Synopses & Reviews
"Every hour spent reading Banking on Baghdad will be well rewarded. The historical detail is fascinating; Edwin Blacks mastery of it reads like a detective story and thriller combined, and the relevance of the past has seldom been so graphically portrayed. This is a gripping expos´e of historic follies, fantasies, and ferocity, taking place in a region that is today still a focus and storm center as it has so often been. Oil forms a twisting thread of wealth, corruption, and greed. The cast of characters and their bizarre behavior could come out of a novel; but this is fact not fiction, more endlessly intriguing and absorbing than any novel could be."
Sir Martin Gilbert, author of Churchill: A Life, Israel: A History, The First World War: A Complete History, and The Second World War: A Complete History
Praise for Edwin Blacks Prior Books
On IBM and the Holocaust:
"An explosive new book... Backed by exhaustive research, Blacks case is simple and stunning: that IBM facilitated the identification and roundup of millions of Jews during the 12 years of the Third Reich....Blacks evidence may be the most damning to appear yet against a purported corporate accomplice."
Michael Hirsh, Newsweek
"Black has tracked down document after document witnessing that Holleriths inventoried prisoners for death at Bergen-Belsen and other concentration camps....IBM and the Holocaust is a disturbing bookall the more so because its author doesnt prescribe what should be done about sins committed more than half a century ago. It is left to readers to decide."
Ron Grossman, The Chicago Tribune
On War Against the Weak:
"Edwin Black, author of the radical and revelatory IBM and the Holocaust, is a dangerous man. He tells us things we dont want to hear, like, for instance, this:
The scientific rationales that drove killer doctors at Auschwitz were first concocted on Long Island. His groundbreaking War Against the Weak: Eugenics and Americas Campaign to Create a Master Race is a scary and necessary book."
Adrienne Miller, Esquire
"In a new book, War Against the Weak, investigative reporter Edwin Black makes the case that 20th Century American proponents of eugenics...had substantive ties to the architects of Hitlers racial extermination machine... Black lays bare the veins of collaboration between American eugenicists and Nazi scientists."
Dan Vergano, USA Today
Review
“…worth reading” (
Chartest, No.2/3, March – April 2005)
“…builds up a compulsion to study the often wretched history steeped in greed, cruelty and corruption, that has dominated this part of the world for thousands of years.” (City to Cities, No.32, April – May 2005)
Black's work should not be taken to the bank. While purporting to be a 7000-year history of Iraq with related economic implications, it ends up being a work of invective and innuendo, sloppy history, and hyperventilating prose regarding the West's relationship to Iraqi oil over the past 100 years. For example, Black has Britain's King Edward VII signing an oil treaty in 1914, four years after his death. Or he mistakenly devalues the military significance of Lawrence of Arabia in Allenby's campaign to practically nothing when, indeed, Lawrence was first into Damascus. However, Black's pejorative and high-energy language and lack of thoughtful interpretation will make this study highly entertaining reading for less thoughtful readers. Black is an investigative reporter with three similar works (e.g., War Against the Weak) and a novel to his credit. On the history of the Middle East, however, the discerning reader will be better off with the studies of Bernard Lewis or Albert Hourani. Recommended only for public and academic libraries collecting extensively in this area. —John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant (Library Journal, November 1, 2004)
“…Black succeeds admirably in covering 7,000 years of history…” (Lloyds List International, 26 November 2004)
Many Americans don't understand what they're currently up against. Al Qaeda has often been depicted as the superpower of terrorist and jihadist networks, commanding the allegiance of jihadist groups throughout the world and influencing global terrorist operations through a steady flow of money and recruits. In fact, al Qaeda has become a relatively small operational component of a violent, global movement bent on waging holy war.
This jihadist movement, at the risk of oversimplification, can best be described as four concentric circles. The inner circle consists of the core of the al Qaeda organization, which now largely serves a symbolic, spiritual and ideological role in the greater jihadist movement. The second circle consists of active members and devotees of numerous jihadist groups that are often called "al Qaeda-related." The denizens of the second circle tend to be even more radical and dangerous than their inner-circle colleagues. The third circle consists of those who believe in the jihadist cause or identify with parts of its ideology; they may provide moral support, and some might offer a jihadist group logistical or financial help. The outer circle is the wider Islamic world. While the core of the jihadist movement consists of devoted terrorists, they depend on the less ideologically hardened "outer" circles of sympathizers, which the inner core targets for recruitment and fundraising efforts.
