November 12, 2006
Iraqi Leader Plans to Shake Up Cabinet

By KIRK SEMPLE
BAGHDAD, Nov. 12 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said today that he was planning a major shakeup of his cabinet, in an apparent effort to redress his government failures to improve public services, curb widespread corruption and reduce sectarian violence.

Mr. Maliki told a closed session of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi Parliament that he had been forced to accept his current ministers last spring under pressure from the political blocs, several members of Parliament said, and he asked for more independence in choosing new candidates.

The announcement came hours after a pair of suicide bombers wrapped in explosives wandered into a crowd of men waiting to enter a police recruitment center in Baghdad and blew themselves up. The blasts killed at least 35 potential recruits and wounded at least 56, the police said.

During the parliamentary session, Mr. Maliki did not reveal which ministers he planned to replace. But legislators close to the prime minister said he did not intend to change the political distribution of his seats, but only to replace ineffective ministers. Mr. Maliki’s cabinet includes representatives of Iraq’s main ethnic and sectarian communities.

The shakeup, which had been rumored for several months, appeared to be a response to American and Sunni Arab assertions that the Maliki administration has been woefully ineffective and undermined by incompetence. Mr. Maliki has been so aware of growing American disenchantment that last month he sought, and received, assurances from President Bush that the Americans were not plotting to unseat him.

In August, Mr. Maliki expressed his intention to change several of his 36 ministers, but today’s announcement suggested far more sweeping changes that, according to some legislators, could involve more than half of the cabinet.

Mr. Maliki was nominated as prime minister on April 21 following months of political negotiations, and his full cabinet was ratified by Parliament on May 20. But he told legislators today that he was essentially sidelined by the major political blocs during the ministerial selection process, and in some cases a minister’s name was presented to him only minutes before the nomination was made public, legislators said.

Hassan al-Sined, a Shiite legislator and an adviser to Mr. Maliki, heralded today’s announcement as a "courageous move" because it represented an admission by the prime minister that his government’s performance had been weak.

But others questioned the prime minister’s sincerity, wondering whether Mr. Maliki was not simply trying to deflect blame for his lackluster progress.

"He’s right on one thing: that he was not free to choose anyone he likes," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator. "But now that he has not succeeded, he doesn’t want to shoulder all the responsibility. He was trying to put the responsibility on the political blocs."

Mr. Maliki called on the legislators to unify behind a national reconciliation plan, according to a statement issued by his office. He also told them to stop criticizing the government and to declare their loyalty to a unified Iraq, not their religious sects or political parties, The Associated Press said, quoting legislators.

The police recovered at least 75 bodies around the capital and Baquba, a relatively high daily tally even by Iraq’s grim standards, according to the A.P.

