Rating: 
Summary: Learn the Truth
Review: "Target Iraq" is a must for anyone who is concerned about the truth in the upcoming war with Iraq. Both Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich went to great lengths to be fair and to state facts and the sources of information for these facts. The book is clear and concise in presenting a case against going to war with Iraq. It is not just a book about a war with Iraq. It is a book that will educate you on what is going on in our government and the news media. Knowledge is power, and the knowledge gained from reading "Target Iraq" will allow the reader to cut through the deluge of bad information we receive daily concerning the war with Iraq. This is a book for those who wish to know the truth. If you are tired of political talk shows that consist of appeals to emotion rather than fact, then this is the book for you. For example I was viewing a political talk show where one of the people in the discussion said that the Iraqi people would be "dancing in the streets" if American troops invaded Iraq. An interview of an Iraqi citizen that can be read in "Target Iraq" quickly dispels any such notion. If you wish to understand the role played by our secretary of state Collin Powell than this is the book for you. If you wish to understand why claims by the American news media that Iraq expelled U.N. inspectors in 1998 are not true than this is the book for you. Sean Penn who recently traveled to Iraq with Norman Solomon writes a moving afterward that is an appeal to president Bush where Sean Penn shows his concern for our eroding civil rights, the young American men and women who will have to fight this war and the innocent civilians of Iraq. Considering the ramifications and long term effects of a war with Iraq "Target Iraq" is one of the most important books written to date. I urge everyone who is concerned with the truth to read this book and to tell their friends about "Target Iraq." A democracy can only work if people are informed and this book does just that.
Rating:
Summary: Still valid...
Review: Although the war on Iraq is a bloody fact by now, this book is perhaps more valid now than before the war. Apart from gaining some insight in the life in Iraq before the attack by the US, it also reveals some of the true causes of the war and predicts some of the post-war consequences to the Iraqi oil industry. More importantly, however, is that the book assist the reader in questioning the propaganda of the leaders of the US as well as the mass media who delivers this propaganda.
Rating:
Summary: Some important facts that were ignored by the U.S. media
Review: Although the was has started and we can now only hope it ends soon and very few people are killed, it would have been nice if our media would have fully informed us. Maybe it never would have had to happen is we would have known some of these things: 1 - While Saddam did use chemical weapons against Iran, there is some question as to whether it was him or Iran which used chemical weapons against the Kurds in the north. The gas used to kill the Kurds was "nonpesistant". Saddam's Iraqi army used "persistant" gas while Iran used "nonpersistant". 2 - He had unacknowledged permission from the Reagan Administration to use the gas against Iran, because the U.S. viewed Iran as the bigger threat. We know he used it, and did not care or even reprimand him. We even continued to give him weapons and finacial aid for years afterward. In 1990, a senatorial delagation led by Bob Dole visited Saddam and basically told him to ignore and not to worry about the growing questions being raised by the U.S. media about Saddam and terror. Of course, once he invaded oil rich Kuwait, we finally turned against him. 3 - Saddam and Osama bin Laden are not on friendly terms. One could even say that they are enemies. Bin Laden hates Saddam because Saddam has persecuted the Shiite Muslims (Bin Laden's religion). Also, Saddam will not give Al Qaeda any weapons of mass destruction that he may have because Al Qaeda would probably use them againt the Sunni Muslims and Saddam's Baath party. He will only give weapons of mass destruction to Al Qaeda is he thinks that he will lose power and or die. 4 - Iraq did not kick out the UNSCOM weapons inspectors in 1998. President Clinton and the U.N. pulled them out when the U.S. decided to bomb Iraq during "Operation Desert Fox." There are more, but you can get the book and read them yourself. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Good Quick Read
Review: Despite the invasion, this book is highly relevant. The highlight is one of the appendices, which analyzes Bush's Cinncinnati speach that "justified" the war. Excellent job.
