminating story of the misguided wars

 In the aftermath of the United States engaging in acts of war against the Iranian nation, reading this book is extremely important. Those of us that follow these things remember how the administration of George W. Bush justified their invasion of Iraq on massive falsehoods regarding terrorism, supposed weapons of mass destruction and the vague concept of bringing freedom and democracy to the Arab nations.

 Rosen does a superb job in explaining how the invasion of Iraq simply split open all of the underlying hostilities between the Sunni and Shiite populations of Iraq as well as the aspirations of the Kurds for their own nation. Rosen begins with a historical recapitulation of the religious differences between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam. The mechanisms whereby the British Empire carved Iraq out of the remains of the Ottoman Empire are also explained along with how this created ethnic conflicts that the British used to maintain their control of Iraq.

 Rosen clearly has a very deep understanding of the ethnic undercurrents of Iraq and how they led to the extremely brutal civil conflict that the American forces and their allies tried to tamp down. This book is a demonstration of how ignorant of the American body politic is of the internal structure of other nations.

 The war in Afghanistan is also covered, but not to the amount of ink expended on Iraq. Clearly, Rosen is also very knowledgeable about this country as well. Once again there is a demonstration of how ignorant the American body politic is about Afghanistan. The rather ignominious departure of the American military was predictable, given how the Afghans were able to deal with their British and Soviet invaders.

 It is not possible for me to understate the significance of this book as the United States continues to engage in acts of war against the Muslim world. None of the recent US military interventions in Muslim countries have had an outcome anywhere near what the stated intentions were.