Collateral Damage

This is one disturbing and devastating audiobook. Hedges and Al-Arian don’t hold back, providing the listener with many detailed accounts of brutal death and destruction inflicted upon Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces. But what makes their work so profound and heartfelt is that most of their information comes from the U.S. military itself. Through their interviews and research, it becomes apparent that this culture of disdain and disregard for Iraqis and their possessions resides at the top and filters down through the ranks with dreadful result, thus prolonging and continuing to fuel the war. Lloyd James has a gentle but solid voice that invokes the solemnity of the larger ramifications. Listeners will be moved by the restraint and resolve in his voice as he recounts some of the more disastrous events. He weaves back and forth from the prose to the dialogue with ease and detectable transition. A Nation Books hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 21). (July)