America at War: The Battle for Iraq: A View From The Frontlines

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A quickly delivered punch replayed in slow motion shows the anticipation, impact, and separation of a hit. Similarly, this book is a clearly focused close-up of the force, the strikes, and the toll taken in Iraq. In short essays, some of CBS's most renowned contemporary news journalists embedded with U.S. military troops share their experiences. A generous portfolio of color photos that tell equally as poignant stories accompanies the text. Broadcast veteran Rather cautions in his May 2003 introduction that "as this remembrance of 28 days of fighting goes to press, the war cannot yet be termed decisive." But a chronology, maps, and the tension-drenched observations of correspondents such as Jim Axelrod, Lara Logan, and Allen Pizzey make readers passengers on the sandy battle course. From them, troops turn into individuals and timing shifts back and forth from friend to foe. Additionally, a DVD with extensive interviews and frontline coverage intensifies the first-person view. In print or video, America at War is a rich reference for classroom assignments and an excellent way for YAs to process the news and form opinions.Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Book Description
In America at War, Dan Rather and the reporters of CBS News provide a unique historical record of military conflict from a riveting vantage point -- alongside our brave soldiers on the frontlines of combat. During the war in Iraq, journalists and photographers embedded among our troops had an unprecedented view of the fierce realities experienced by our men and women in uniform -- from the extreme heroism of battle to the poignancy of humanitarian efforts. Long heralded for setting the standard for television journalism, Dan Rather and his CBS News colleagues deliver here a volume of work that captures, as never before, that firsthand perspective. In reflective personal commentary, stunning photographs, and groundbreaking video, the exhilarating and heartbreaking stories of war come vividly to life against the backdrop of a military conflict that affected Americans at home and abroad. Among the contributors is Mark Strassmann, embedded with the First Brigade of the 101st Airborne in Kuwait, who recalls the aftermath of the shocking fratricide that claimed one officer's life and injured fourteen others. Allen Pizzey relays his conversation with a U.S.-backed Kurdish fighter outside of Mosul, still reeling with anger after a U.S. air strike gone devastatingly wrong killed more than seventeen. Jim Axelrod recounts the heart-stopping moment when the Humvee in which he was traveling quit in the middle of an unprotected bridge, and with AK-47 fire whistling overhead, his colleagues in a nearby truck performed a daring rescue. These and many other stories are reported with the vivid detail and emotional resonance of firsthand experience. A full-length DVD tells the full chronological story of the military conflict and brings together some of the most powerful war images ever captured -- from video of blazing firepower to intimate, revealing interviews with military personnel. The DVD also contains special features, including Dan Rather's exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein, gripping stories of soldiers lost and rescued, and an informative library of military vehicles and aircraft. From the first jet that took off from the USS Abraham to the now-famous toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, the reporters of CBS News were there on the frontlines, documenting history as it happened. Now, in words, photographs, and video, America at War provides a unique historical record of a controversial military conflict, and preserves the deeply human moments that will remain a lasting part of our national consciousness.


Excerpted from America at War : The Battle for Iraq: A View from the Frontlines by Dan Rather, The Reporters of CBS News. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The March to War To hear U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell tell it, the Bush administration was never in a rush toward war. Powell spent seven and a half weeks negotiating Resolution 1441 line by line, word by word. By the time it was approved unanimously by the fifteen-member U.N. Security Council in November 2002, as far as Powell was concerned, everyone -- including the French, the Russians, and the Germans -- knew that the resolution's reference to "serious consequences" meant only one thing: either Saddam Hussein complied fully with new weapons inspections or the Bush administration would go to war with Iraq. But the diplomatic wrangling was not over. By March 2003, Paris and Moscow's call for a second resolution authorizing force had been joined by London, Washington's staunchest ally. Public sentiment throughout Europe against a war was strong, and this made already skeptical leaders more nervous. Many Europeans thought President Bush's personal style was brash and that he was morally arrogant. The policy disagreement boiled down to this: The Bush administration saw Saddam Hussein as a clear and present danger. Having suffered one huge attack on September 11, 2001, President Bush was unwilling to take any chances that the Iraqi dictator would allow weapons of mass destruction to fall into the hands of terrorists for use in another attack. Led by France, much of Europe's political leadership didn't see the threat in immediate terms and refused to pledge support for a second resolution. On the Security Council, Britain, Spain, and Bulgaria were firmly behind the United States on a second resolution. Five other members -- France, Germany, Russia, China, and Syria -- were firmly opposed. Washington was left looking for five of the six votes from those who were undecided: Mexico, Chile, Pakistan, Cameroon, Angola, and Guinea. But France threatened to use its veto if Washington got the nine votes required for passage, thus escalating the policy disagreement into a political and diplomatic crisis. In many ways, the confrontation over Iraq had become a test among Security Council members of how much the United States could get away with as the world's only remaining superpower. Faced with a possible veto, the U.S. withdrew the resolution on March 17. That evening, President Bush delivered his ultimatum speech, giving Saddam Hussein forty-eight hours to leave Iraq or face military action. CHARLES WOLFSON STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER, CBS NEWS Copyright © 2003 by CBS Worldwide Inc.


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Adult/High School-A quickly delivered punch replayed in slow motion shows the anticipation, impact, and separation of a hit. Similarly, this book is a clearly focused close-up of the force, the strikes, and the toll taken in Iraq. In short essays, some of CBS's most renowned contemporary news journalists embedded with U.S. military troops share their experiences. A generous portfolio of color photos that tell equally as poignant stories accompanies the text. Broadcast veteran Rather cautions in his May 2003 introduction that "as this remembrance of 28 days of fighting goes to press, the war cannot yet be termed decisive." But a chronology, maps, and the tension-drenched observations of correspondents such as Jim Axelrod, Lara Logan, and Allen Pizzey make readers passengers on the sandy battle course. From them, troops turn into individuals and timing shifts back and forth from friend to foe. Additionally, a DVD with extensive interviews and frontline coverage intensifies the first-person view. In print or video, America at War is a rich reference for classroom assignments and an excellent way for YAs to process the news and form opinions.-Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


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