Synopses & Reviews
'A cursory glance at the foreign policy section in your local bookstore would reveal many volumes of output and analyses generated over the past few years by the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.... However, until 2009, no one had produced a comprehensive analytical study of the Coalition Provisional Authority\'s (CPA\'s) occupation of Iraq, when it operated as the country\'s de jure and de facto government from early May 2003 to the end of June 2004. Ambassador James Dobbins, the leading authority on overseas contingencies, and his coauthors have filled this reportorial gap with this landmark work, which will stand as an authoritative history of the CPA for years to come.
Prism 1, No. 2, March 2010
Occupying Iraq does not whitewash the [Coalition Provisional Authority\'s] (CPA) problems or its policies. Rather, it sheds light and provides insider comment on its more controversial actions--the disbanding of the Iraqi army and de-Baathification, for example. Occupying Iraq is a serious work and a must-read that pushes discussion of the CPA forward.
Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2010Occupying Iraq does not whitewash the [Coalition Provisional Authority\'s] (CPA) problems or its policies. Rather, it sheds light and provides insider comment on its more controversial actions--the disbanding of the Iraqi army and de-Baathification, for example. Occupying Iraq is a serious work and a must-read that pushes discussion of the CPA forward.
Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2010
'
Review
'This book, based on a review of nearly 100,000 never-before-released documents from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and interviews with its key officials, examines and evaluates the activities of the CPA from May 2003 to June 2004.The RAND team has provided the most authoritative and meticulous report of the [Coalition Provisional Authority] CPA\'s performance to date. Dobbins and his colleagues do not quite restore its reputation--they note its inability to halt the slide into civil war--but they acknowledge its successes, largely in the areas over which it had direct responsibility, such as macroeconomics and health and education services.... They draw a basic lesson: do not try anything comparable in the future without serious preparation.
Foreign Affairs, March/April 2010
'
Synopsis
Focuses on the activities of the Coalition Provisional Authority during the first year of the occupation of Iraq. Based on interviews and nearly 100,000 never-before-released documents from CPA archives, the book recounts and evaluates the efforts of the United States and its coalition partners to restore public services, counter a burgeoning insurgency, and create the basis for representative government.
Synopsis
The American engagement in Iraq has been looked at from many perspectives, to include examination of the flawed intelligence that provided the war's rationale, the failed effort to secure an international mandate, the rapid success of the invasion, and the long ensuing counterinsurgency campaign. This compelling new book focuses on the activities o