At least 11 people were killed in scattered bombings in the capital, the authorities said, and five people were killed in drive-by shootings in Baquba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The American military command reported that three American soldiers died Saturday in Anbar province.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The global war on terrorism has spawned some excellent combat narratives—mostly by journalists. Warriors, like Marine Corps officer Fick, bring a different and essential perspective to the story. A classics major at Dartmouth, Fick joined the Marines in 1998 because he "wanted to go on a great adventure... to do something so hard that no one could ever talk shit to me." Thus begins his odyssey through the grueling regimen of Marine training and wartime deployments—an odyssey that he recounts in vivid detail in this candid and fast-paced memoir. Fick was first deployed to Afghanistan, where he saw little combat, but his Operation [Iraqi] Freedom unit, the elite 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, helped spearhead the invasion of Iraq and "battled through every town on Highway 7" from Nasiriyah to al Kut. (Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright's provocative Generation Kill is based on his travels with Fick's unit.) Like the best combat memoirs, Fick's focuses on the men doing the fighting and avoids hyperbole and sensationalism. He does not shrink from the truth—however personal or unpleasant. "I was aware enough," he admits after a firefight, "to be concerned that I was starting to enjoy it."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
A Marine officer remembers his basic training and a brief combat mission in Iraq. Lt. Fick's descriptions of intense firefights emphasize the mortal danger and hardships our troops face in the Middle East. The details come wrapped in profuse and profane military lingo; a poor abridgment leaves noticeable gaps. The author's monotonous narration portrays him as having an emotionless affect, making him believable as a trained gunman. He delivers his short sentences like fleeting bullets, sometimes emphasizing the last word, and sometimes throwing it away. He coldly reads: "The bad news is we won't get much sleep this night. The good news is we get to kill people." J.A.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
An Operation Iraqi Freedom vet and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Rieckhoff recounts his journey from National Guard lieutenant to disillusioned patriot in this disappointing combat memoir-cum-polemic. Rieckhoff admits that he thought the reasons for invading Iraq were "bullshit," but volunteered to go anyway. His experiences in Iraq—patrolling the chaotic streets of Baghdad in the months after its occupation—only confirmed his initial judgment that the invasion "was one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in our nation's history." Rieckhoff is anything but humble. An Amherst grad (as he often interjects), he finds his recruiter repellant—a "slick, fat... Sergeant [who] smelled like a dirty ashtray"— but enlists anyway. President Bush is "arrogant" and "a bully," and Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer is "ignorant and out-of-touch." Rieckhoff is bipartisan in his contempt: when the Kerry campaign ignores his advice, he dismisses the Democratic presidential candidate as "a calculating and coached politician." Finally, he and a "small band of pissed-off visionaries" founded their own organization, Operation Truth, to get out the word. In the end, Rieckhoff has a story to tell, but he undermines his credibility with his arrogance and petty offside remarks. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Lieutenant Rieckhoff and his 38-man infantry platoon spent 10 months in one of the most volatile areas of Baghdad, trying to maintain order, protect civilians, track down insurgents, and protect themselves from snipers and bombers. It quickly became clear that the American mission in Iraq had vague strategy, flawed tactics, and overchallenged, underequipped soldiers. Rieckhoff made it back alive, determined to tell the truth about what was happening and demand accountability from elected officials. Although Rieckhoff does not emphasize it, it comes through clearly that Iraq War veterans are held in declining respect, evidenced by the problems they have getting help with war-related injuries, especially psychological ones. Iraq has been a rich man's war and a poor man's fight, with the Iraqi people barely visible in the American media. Moreover, Rieckhoff's experiences showed him that censorship and bias abound even in these days of "on-the-spot" reporting, distorting what anyone following the war through the general media can learn. A most commendable eyewitness report on Iraq. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

ditorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Retired army colonel Schumacher polishes the public image of private wartime contractors in this informative if relentlessly glowing account of these "unrecognized and unappreciated patriots" in Iraq and Kuwait. Schumacher gained access to employees from contracting firms MPRI and Crescent Security, and his perspective is one of deep affection and respect—for people who put themselves in harm's way to provide security for diplomats, to move convoys of precious materials and to rebuild the broken infrastructure of war-torn countries. Describing the day-to-day operations of the trucking, training and security contractors he interviewed in Kuwait and Iraq, Schumacher argues that they don't work for the money (MPRI workers' pay comes to under $20 an hour) but out of a sense of adventure, patriotism and expertise. The author's voice is unpretentious but swaggering, tough but sentimental; he's as critical of the Bush administration for its ill-conceived strategies as of the media for what he considers prejudice. There's not much in the way of subtle policy debate or comprehensive analysis ("Department of Defense outsourcing to civilian contractors is an efficient, short-term solution"), but Schumacher writes with a keen sense of justice and empathy as he recounts the harrowing tales of these contractors-for-hire. Color photos. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Publishers Weekly, March 27, 2006
“Retired army colonel Schumacher polishes the public image of private wartime contractors in this informative, if relentlessly glowing, account of these ‘unrecognized and unappreciated patriots’ in Iraq and Kuwait. Schumacher gained access to employees from contracting firms MPRI and Crescent Security, and his perspective is one of deep affection and respect – for people who put themselves in harm's way to provide security for diplomats, to move convoys of precious materials and to rebuild the broken infrastructure of war-torn countries. The author's voice is unpretentious but swaggering, tough but sentimental; he's as critical of the Bush administration for its ill-conceived strategies as of the media for what he considers prejudice. There's not much in the way of subtle policy debate or comprehensive analysis (‘Department of Defense outsourcing to civilian contractors is an efficient, short-term solution’), but Schumacher writes with a keen sense of justice and empathy as he recounts the harrowing tales of these contractors-for-hire.”