Rating:
Summary: Call Them Correct
Review: I initially read this informative, hard-hitting book shortly before America and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq. I have since re-read it, a good exercise to test the validity of the warnings and conditional predictions raised by authors Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich. As an integrity test this book rings even truer with the passage of time and onrush of events than when it was first published shortly prior to the invasion of Iraq. The authors adroitly cite the rush to war and the falsehoods asserted by Bush and minions, focusing on the "weapons of mass destruction" charge. The authors hit very hard the American contention that the inspections carried out by UN forces were not working, taking the same position as former UN inspector Scott Ritter. The chapter dealing with Depleted Uranium alone is worth the price of the book. The authors cite the dangers of an eventual epidemic breaking out among invading forces and the general populace, classifying Depleted Uranium as "America's Dirty Secret." As the authors state, "Depleted uranium is the material left over from the processing of nuclear fuel. The U.S. military uses DU as a substitute for lead to fill the core of special ammunition. Depleted Uranium is 1.7 times denser than lead ... " In addition to stressing the potential risk to Iraqi civilians resulting from Depleted Uranium, along with citing the deferential treatment from the media concerning invasion plans, as well as showcasing American unilateralism, the authors also cover the important oil issue. All you had to do was read this book before the war and you would not be one scintilla surprised over the kind and beneficent manner with which Bush and cronies dealt with Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, which received such a glorious windfall in post-war Iraq, all without having to go through the bother of competitive bidding.
Rating:
Summary: Call Them Correct
Review: I initially read this informative, hard-hitting book shortly before America and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq. I have since re-read it, a good exercise to test the validity of the warnings and conditional predictions raised by authors Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich. As an integrity test this book rings even truer with the passage of time and onrush of events than when it was first published shortly prior to the invasion of Iraq. The authors adroitly cite the rush to war and the falsehoods asserted by Bush and minions, focusing on the "weapons of mass destruction" charge. The authors hit very hard the American contention that the inspections carried out by UN forces were not working, taking the same position as former UN inspector Scott Ritter. The chapter dealing with Depleted Uranium alone is worth the price of the book. The authors cite the dangers of an eventual epidemic breaking out among invading forces and the general populace, classifying Depleted Uranium as "America's Dirty Secret." As the authors state, "Depleted uranium is the material left over from the processing of nuclear fuel. The U.S. military uses DU as a substitute for lead to fill the core of special ammunition. Depleted Uranium is 1.7 times denser than lead ... " In addition to stressing the potential risk to Iraqi civilians resulting from Depleted Uranium, along with citing the deferential treatment from the media concerning invasion plans, as well as showcasing American unilateralism, the authors also cover the important oil issue. All you had to do was read this book before the war and you would not be one scintilla surprised over the kind and beneficent manner with which Bush and cronies dealt with Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, which received such a glorious windfall in post-war Iraq, all without having to go through the bother of competitive bidding.
Rating: 
Summary: I thought this would be a thoughtful discussion
Review: I was hoping this book would make me think about this Iraqi situation a bit differently, but I was wrong. I tried hard to examine the claims made in this book on a rational basis, but it is impossible. This book is full of unsupported assumptions and is very shaded. This seems as if it was written just for the fringe left and conspiracy theorists. It offers very little in the way of hard evidence of any kind. It quotes very controversial "experts" opinions as facts and evidence. This is not real investigative journalism. To suggest that Saddam asked the US permission to use chemical weapons was absurd. There is broken logic all over the place. The depiction of the Halabja massacre is simply factually incorrect. Every human rights organization in the world has accepted a different version of the events, and Iraqi defectors have corroborated that view. He ignores a mountain of evidence and instead siezes on a myriad of unsupported assertions. Bewildered by this, I pressed on, but found little satisfaction. I wanted an argument about whether or not this war made sense, but all I got was a bunch of conspiracy theory bunk, which even if accepted as fact, does little to answer the primary question. It seems as if it is just meant to embarass the US government. Whether the US government made dumb decisions has very little bearing on whether Saddam ought to have been removed. I was astonished at how the author treats Saddam's alleged crimes with such kid gloves, as if that is accepted behavior. I would be more accepting of the authors arguments if he had treated both sides with the same investigative tenacity. I came away thinking that this author was a Saddam apologist. It severely lost credibility on that point.
Rating:
Summary: Unstoppable "shock and awe" campaign ...
