First published 2008
In January 2007, two Iraqi men meet George Packer in the Palestine Hotel lobby in central Baghdad. They represent a small group of translators and support staff who chose to work with U.S. military and occupation forces after Saddam Hussein's overthrow. These young Iraqis believed their local knowledge would prove invaluable to Americans unfamiliar with their country. Instead of finding respect and protection, they encountered suspicion from both sides. Insurgents and militias target them for assassination. U.S. officials dismiss their concerns and fire them without explanation. When they seek refuge in America, bureaucratic barriers block their escape. Through their own voices, these Iraqis reveal how the occupation transformed their hopes into a deadly trap. The play exposes the human cost of a war where those who risked the most received the least protection.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, fish-out-of-water, human-cost-of-war
Setting: Baghdad, Iraq, Palestine Hotel
Period: 2007
128 pages · Kindle Edition · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: violence, war