The unraveling
Subtitle: high hopes and missed opportunities in Iraq
By: Emma Sky
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 383
ISBN-13: 9781610395939; 9781610397148
Subjects: Politics and government; Iraq War, 2003-2011; British Personal narratives; Foreign relations; History
Other titles: High hopes and missed opportunities in Iraq
Description: "When Emma Sky volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, she had little idea what she was getting in to. Her assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivaled perspective of the entire conflict. As the representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk in 2003 and then the political advisor to US General Odierno from 2007-2010, Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of US troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support; and to the takeover of a third of the country by the Islamic State. With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique insights into the US military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. The Unraveling is an intimate insider's portrait of how and why the Iraq adventure failed and contains a unique analysis of the course of the war. Highlighting how nothing that happened in Iraq after 2003 was inevitable, Sky exposes the failures of the policies of both Republicans and Democrats, and the lessons that must be learned about the limitations of power."--Book jacket.
Notes: Includes index.

Various printings.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: The Iraq inquiry; title: Direct rule : June 2003-June 2004: To the land of two rivers ; Sky soldiers ; "Our Miss Bell" ; Scramble for Kirkuk ; Life in the republican Palace ; The assassination of Sheikh Agar ; Goodbye to all that; title: Surge : January-December 2007: Back to Baghdad ; Fard al-Qanun ; Awakening to reconciliation ; Surging through the summer ; Sadrist ceasefire ; Victory; title: Drawdown : May 2008-September 2010: Melian dialogue ; Uncomfortable SOFA ; Out of the cities ; Trouble along the Green Line ; Election shenanigans ; Losing Iraq; title: Aftermath : January 2012-July 2014: Things fall apart; title: Glossary : political parties and militias.