Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the most important book of the year
Review: Once again, Solomon proves himself to be one of the current era's most insightful, informative media critics. This book, while his most limited in scope, may ultimately prove to be his most important work.Solomon and Erlich explain, in detail that hardly seems possible given the brevity of the book, and with painstaking documentation, the events and justifications (both genuine and concocted) that form the backdrop to the run-up to war in Iraq. They provide an incomparable line-by-line analysis of U.N. Resolution 1441, including the background and impact of each provision. Though the authors clearly believe that there is no satisfactory justification for an attack on Iraq, there is very little editorializing to that effect--rather, the authors mostly let the facts and evidence speak for themselves and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions. It is hard to believe that anyone who reads this book with an open mind could continue to believe that an attack on Iraq is currently justified by either the by facts or international law. It should be mandatory reading for anyone who insists that war is necessary. This is a book that, years after the last shot is fired in Iraq and more of the facts are known, will be one the people will pull of the shelf and say, "why wasn't this stuff on the front page of every paper in the country?" The answer to that question seems to be that war sells newspapers and creates viewers for TV news channels, and in turn drives up the corporate media's advertising revenues, so why let the facts potentially stop the procession of war when to do so could affect the media's profit margins? Don't look to CNN or the Washington Post to hear this stuff--you'll have to look to Solomon and Erlich.
Rating: 
Summary: A Valuable Case Study - Even After the War
Review: Solomon and Erlich attempt to cut through the rhetoric from the Bush administration and provide a clear picture of the issues surrounding an invasion of Iraq. Included is a line-by-line analysis of Bush's key pre-war speech, pointing out which statements are true, misleading, or false. A similar close analysis is applied to the U.N. resolution that authorized inspections in Iraq. The authors suggest that mainstream media cannot be trusted to present all sides of the debate, either because of their own self-interest or because of pressure from the Bush administration. They detail specific historical facts that were ignored by the media-facts that put the Iraq debate in a different historical context than that offered in the mainstream. The goal of Target Iraq is practical and timely: to provide the public with information it cannot get from mainstream media, so it can make a more informed decision about the administration's policy. As a case study, it also illustrates the tactics employed by government and media to set the public agenda and mislead voters. In this sense, it will be valuable long after the Iraq military campaign is complete.
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Summary: Exposing the lies
Review: Target Iraq has done what the American media failed to do; namely to expose the lies of this administration regarding Iraq. A number of experts dissect Bush's addresses to the American people and tear them apart as the lies they are. It's safe to say that if there were more journalists like Norman Solomon, the American public would know the truth about their leaders. My only complaint is that the authors do not sufficiently explore the reasons behind the war. They did not discuss the extreme pro-Likud tilt of many of the top officials in the Pentagon and among Bush's advisers (e.g. Wolfowitz, Bolton, Perle).
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Summary: The antedote to CNN
Review: TARGET IRAQ: WHAT THE NEWS MEDIA DIDN'T TELL YOU illuminates one of the biggest problems with any discussion about a possible war against Iraq--namely, that people still trust and rely on the information they get from the mainstream media. That is not to say that the Dan Rathers and Wolf Blitzers are lying, but anyone who thinks the big city newspapers and network news shows are completely unbiased and thorough is missing half the picture. In TARGET IRAQ, Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich address our flawed media in two ways. First, they expose the forces that create bias in your average journalist--from pushy editors to career ambition to staying on the good sides of those in power. Second, they pick up some of the stories that have gone under-reported since the first Gulf War. They cut through the rhetoric on issues like oil and preemption and replace it with clear, fact-based analysis. They unearth stories that the major media passed over, like the effects of depleted uranium left behind from the first war and the real effects of 12 years of sanctions--cancer patients without medicine, water treatment plants that can't treat water, children without adequate nutrition. This is not some ultra-lefty, tree-hugging plea for peace under any circumstances. This is a straight presentation of facts collected by veteran reporters who've been on the ground in Iraq. No one should consider themselves fully informed about the issues surrounding the impending war until they've read this book.