The jihadist threat is uniquely dangerous because it has become simultaneously more decentralized and more radical since Sept. 11. Never before have we faced a threat whose leaders enjoy so much financial and operational independence. Nor have we ever faced a threat whose "membership" can fluctuate daily and whose recruitment rate increases as the United States stages large-scale military and intelligence operations to eliminate them.
Americans also often don't quite grasp how dangerous the Iraq misadventure is. One key to the overall U.S. response to the jihadist threat is understanding how U.S. actions affecting one of these four concentric circles affects the others. Supporting a democratically illegitimate government in Iraq or conducting counterinsurgency operations there that kill significant numbers of civilians may eliminate many al Qaeda members -- but also generate sympathy for al Qaeda and jihadists throughout the Muslim world. That could draw members from the outer circles to the inner ones, giving terrorist operatives better logistical resources, fresh recruits and more money. The lines between the outer and inner circles are also the frontlines of the war of ideas, and the United States needs to pay close attention to how its actions affect the movement among them.
The hard reality is that the U.S. presence in Iraq makes it extraordinarily difficult for Washington to contribute successfully to the battle of ideas within the Islamic world. We are also clearly losing that same battle within Iraq. Popular support for the Iraqi insurgency is increasing not only inside Iraq, but also in the greater Arab world. As the United States fiercely fights insurgents in Iraq's Sunni triangle, it is missing the forest for the trees -- winning tactical victories in Iraq while rapidly losing the global war of ideas.
Noah Feldman, a law professor at New York University and a former senior constitutional adviser to the Coalitional Provisional Authority (CPA), provides a cogent analysis of U.S. efforts in Iraq in What We Owe Iraq. Feldman details the behind-the-scenes power politics of the U.S. occupation and delivers a persuasive appeal for a more grassroots approach to nation building -- that is, an approach seen by most Iraqis as legitimized by local input. He argues that nation-building can be an effective long-term strategy to fight terrorism if its purpose is to create stable democracies. Feldman surmises, correctly, that terrorism festers not only in weak states but also in strong but undemocratic ones such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Feldman's approach offers preventive medicine against insurgency and terrorism as well as a practical strategy for a longer-term global war of ideas. He recognizes that nation-building efforts stained by what is seen as illegitimate governance will be counterproductive. Every day that force is exercised "illegitimately" means many more days spent fighting to gain the ethical high ground. This is not a defeatist's calculus; it's an acknowledgment that successful nation-building requires the consent of the governed. Furthermore, it recommends a strategy that seeks to reduce anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Some may criticize this strategy, arguing that nation-building and the global war on terrorism are too important to be bounded by complaints from Muslim nations. The reality, however, is that the global jihadist movement feeds on the fruits of popular anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism and perceived oppression at the hand of illegitimate governments backed by Washington.
Unfortunately, the nation-building effort Feldman describes in Iraq has not made it a priority to win hearts and minds. He details the absence of any overall plan, coupled with the "shamefully, shockingly low" number of Americans in the CPA who spoke Arabic. He portrays a military whose operations in Fallujah alienated Sunnis who lost relatives in the fighting, had their homes invaded by American soldiers and were searched at daily checkpoints.
Feldman also describes the United States' biggest blunder in the nation-building effort: the failure to send enough troops to ensure public security after the invasion. He argues that the resultant chaos forced citizens to find safety within traditional religious groupings, which in turn provided the initial fodder for the current prolonged insurgency. Feldman's book is insightful, accessible and highly recommended for policymakers and readers interested in understanding the opportunities and hazards that will confront America as the world's foremost nation-builder.
Edwin Black's Banking on Baghdad underlines Iraq's long history of exploitation by Western powers and powerful corporations struggling for advantage and domination. His impressive analysis, which included looking at more than 50,000 original documents and hundreds of scholarly books and articles, provides a comprehensive history of Iraq that explains why the West's record in the region so complicates nation-building there today. Black writes that popular sentiment in Iraq in the post-World War II era is most aptly characterized by "resentment over foreign interference, anti-Zionism, and churning nationalism . . . fused into a rage against the West." Clearly, the West's imperial legacy in Iraq has placed the United States at a major disadvantage in the war of ideas in the Middle East. America's poor understanding of Iraq's history only makes matters worse. "Most Americans had never heard of Najaf," the great center of Shiite pilgrimage, Black points out, "and barely knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis." In one foreboding anecdote, he describes the British effort after World War I to bring Iraq under British colonial control, with limited sovereignty, using "40 handpicked representatives," all of whom were expected to support the British agenda. After Iraqi protests went unheard, the British soon had a protracted, nationwide insurgency on their hands.
