To Be a Friend Is Fatal
The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
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To Be a Friend Is Fatal
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Narrated by:
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Kirk W. Johnson
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By:
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Kirk W. Johnson
About this listen
In January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only American employee who spoke Arabic. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators - young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be.
As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the U.S. coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and death. On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a "fugue state," crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD - crushed by having failed in Iraq. One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: "People are trying to kill me and I need your help."
After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson's mission to get help from the U.S. government for Yaghdan and thousands like him abandoned in Iraq. The List Project has now helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. To Be a Friend Is Fatal is Kirk W. Johnson's unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war.
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By: Scott Mann
-
Left of Boom
- How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
- By: Douglas Laux, Ralph Pezzullo
- Narrated by: Mike Dawson
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,296
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,160
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,166
On September 11, 2001, Doug Laux was a freshman in college, on the path to becoming a doctor. But with the fall of the Twin Towers came a turning point in his life. After graduating, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, determined to get himself to Afghanistan and into the center of the action. Through persistence and hard work, he was fast-tracked to a clandestine operations position overseas. Dropped into a remote region of Afghanistan, he received his baptism by fire.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Too Censerord to be Enjoyable
- By Nathan on 08-26-16
By: Douglas Laux, and others
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The Fox Hunt
- A Refugee's Memoir of Coming to America
- By: Mohammed Al Samawi
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 138
Born in the Old City of Sana’a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was 23, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what he read cast doubt on everything he’d previously believed. After connecting with Jews and Christians on social media, and at various international interfaith conferences, Mohammed became an activist, making it his mission to promote dialogue and cooperation in Yemen. Then came the death threats....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging and informative memoir
- By Mark on 08-02-18
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It Happened on the Way to War
- A Marine's Path to Peace
- By: Rye Barcott
- Narrated by: Rye Barcott
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 145
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Story4 out of 5 stars 145
In 2000 Rye Barcott spent part of his summer living in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. He was a college student heading into the Marines, and he sought to better understand ethnic violence - something he would likely face later in uniform. He learned Swahili, asked questions, and listened to young people talk about how they survived in poverty he had never imagined.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not What You Think It Is
- By Hailey on 10-01-12
By: Rye Barcott
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The Taliban Shuffle
- Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Kim Barker
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 464
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 405
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Story4 out of 5 stars 405
Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Warring Your Way to Peace Does Not Work
- By Sue on 09-01-12
By: Kim Barker
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The Mirror Test
- America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan
- By: J. Kael Weston
- Narrated by: J. Kael Weston
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
J. Kael Weston spent seven years on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan working for the US State Department in some of the most dangerous frontline locations. Upon his return home, while traveling the country to pay respect to the dead and wounded, he asked himself: When will these wars end? How will they be remembered and memorialized? What lessons can we learn from them?
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Must Read
- By Jessica Myrick on 06-04-16
By: J. Kael Weston
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Gray Work
- Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy
- By: Jamie Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,216
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,099
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,098
In this unprecedented audiobook, a paramilitary contractor with more than two decades of experience gives us a firsthand look into the secret lives of America's private warriors and their highly covert work around the world. Author Jamie Smith has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots - and lived to tell the tale.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don't believe a word of it.
- By Dustin Harry on 08-26-15
By: Jamie Smith
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The Vortex
- A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation
- By: Scott Carney, Jason Miklian
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. The Vortex is the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the Best books this year!