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Summary: Good presentation of info being denied by the media
Review: The authors point out the media dosen't cover the hundred thousand civillian deaths in the first gulf war; dosen't refer to the destruction of Iraq's water and sewage treatment systems and just about all the rest of Iraq's civillian infrastructure by the bombings... Erlich has a section devoted to wheather this coming war is about oil. He notes that the U.S. would greatly prefer to get its hands directly on Iraqi oil: a post-Saddam Iraqi government would probably privitize the industry into the hands of U.S. companies and adopt the oil policies the U.S. likes at OPEC. He quotes an article from the British press apparently sourced from British Petroleum that Ahmad Chalabi, head of the INC met with officials from three American oil companies and promised to divide Iraq's oil resources between them as a reward for the U.S. toppling Saddam. Not that they wouldn't want to do business w/Saddam...Dick Cheney as head of Haliburton advocated lifting sanctions on Iraq before he became the VP canidate. Haliburton stands to get huge reconstruction contracts for Iraq's oil industry after the war. Solomon points out how the U.S. got security council authorization in the last war. Yemen lost 70 million dollars in aid in late 1990 for vetoing a U.S. rough draft resolution and other rotating security council members were threatened w/a similar fate. Similarly in late 2002 Mauritius withdrew its UN ambassador after he opposed a U.S. rough draft, not willing to risk a cut-off of U.S. aid. Seth Ackerman of FAIR has a section on media treatment of the U.S. using inspections to spy and scout targets for bombing. Appendix 2 is an analyses by Institute for Public accuracy experts of George W. Bush's speech in Cincinanti on October 7th. They respond to the president's pieties about stopping evil dictators from terrorising the world by pointing to the U.S. funding of Suharto's bloody rule and occupation of East Timor, the U.S. support for perpetrators of aggression like Morroco, Turkey and Israel and its own invastion of Panamma in contravention of UN resoultions and its refusal to pay billions in reparations to Nicaragua as called for by the World Court for its support of the terrorist contras. Others point out that the U.S. authorized the sending to Iraq of the seed stock of Iraq and many other lethal biological agents in the 80's when Saddam really was dangerous. The experts like Phyllis Bennis, Francis Boyle, Mahajan, Glen Ragwala and James Jennings point out how resolution 1441 calls for the Iraq to grant access to stuff it has never been required to give accounting of before like possible unmanned aerial veichles, their parts and paperwork related to them as well as all Ballistic missle parts and records instead of just missles with a range of over 150 KM. It required Iraq to turn over all materials and records related to its chemical manufactuers even those unrelated to WMD within thirty days, a very impossible task to create 100 percent accounting for, giving the U.S. the opportunity to declare Iraq in material breach. It called for the inspectors to bring any equipment into Iraq that they wished obviously including devices that could be used for spying and the power to declare unspecified areas "exclusion zones"...The inspectors have the right to demand any Iraqi citizen and their families be taken out of the country for questioning about SAddam's WMD. Many are going to likely take this route for they want to get out of Iraq and will exagerate Saddam's threat, telling the U.S. what it wants to hear so they can get prestige. 1441 implies the continuation of U.S. policy through the UN of refusing to lift the sanctions once Saddam fully accounts for his WMD as called for in resolution 687, thus giving the Iraqi regime a heavy incentive to continue not to completely cooperate
Rating: 
Summary: Alternative to corporate media..
Review: This book brings up a few points that are not publicized in the main-stream media in regards to the situation in Iraq. It could be beneficial for those who don't read alternative press, and would like to familiarize themselves with a non-corporate media view. However, if you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the situation in Iraq, you might be disappointed in the book. Personally, I thought that the chapter on self-censorship in the media was the most thought provoking.
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Summary: All the truth that Bush et al want you to forget
Review: This book is badly needed by people who are too young (or too short-memoried) to remember some of the facts about Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm that the current administration (and their media lapdogs) would have us forget. Buy a copy, read it, and pass it along!
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Summary: Nice read!