Black recounts numerous incidents of exploitation in intricate detail; his analysis of how Iraq's oil has greased the treads of war throughout modern history is particularly noteworthy. He writes that Iraqi crude fueled the tanks, warships, submarines and airplanes that helped fight for ultimate control of Iraqi territory during World War II. Well into the Cold War, Iraq remained a strategic outpost, even as its people remained "largely destitute, significantly unemployed, and detached en masse from the nation's oil wealth." Black's book is thoughtful and meticulous, though many readers may find the breadth of analysis too ambitious and, at just fewer than 500 pages, a bit tedious at points. His analysis, nevertheless, highlights the deficit of legitimacy the United States faces in Iraq and the wider Middle East.
Since so few Arabs will seriously listen to arguments about democracy from the U.S. government, the war of ideas will have to be fought by nongovernmental organizations, governments other than the U.S. administration, and friendly leaders in the Islamic world. Washington could, however, play a role in stimulating such groups, governments and individuals to assume these tasks. The Office of Transition Initiatives at the State Department has staged many successful public relations campaigns for the United States by supporting local NGOs in Muslim countries critical to the global fight against al Qaeda, such as Indonesia and Afghanistan.
Above all, U.S. nation-building efforts and operations against the global jihadist movement must be planned with an appreciation for how such efforts affect the global war of ideas. A sound and effective response in that contest could become our greatest asset; an inconsistent and ineffective response, as we are now seeing, will certainly become one of our greatest weaknesses.*
Richard A. Clarke, the White House counterterrorism coordinator under Presidents Clinton and Bush, is the author of "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror." (Washington Post, November 21, 2004)
In emphasizing the symbiosis of oil profits and Western imperialism in the making of modern Iraq, Black (IBM and the Holocaust) and a team of 30 researchers (whom he credits) have unearthed a wealth of historical detail, but not a satisfying framework for it. Temporal balance is also missing: the book’s first 6,500 years pass in a 42-page montage of conquest and massacre, with the narrative slowing to a snail’s pace during the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods to explore the interminable wranglings among Western oil companies, European governments and entrepreneur C.S. Gulbenkian over Iraqi oil concessions in the first half of the 20th century. Accounts of the Sunni-Shiite schism and the modern recrudescence of Iraqi anti-Semitism are thrown into the mix, but one gets little sense of how all these elements determine the social, economic and political turmoil of contemporary Iraq, especially since the crucial Saddam era flits by in just six disjointed pages. In the end, Black does little more with a lot of undeniably fascinating material than to invoke the "unstoppable repetition" of despotic government and violent exploitation, but his corporate-historical gleanings are more than enough to carry the book. Agent, Lynne Rabinoff. (Oct. 12)
Synopsis
Edwin Black (Washington, DC) is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, The Transfer Agreement, and War Against the Weak. His journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Sunday Times (of London), and The Los Angeles Times.
Synopsis
Companies such as Halliburton, Bechtel and the Carlyle have all been in the news – ties to high-level politicians and charges of war-profiteering abound – but, there are many other companies and entities that will profit from the war and instability in the Middle East.
Companies like J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and British Petroleum.
Big Business and global warfare have been inextricably symbiotic forces in Iraq since the sunrise of society. Banking on Baghdad will dramatically tell the story of how the cradle of commerce has evolved through five millennia, but its history keeps repeating itself. The world needs what Iraq possesses and is willing to fight to the death to preserve it.
What the Book Is
Is it historical? Yes, there is a fascinating 20th story to chronicle, especially as we learn more about the little known interplay between Nazi Germany, Iraq and the Holocaust with a contemporary resonance.
Is the book an investigation of globalized corporate misconduct with the best-known companies at its center? Yes. British Petroleum, Halliburton, Bechtel, Kroll, ITT and many others.
This is not a political or military history as much as commercial one told through the flames of historical turmoil.
Written as only Edwin Black can, "Banking on Baghdad, ties together the history, holocaust, corporate misconduct on a grand scale, global upheaval, a compelling contemporary peg and vivid characters.