Review: In their alternating chapters, Reese Erlich and Norman Solomon write of their individual experiences in Iraq. They tell of the events they experienced, the places they visited and the Iraqis "so routinely rendered invisible or fleeting by U.S. media coverage." The book is peppered with quotes from people as diverse as a Hollywood celebrity such as Sean Penn to an Iraqi cab driver, eager to let an American into his home to meet his extended family. While the wealth of knowledge provided in the book through quotes and interviews is staggering, the authors don't leave the reader with only a large collection of interesting opinions. Target Iraq is chockfull of hard facts. Because of the mountain of evidence contained within its pages, the book is invaluable. Target Iraq calls into question the "facts" given to us by the mainstream media and effectively exposes them as nothing more than fiction, or at best, half-truths. How many times have you heard somebody in the media claiming that U.N. weapons inspectors were "thrown out" of Iraq? The truth of the matter is that Unscom head Richard Butler withdrew them in December 1998, "just before a blitz of U.S. bombing dubbed 'Operation Desert Fox.'" The trail of lies fed to us by corporate media is long and staggering, and unless you like being a dupe for General Electric, finding out about as many of them as you can is essential. This book is one of the best places to start your search and begin the de-duping process. There is a war being fought today on the home front. In it, people with a dissenting opinion are being accused of "protecting tyrants." If Americans would only educate themselves beyond what they've been taught by the corporate media, the dissenting opinion could easily claim victory over the conventional voice. The only ammo a person needs to win is knowledge enough to separate news propaganda from authentic news. Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You is an unstoppable "shock and awe" campaign able to shock people with its claims and awe them by backing up each of the claims with reliable facts.
Rating:
Summary: Insights that are not being discussed on the airwaves
Review: Mr. Norman Solomon is one of the few brave souls that is speaking the truth about the war against Iraq, challenging those that who would rather the American Public not know what the war is really about. I learned so much about the U.S. policy which is inconsistent and unjust. For example, the reasons given for going against Iraq - like weapons of mass destruction or noncompliance with UN Resolutions - can be easily made more forcibly for several countries such as Israel which possess nuclear weapons, has invaded 3 of its neighbors, and has "thumbed its nose," to use Bushspeak, at several UN Resolutions - more than Iraq. I came away realizing that this war could not be justified by moral or legal reasons. The U.S. is prepared to attack Iraq without UN approval (an act which itself shows the hypocrisy of the US policy since the war is supposed to be precisely for not obeying the UN) and even is now threatening nuclear weapons. What the Bush administration is not telling the US public is what the long term consequences of such threats are. Consider, North Korea, a situation that is worsening because of how the U.S. is behaving (that is, North Korea is now threatening "preemptive strikes" and use of nuclear weapons. No one can chastize such actions given that the U.S. is doing the same). Finally, the history of Iraq was most enlightening from this book. As it turns out, the US was the leading cause of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraq deaths (500,000 children have died as a result of the sanctions). Those who blame this on Saddam do not realize that the U.S. policy during the Clinton Administration was to enforce sanctions - whether or not Iraq complied with the UN. That was the actual stated policy of the U.S. Compliance was not the issue. Critics may quip back that Saddam could have used the monies he did have to spend on his people for medical supplies instead of his palaces. But again, those who make that argument are unaware of the U.S. role in exports to Iraq. The State Department had the power, given to it by the UN, to veto any exports to Iraq such as medical supplies. In other words, it was impossible for Iraqis to receive treatment - not because of limited funds but because the U.S. prevented those critical supplies from ever reaching Iraq. Thank you Mr. Solomon for an exquisite book. God Willing, the truth will be made clear to the American people through works such as yours.
Rating: 
Summary: Norman Solomon's Work Is Top Journalism
Review: Norman Solomon has the three essential ingredients which, in my opinion, places him on the top rung of American journalists. He has brains, heart and guts. No, make that four ingredients, the fourth one being: integrity. In this quickly produced collections of essays, Mr. Solomon aptly demonstrates all four ingredients as he reports on the journey he took to Iraq in September 2002 in company with a US congressman, a former senator , a representative from Conscience International and movie actor Sean Penn. The articles were put together during the time when the threat of war against Iraq has been very much the concern of the world. Mr. Solomon along with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich write strong arguments against starting a preemptive war against Iraq. They strip away some of the jargon used by the mass media -- jargon which seems to support the administration's warlike intentions. They even reveal what many readers and viewers have long suspected: Western journalists impose a self-censorship to get the plum assignments and to scramble higher on the dog-eat-dog journalism success ladder. Very dramatic is Mr. Solomon's graphic, heart-breaking description of how a decade of sanctions and embargo have already affected the people of Iraq: malnutrition, a severe shortage of medical supplies, children dying of leukemia because the embargo imposed since the Gulf War has all but stopped the import of those medicines. This make a reader wonder -- since necessary medicines can't get through the embargo, how can the chemicals and hard weapons and parts get through in order to create weapons of mass destruction the US administration insists are there? An emotional "open letter" to the President of the United States by Mr. Penn is included and worth the space taken up in this slim volume. It is a book which ought to be read by the non-committed or those who believe that starting a war with Iraq will serve America's best interest. To others, the book may be treated like preaching to the choir.
-o0o-
| 
