SISTERS IN WAR

Portrait of women from varying backgrounds who share an abiding concern for and active involvement in the plight of Iraqi women enduring the challenges of war.

The war in Iraq has yielded numerous accounts of its ravages, many written by and about women, whether native Iraqis living in turmoil, emigrants watching from afar, American soldiers stationed at the epicenter or activists from both countries working to rebuild a stable post-Saddam society. Journalist Asquith interweaves the experiences of more than a dozen women on various sides of the conflict. Recounting the anguish, outrage, courage, fears and triumphs of these women, the author shines fresh light on this culturally and politically complex country. While such firsthand reports as Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning (2005) provide essential context, Asquith’s assemblage of personal journeys effectively fuses into a universal message about human dignity, tenacity and generosity of spirit. Iraq’s labyrinthine system of sociopolitical codes are most vividly illuminated through four woman: Zia, who lives with her parents in Baghdad; Manal, born in the United States to progressive Palestinian parents; Heather Coyne, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Civil Affairs Brigade; and Fern Holland, an American attorney working for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in a rural Shia community. Asquith effectively deconstructs the Iraqi ethos, which is presented not as a collective ideology but as an intricate amalgam of nuanced philosophies, traditions and social cues, from the grave implications of a loose veil to the significance of bitter coffee to drastically varying interpretations of the Koran. Throughout, the chasm between Western myopia and Iraqi truths is manifest, as when Manal, trying to empower Iraqi women in tangible ways, bemoans the U.S. government’s simplistic solutions, lamenting “they just loved bricks-and-mortar buildings that they could point to as accomplishments.”

A vital, edifying cultural investigation.