Synopsis
New York Times and international bestselling author Edwin Black uncovers Iraq's hidden economy and the companies that profit from its upheaval
Big business and global warfare have long been fiery and symbiotic forces in Iraq. Banking on Baghdad tells the dramatic and tragic history of a land long the center of world commerce-and documents the many ways Iraq's recent history mirrors its tumultuous past. Tracing the involvement
of Western governments and militaries, as well as oil, banking, and other corporate interests in Iraq, Black shows that today, just as yesterday, the world needs Iraq's resources-and is always willing to fight and invade in order to acquire and protect them.
While demonstrating that Iraq itself is partially to blame for its current state of turmoil, Black does not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that war and profit have also played an equal part in creating the Iraq we know today. Just as he did in IBM and the Holocaust, Black exposes the hidden associations between leading corporations, war, and oil-such as the astonishing connections between Nazi Germany, Iraq, and the Holocaust.
He exposes the war and race-based profiteering by some of the world's most prestigious corporations, as well as the political and economic ties between the Bush administration and the companies that gain handsomely from its foreign policy. Just as he did in War Against the Weak, Black offers a compelling blend of history and contemporary investigative journalism that spans a century and eschews easy answers for complicated questions.
Edwin Black (Washington, DC) is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, The Transfer Agreement, and War Against the Weak. His journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Sunday Times (of London), and The Los Angeles Times.
Synopsis
Just as he did in the "New York Times" bestselling "IBM and the Holocaust," Black exposes the hidden associations between leading corporations, war, and oil--such as the astonishing connections between Nazi Germany, Iraq, and the Holocaust.
Synopsis
In Banking on Baghdad, New York Times and international bestselling author Edwin Black chronicles the dramatic and tragic history of a land long the center of world commerce and conflict. Tracing the involvement of Western governments and militaries, as well as oil, banking, and other corporate interests, Black pinpoints why today, just as throughout modern history, the world needs Iraqs resourcesand remains determined to acquire and protect them. Banking on Baghdad almost painfully documents the many ways Iraqs recent history mirrors its tumultuous past.
Now, with foreign troops once more occupying the "cradle of civilization," Banking on Baghdad gives us the opportunity to consider the present and future of Iraq through the lens of its complicated and turbulent history. While demonstrating that Iraqs tribal, religious, and political turmoil has combined to punish the nation, Black does not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that foreign governmentsincluding our ownhave played a defining role in creating the Iraq we know today. With his trademark mix of deeply mined history and investigative journalism, Black documents a long record of war profiteering in Iraq and takes a hard look at the corporations currently doing business there. With access to numerous oil company archives, the papers of a half dozen governments, and numerous other primary sources yielding some 50,000 documents, Banking on Baghdad tells a monumental story 7,000 years in the making.
From the annihilation of Baghdad by the Mongol Horde in 1258 to the lightning charge of American battle tanks in 2003, Iraqs history is defined by the blood spilt on its soil. Now, Banking on Baghdad provides the historical context lacking from the political discourse in the news media and in Washington circles. It persuasively argues that Iraqs future is inextricably linked to its tempestuous history, and that the ongoing conflict there may become just another tragic chapter in that countrys long and calamitous record.
About the Author
EDWIN BLACK is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, The Transfer Agreement, and War Against the Weak. His journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, Newsday, the Village Voice, the Sunday Times (of London), and the Los Angeles Times, as well as in leading magazines such as American Bar Association Journal, American Lawyer, and Der Spiegel (Germany). Black has won numerous awards for distinguished journalism, including the Carl Sandburg Award, three Rockower Awards, and two awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
NOTES ON USAGE.
PART ONE: From Cradle to Crossroads.
Chapter 1: Have a Nice Day.
Chapter 2: The Cradle of Commerce.
Chapter 3: Robbing the Cradle.
Chapter 4: The Three Ottoman Provinces.
Chapter 5: The Sick Man.
PART TWO: Fumes.
Chapter 6: Oil.
Chapter 7: The Race to Monopolize.
Chapter 8: Mr. Five Percent.
Chapter 9: Fuel and Fuse.
PART THREE: War and Petropolitics.
Chapter 10: Invasion.
Chapter 11: The Proclamation.
Chapter 12: Chaos and Conquest.
Chapter 13: The Undeclared Country.
Chapter 14: Jihad against Britain.
Chapter 15: The Red Line.
PART FOUR: The Continuing Conflict.
Chapter 16: The Nazi Intersection.
Chapter 17: The Price of Prejudice.
Chapter 18: The Three Gulfs.
NOTES.
MAJOR SOURCES.
INDEX.