Andrew Sola: The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to War-Profiteering in Iraq

From the current issue of Studies in Language and Capitalism (PDF file) :

"... Surviving Iraq is not, on the face of it, a problematic book. It is not a propaganda tract. The author, a Chicago Tribune reporter oft stationed in Iraq, is not a political ideologue. The publisher is not trying to sway public opinion following secret CIA directives. The Idiot's Guides series itself does nothing but provide information, as does this specific text. There is no conspiracy. Indeed, Surviving Iraq only provides information, seemingly neutral, easy-to-read, and fun-oriented information about how to get a high-paying job in Iraq, and then how to survive. However, its very existence illustrates how the cultural production of American capitalism seamlessly conjoins business, politics and fun. The language with which it expresses this conjunction must at the same time mask its hidden aim, for an acknowledgement that Surviving Iraq is actually a guide to war-profiteering would undermine its seemingly neutral ideological foundation. Still, writing about Iraq according to the criteria in the Complete Idiot's style guide2 prevents both the writer and reader from seeking solutions to the problem in Iraq beyond any that have already been introduced into what Herbert Marcuse would call the established (and repressive) universe of ordinary discourse.3

In One-Dimensional Man (1964), Marcuse discusses the process whereby language becomes a repressive tool that validates a repressive and potentially irrational reality. At first, language merely describes - neutrally describes - what is happening in the world. However, Marcuse argues that by repeating the same words that everyone else uses, by using the same syntax that everyone else uses and by referring to the same ideas to which everyone else refers - in short, by speaking and being understood by everyone else - we are taking part in a “comprehensive, omnipresent realm of meaning which has been developed, and ordinarily 'closed,' by the social system within which and from which the communication takes place” (1964, p. 197). In this closed universe of discourse, only ideas accepted and repeated by the whole have merit. Ideas and language that are not readily understood by the whole and that might contradict the whole are, therefore, rejected. Language itself becomes a tool of domination.

Marcuse takes this idea even further. The uncritical acceptance of our everyday language serves to reinforce a reality that is often irrational, and the behavior that accompanies this language is also irrational. Marcuse's most extreme example of this process is the science that accompanied the specter of mutual annihilation:

The scientific approach to the vexing problem of mutual annihilation - the mathematics and calculations of kill and over-kill, the measurement of spreading or not-quite-so-spreading fallout, the experiments of endurance in abnormal situations - is mystifying to the extent to which it promotes (and even demands) behavior which accepts the insanity. It thus counteracts a truly rational behavior - namely, the refusal to go along, and the effort to do away with the conditions which produce the insanity. (1964, p. 190)

A cycle is established in which thought, speech and “pragmatic,” “scientific” behavior mutually reinforce an irrational reality. And it is only a matter of time before the repetition of these ideas (and the repetition of the language that expresses these ideas) entrenches both the irrational ideas and the irrational language in the mind. Eventually, irrationality becomes perfectly rational. It is not only in scientific study that an irrational reality is validated. The presence of a dangerous and irrational political situation swiftly becomes a sellable product in capitalist culture. Hence, books like Surviving Iraq appear. Surviving Iraq, while it does not overtly support the war, is part of a cultural apparatus that normalizes reactions to destructive, costly, inhumane, and potentially irrational political situations.

[ ... ]

The final way in which business, politics and fun are joined in Surviving Iraq is the risk-management discourse, the discourse of costs and benefits, profit margins and risk thresholds, investment capital and projected returns. Playing the stock market is the peak of the juncture between business and fun. Indeed, Americans 'play' the stock market as we might our other favorite national pastime. When selling the prospect of working in Iraq, then, it is only natural to speak of the undertaking in this discursive mode. Surviving Iraq obliges by showing the reader how to manage the “risk landscape” all the while reminding the reader that “the money and benefits are often as good as you've heard” (p. 48). In fact, the book is most in-depth in its treatment of the risk landscape. It even has a chart devoted to civilian contractor deaths by city and region (98 in Baghdad and nearby towns, 29 in Mosul, 16 in Fallujah and Ramadi, etc.); another paragraph devoted to contractors killed and method of death (57 in their cars or convoys after assaults, 45 from gunfire or RPGs; 33 from roadside bombs; 30 from kidnappings and subsequent execution, etc.); a “You Don't Say” box devoted to contractor deaths by company (27 from KBR, 18 from Blackwater Security, 13 from DynCorp, etc.) and a sentence devoted to contractors killed by nationality (95 Americans, 31 British and 29 Turks). At the end of this section, the author concludes that “if you're an American, and KBR offers you a job doing convoy security around Baghdad...just keep the risks in mind” (pp. 32-33). This analysis is conducted like a baseball manager choosing to pinch-hit a righty or a lefty in the ninth inning with bases loaded, or better yet like an amateur investor deciding if buying Apple stocks would be a good long-term investment strategy. The reader is encouraged to think of working in Iraq within the high-risk/high-reward construction, and that's all the fun.

