Inside Fallujah: The Unembedded Story

American readers will learn a great deal about Arab perspectives on the war in Iraq from Mansour, an Egyptian journalist and host of an al-Jazeera talk show, in this account of the bloody battles for Fallujah. In April 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed an SUV, killing four Blackwater private security guards (widely hated for their violence and arrogance, and called mercenaries by the author). Afterward, a civilian mob mutilated the bodies, dragged them through the streets and hung them from a bridge. Soon American forces surrounded the city, but Mansour's TV crew slipped past; according to Mansour, they were the only journalists inside. Their vivid reports of bombing in residential areas and horrific civilian casualties proved an American public relations disaster. Partly as a result, U.S. forces withdrew, but returned later that year (with Mansour gone) and devastated the city. Mansour writes a gripping eyewitness account of the fighting without concealing his dislike of the American invasion and occupation. Readers may squirm at the account of the assault on the Blackwater guards (and the American attack that followed)—but most of all, perhaps, at the hatred of the American occupation that the grisly action expressed. (Dec.)