- By Nazir on 05-26-22
By: Scott Carney, and others
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Zero Footprint
- The True Story of a Private Military Contractor's Covert Assignments in Syria, Libya, and the World's Most Dangerous Places
- By: Simon Chase, Ralph Pezzullo
- Narrated by: Eric Brooks
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,023
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 922
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 926
Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry, and top-secret missions - this is the life of today's private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world's top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK's Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing missions too sensitive for the government to acknowledge. Chase reveals here for the first time the operations too hazardous and politically volatile to be officially sanctioned by his employers.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Read Amazon reviews, not Audible reviews
- By Andrew M on 02-22-16
By: Simon Chase, and others
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Guests of the Ayatollah
- The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Mark Bowden
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 408
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 273
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 275
The Iran hostage crisis was a watershed moment in American history. It was America's first showdown with Islamic fundamentalism, a confrontation at the forefront of American policy to this day. It was also a powerful dramatic story that captivated the American people, launched yellow-ribbon campaigns, made celebrities of the hostage's families, and crippled the reelection campaign of President Jimmy Carter.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Worth a listen, with a few reservations
- By Eunice on 06-02-09
By: Mark Bowden
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Tom Clancy's Op-Center
- Tom Clancy's Op-Center #1
- By: Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik, Jeff Rovin
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,414
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,239
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,243
A terrorist bomb explodes during a South Korean celebration of the anniversary of the election of its first president. Alarms are raised in Washington. No one is claiming responsibility. The first suspect is North Korea. Could it be making a power play against South Korea and unification? If so, how will the U.S. respond? Paul Hood, Director of the Op-Center, must answer these questions. The Op-Center, a largely autonomous new agency which takes on the government's toughest security problems, is only six months old, and has never been given a foreign crisis until now.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent listen
- By Aaron Kynaston on 08-18-11
By: Tom Clancy, and others
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The Reluctant Spy
- My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror
- By: John Kiriakou, Michael Ruby
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 200
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 131
Long before the waterboarding controversy exploded in the media, one CIA agent had already gone public. In a groundbreaking 2007 interview with ABC News, John Kiriakou called waterboarding torture - but admitted that it probably worked. This book, at once a confessional, an adventure story, and a chronicle of Kiriakou's life in the CIA, stands as an important, eloquent piece of testimony from a committed American patriot.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating Read about the CIA
- By Nancy on 05-13-10
By: John Kiriakou, and others
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A Rope and a Prayer
- The Story of a Kidnapping
- By: David Rohde, Kristen Mulvihill
- Narrated by: David Rohde, Kristen Mulvihill
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
The compelling and insightful account of a New York Times reporter's abduction by the Taliban and his wife's struggle to free him. Invited to an interview by a Taliban commander, New York Times reporter David Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were kidnapped in November 2008 and spirited to the tribal areas of Pakistan. For the next seven months, they lived in an alternate reality, ruled by jihadists, in which paranoia, conspiracy theories, and shifting alliances abounded.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A History Lesson
- By Ed on 12-31-10
By: David Rohde, and others
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The Big Truck That Went By
- How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster
- By: Jonathan M. Katz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jonathan M. Katz
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 204
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 180
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
On January 12, 2010, the deadliest earthquake in the history of the Western Hemisphere struck the nation least prepared to handle one. Jonathan M. Katz, the only full-time American news correspondent in Haiti, was inside his house when it buckled along with hundreds of thousands of others. In this visceral first-hand account, Katz takes readers inside the terror of that day, the devastation visited on ordinary Haitians, and through the monumental--yet misbegotten--rescue effort that followed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This story angered and cheered inside me
- By rifenbc on 03-01-19
By: Jonathan M. Katz
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The Forever War
- By: Dexter Filkins
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 514
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 340
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 341
Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, we witness the chain of events that began with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continued with the attacks of 9/11, and moved on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Forever War allows us a visceral understanding of today's battlefields and of the experiences of the people on the ground, warriors and innocents alike. It is a brilliant, fearless work, not just about America's wars after 9/11, but ultimately about the nature of war itself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A memorable "read"
- By TCinDC on 02-16-09
By: Dexter Filkins
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No Turning Back
- Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria
- By: Rania Abouzeid
- Narrated by: Susan Nezami
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Based on more than five years of clandestine reporting on the front lines, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama full of vivid, indelible characters that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the 21st century's greatest humanitarian disasters.
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4 out of 5 stars
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SYRIA'S FAMILY BUSINESS
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 12-03-22
By: Rania Abouzeid
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Black Ops
- The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior
- By: Ric Prado
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,145
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,031
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,029
Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric’s legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Impressive and Inspiring!
- By medardo on 03-12-22
By: Ric Prado
What listeners say about To Be a Friend Is Fatal
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Suzanne E. Bott, PhD
- 08-26-22
A tough man with an even tougher story.
An "ordinary" person who accomplished extraordinary greatness with his commitment to help refugees! BRAVO ZULU!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- W. Brian Hall
- 10-27-13
Heartbreaking but important
This is a heartbreakingly sad tale of bureaucratic negligence and political cowardice by both the Bush and Obama administrations. The US government abandoned the Iraqi citizens who tried to help the US in the aftermath of the war; those are left to fend for themselves against the insurgents who all too often kill and terrorize them. It is very simply and movingly told by Kirk Johnson, who worked with these Iraqis and then worked against the system to try to rescue them. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful