Last One In

“There hasn’t exactly been a glut of fiction dealing with the current war in Iraq—understandable, as most wartime fiction is written after the war it covers is long over. A current war is vast, unknowable, and uncertain. Only afterward, long after the last bullets have flown, does a war obtain a natural narrative: its beginning, middle, and end.”

The US war in Iraq isn’t necessarily that kind of war. Not only is it part of continuous US military aggression, it’s an extension of the US attack against Iraq by bombings and sanctions all through the 1990s and into this decade, nearly two decades. And as former embedded reporters confirm, the current commander of the US occupation of Iraq, General Petraeus, is the man who repeatedly asked them before and after the 2003 thunder run into Baghdad, “Tell me where this ends.” Not only that, but the massive protests against the war - because it was known in advance by those who wanted to know what it was all about - happened not only in its early stages but actually before the March 2003 ground invasion in the fisrt place - making it possible for the earliest Iraq War novels to be written in 2003 and be published either that year or not long thereafter. Iraq war plays, some published in book form, appeared and were performed early. Currently there is a burgeoning number of Iraq War fictional films coming out, along with more novels, as can be seen in the (incomplete) lists below:

IRAQ WAR NOVELS:
Hocus Potus - Malcolm MacPherson
The Sirens of Baghdad - Yasmina Khadra
Last One In - Nicholas Kulish
Homefront - Tony Christini
Still the Monkey - Alivia C. Tagliaferri
The Scorpion’s Gate - Richard A. Clarke
The Human War - Noah Cicero
“Greendale” as graphic novel - Neil Young & Joshua Dysart
Homeland - Paul William Roberts

IRAQ WAR PLAYS:
The Wolf - Sean Huze
1984 - Tim Robbins
Peace Mom - Dario Fo
Stuff Happens - David Hare

IRAQ WAR FICTION FILMS AND VIDEO:
Lions for Lambs
Over There
Valley of the Wolves Iraq
The Tiger and the Snow
Stop-Loss
The Situation
G.I. Jesus
24
Home of the Brave
Grace is Gone
Valley of Elah
Rendition
Redacted
Homecoming
Embedded

Information on these titles linked here:
http://apragmaticpolicy.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-petraeus-plan-to-abolish-america/

Petraeus satire here:
http://apragmaticpolicy.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-petraeus-plan-to-abolish-america/

Comment by Tony Christini — August 28, 2007 @ 8:40 pm

Actually, the Iraq War fiction link is incorrect. This is it:
http://apragmaticpolicy.wordpress.com/2007/08/11/iraq-war-fiction/

Comment by Tony Christini — August 28, 2007 @ 8:44 pm

Thanks very much for the info.  As to the comment about a “beginning, middle, and end”, certainly this war is not like other wars.  However, a natural progression of events from beginning through middle and end is a (some might say unfortunate) requirement of how humans look at history.  Something will be “finished”, anyway, whenever there happens to be a general troop withdrawal, and that most likely will be when commentators proclaim the war “over”.  Even though nothing could be further from the truth.  The book actually touches on all these topics, it’s a fine piece of work.

Comment by Jon Walter — August 29, 2007 @ 1:57 pm

There is no “natural” progression to any war. Too much depends on who makes what happen when, including what happens on the “homefront”. Certain crucial aspects of the US invasion and occupation are essentially as well understood as they will ever be. Of course one can’t predict the future, but one can document and dramatize the well known past, including the recent past. For example, nothing can ever make the invasion and occupation less immoral and illegal that it was known to be before and upon launching it. Look at Israel in the occupied territories - they are still killing and dying there decades after invading. It is well known, to those who want to know, the nature of those decades then and now. Things could have progressed differently, as they might or might not in the future. The idea of waiting 50 years or 100 years or whatever it may be, or even two decades, or two years to write about something that is essentially knowable as it happens, and therefore able to be dramatized immediately thereafter, is pointless. German leaders after World War II were hanged for what the US leaders have done in invading and occupying Iraq. Nothing that happens in the future can change that reality. That is no small reality that ought to have been dramatized long since by now, and has been a bit.

I make no evaluation of Kulish’s novel. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

Comment by Tony Christini — August 29, 2007 @ 8:10 pm