Review: This book was very interesting in that it wasn't so much an "anti-war" book, but a glimpse of censorship and denile of it. It's an excellent book for introductions on a lot of the major issues that are unanswered. The DU problem and sanctions are what anger me to no end! You can really tell that the writers were being fair in their writings, which isn't seen very often. Good job. Sean Penn's letter was VERY moving, even though he's from evil-hollywood, he made a very good case. If Mr. Bush read the letter, I'm sure he had trouble sleeping, or he laughed at him in his sleep.
Rating: 
Summary: Blind to reality
Review: This book, as the other anti-war books, ignores the fact that Iraq has had twelve years to disarm. Resolution 1441 was not neccesary. Clinton should of taken care of Iraq during his administration. It always amazes me how people are so worried about the rights of known murderers. There are claims that Iraq already has operatives in the US prepared to realease biloigical agents. Do we wait and see if they will strike. If I were on the street and I was approached by a potential attacker, I would most likely strike first to gain the upper hand instead of waiting to be attacked. America was attacked on 9/11 partly because of Iraq. American troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia (the Muslim Holy Land) because of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Usama bin Laden hates the presence of the "infidels" in Saudi Arabia, so, he declared the "Holy War" on America. Fix Iaq, withdraw the troops and take away bin Ladens argument for terrorism. I want peace as much as the next person, but I am not naive enough to think that all issues can be solved by diplomacy especially when that diplomacy has been going on for 12 years. It is good to read all sides all of an issue, but know when someone is speculating and when someone is basing his arguments on facts that are put together logically and not based on piecing together data to make it look like something it's not. Hussein is a known murderer. He took office by assasinating the former leader. His sons are murderers and they will take his place once he is gone. The US is right, though late, in taking action against Iraq. I dislike authors or people who live in the US but speak of it as some monster separate of themselves. The US government is ran by people like you and me. We are the US and to say the US is a "terrorist state" is to call yourself a terrorist.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Points, But Disappointing in Execution
Review: This Review refers to the paperback edition of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, by Norman Solomon, and Reese Erlich and as introduced by Howard Zinn with an afterward by Sean Penn. Target Iraq is a book of many aspects, covering varying topics relating to the recent Iraqi war from a pre-war perspective. The introductory chapters focus largely on the media and self-censorship, providing the reader with insight into how the larger media organizations conduct their operations. The book then goes on to describe the opinions of the Iraqi people, with both examples from public and private sources. After which it moves into the US propaganda campaigns and examples of why the majority of it is untrue, in the authors' opinions. Detailed in the later chapters is the use and visible consequences of depleted uranium, along with the UN resolution issues, and effects of the economic sanctions. Concluding the book is a chapter concerning US manipulation and discrediting of various aspects of the UN, followed by the motives for war. Also contained in the book is an introduction by Howard Zinn, afterward by Sean Penn, article by Seth Ackerman, Bush speech with analysis, and Resolution 1441 with analysis. This book contains a nearly extreme bias at points; however, it does probe both sides of some aspects. It does manage to provide a decent overview of Iraqi public opinion, and properly warns that the opinions may change once the displacement of power takes place. There are also informative summaries concerning depleted uranium and the illegal no-fly zones. The two authors, Solomon and Erlich, switch each chapter, giving the reader an interesting mixture of viewpoints. Solomon is the stronger literary presence throughout the book, yet is also quite lacking in his ability to back up his rather strong claims with proper evidence. The result is a shell of sorts, leaving the reader skeptical if they do not already have a proper background in the area. Erlich, on the other hand, wanders and is weaker in his content but stronger in his presentation of possible sources to collaborate his statements. Yet, Erlich has an intriguing literary form that allows the reader to come to his/her own conclusions. However, neither provides any form of a bibliography, forcing the unfamiliar reader through hours of research to verify their statements. There are also typographical errors in the appendices. The private interview with the Iraqi civilian family is an invaluable insight into the opinions and thoughts of the Iraqi people. However, the literary styles and lack of sources subtracts heavily from the book. Overall, the book would have been a great and inspiring work, even after the war, had it been the recipient of proper source work and effort. Perhaps the authors could release an updated version with a proper list of sources.
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