Military Book Club, April 2006
“It’s impossible to fully comprehend the future of warfare without a complete understanding of the role war-zone contractors will play. Iraq, the testing ground for the privatization of our military, is teeming with contractors today, whose efforts will determine the future of military privatization. A Bloody Business is, in our estimation, the most informative book on the subject today. Inside, you’ll read story after story of insurgent ambushes and exploding IEDs in a land where life as a truck driver can be as dangerous as that of a soldier.”

U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, August 2006
“A Bloody Business provides insight to the selection and training regimes for contractors in Iraq. It then goes on to relate many personal accounts of their work and combat action in that war-torn country. Colonel Schumacher underscores the dangers of ‘uncontrolled contracting.’ At the same time, he closes with the common-sense view that, while U.S. soldiers will be respected for their service in Iraq, ‘American civilian contractors deserve nothing less.’”

From Booknotes TV appearance:

"We were given 24 hours to make a reconstruction plan"

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
He was a different kind of warrior for a different kind of war. Lieutenant Colonel R. Alan King and his 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion became operations central after the collapse of the Iraqi army and the beginning of the occupation. While under his command these civil affairs and psychological operations soldiers were not content to stay in secure offices inside the green zone. To do their job they had to get out and make house calls and in the process the 422nd became the most highly decorated civil affairs unit in the history of the U.S. Army with twenty-one individual awards for valor and five purple heartsR. Alan King was particularly well suited for the new kind of war being waged in Iraq. Armed with his rifle and a Palm Pilot that contained an English translation of the Koran along with an informed and nuanced respect for Middle Eastern culture, King captured or arranged the surrender of almost a dozen of the most-wanted villains from Saddam's regime including several from the famous deck of cards. He became privy to secrets as weighty as those of Iraq's nuclear weapons program and as light as those behind the outlandish press briefings of the infamous Baghdad Bob.The regional expertise that helped King negotiate with clerics and sheikhs also informs his provocative opinions about what it will take to win the battle for the hearts and minds of Iraq, an ancient, mystifying, and deeply religious culture. King has been compared to the legendary T. E. Lawrence, with the press dubbing him Alan of Arabia. Reading Twice Armed shows it to be an apt comparison.

From the Inside Flap
Twice Armed is the remarkable memoir of a U.S. Army soldier’s experience capturing some of the most wanted former Iraqi regime leaders and terrorists on behalf of the Coalition Provisional Authority during the war in Iraq. Lt. Col. R. Alan King experienced close combat and survived deadly ambushes, but his success as a war fighter was mostly due to his nuanced understanding of an ancient, mystifying, and deeply religious culture. Twice Armed illustrates how the author negotiated with numerous sheiks and clerics, eventually earning their confidence and trust. A tough-as-nails soldier armed with a Palm Pilot and a Qur’an, Colonel King captured or accepted the surrender of almost a dozen of the most-wanted Iraqi personalities from the former Saddam regime, including a number from the notorious “deck of cards.”
Like T.E. Lawrence more than eighty years before, it was Colonel King’s understanding, respect, and willingness to practice the customs of the Middle East that allowed him to slip behind the shroud of cultural secrecy that has protected Iraqi society for thousands of years. He was made the honorary sheik of one of the largest tribes in Iraq, which afforded him special privileges and enabled him to sit in on tribal negotiations. Powerful sheiks approached him to intervene with the Coalition and to negotiate the surrender of most-wanted tribe and family members on their behalf.
Colonel King also learned secrets of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program from the former chairman of Iraq’s atomic energy agency, a figure who was among the top 100 most wanted personalities from the former regime. On the lighter side, he spoke with Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (a.k.a. “Baghdad Bob”), learning the secrets behind al-Sahaf’s outlandish press briefings. By the end of major combat operations, the unit the author commanded had become the most highly decorated civil affairs battalion in the history of the U.S. Army. The 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award that can be bestowed on a military unit, along with twenty-one awards for valor and five Purple Hearts.
In addition to being a war memoir with a genuinely unusual perspective, Twice Armed provides an on-the-ground look at how the Iraqis perceived the Coalition’s actions and what has led to the growth of the insurgency today. It shares inside accounts from the former elites of the events of the war as they unfolded from the night the Coalition crossed the border, to the fall of Saddam’s regime, through the challenges of the reconstruction, and finally, to the transfer of sovereignty.