Again, the statistical analysis is logical, the research thorough, the chain of reasoning solid, and the conclusion well-grounded. Essentially, there is nothing amiss. However, the presentation, which conjoins business, politics and fun, also conjoins the particular and general interest and prevents the development of meaningful social, cultural, historical and economic content. Even worse, it positively encourages the reader to participate in war-profiteering.

Through the first one hundred pages, there is little information about actually surviving Iraq because the idea of profiting from Iraq holds precedent. However, the seventh of the ten chapters, “Saving Your Own Life”, actually discusses the content that the title of the book heralds. For example, it describes the sounds of incoming fire: “Bullets aimed at you make a crackling noise in the air as they pass, a thick smack noise as they hit a nearby wall or armor, or else that Hollywood pchoing! ricochet noise as they bounce off things nearby” (p.117). Chapter 7 also provides both good and bad options for taking cover: “The best options (in order) are stacked sandbags, heavy stones, a concrete wall, bricks, and then cinderblocks” (p.118). We are then told that cars are not so great: “If you have to cower behind a car, cower behind the wheels and not the hollow doors. Brake drums are your friend! And don't pick the car rigged to explode - it's the one that's empty but riding mysteriously low, because the trunk or engine block is probably full of artillery shells” (p.118). The author even devotes a few pages to first aid - “stem the arterial bleeding first!” (p.106). Still, in a book called Surviving Iraq, one might have expected more detail on the survival and less on the profit and the fun.

It is telling that this chapter begins with the disclaimer, “No book can teach you what you need to know to travel safely in Iraq” (p. 99), and ends with the command, “You should take a hostile environment course before traveling to Iraq” (p. 119). If the book insists that it cannot teach readers how to survive Iraq, even though that is what the title claims it will do, then the title must be a lie. There must be another lesson the book teaches, a lesson that could be expressed by another, more accurate title: The Pocket Idiot's Guide to War-Profiteering in Iraq.

In the subsequent chapter, “Getting around in Iraq,” the author attempts to maintain the illusion that the book is really a survival guide by discussing the political situation and risk landscape in the various regions of Iraq. For example, we learn that the Sunni Triangle and the Triangle of Death are different triangles (p. 124). However, the slippage between politics and fun is nearly instantaneous; the next chapter, which is the penultimate, is called “Enjoying Yourself” and discusses museum visits and the nightlife in Baghdad. At this point, it is unclear if the book is a profit guide, a survival guide or a tourist guide.

The final chapter is called “Hotel California.” After discussing the practicalities of leaving Iraq, the author discusses “What You'll Suddenly Notice in the Real World” (p. 156). You will discover section headings that read, “You Are a Basket Case” and “Things Ain't Normal” (p. 157). So, “What's Wrong with You” (p. 158)? What's wrong is that “You're Stressing, Dude” (p. 158). What he means is that you might be suffering from PTSD. Statistics are provided, of course. A military study reports that 12.5 percent of troops who served in Iraq reported symptoms of PTSD and 16 percent reported symptoms of major depression, anxiety or PTSD. Then we learn that the general population in America has a 5 percent rate of such symptoms (pp. 159-160). Summing up, the author does the math for us (after all, this is an Idiot's Guide): “You can expect to triple the likelihood of becoming a basket case [after working in Iraq]” (p. 160). Of course, we must be reassured, and so we are when we are told that “all these feelings are normal” (p. 160). A page and a half on PTSD help-lines and resources follow, and the book concludes with its final “Least You Should Know” Section, in which the last bullet-pointed phrase reads: “If you are careful, physically and mentally, your Iraq experience will be fulfilling” (p. 162).

We are left on a high-note, and the circle is complete. We have gone from 'duty or opportunity' calling us to Iraq; through the history, economics and politics of Iraq; to the financial rewards and the threats of working there; and finally we end with personal fulfillment - and all in 162 small-page, large-print, margin-heavy, informative, and (most importantly) fun-filled pages. Surviving Iraq does not seem so difficult after all. All that was needed was an Idiot's Guide. ..."