The Battle for Baghdad

As bureau chief for The New York Times in Iraq, John F. Burns was based in Baghdad from the fall of 2002 until the summer of 2007. From a heavily-fortified compound beside the Tigris river, he oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of the last nine months of Saddam Hussein’s tyranny, the American capture of Baghdad, and the turbulent years that have followed. His first-hand experience of events that have plunged Iraq toward sectarian civil war and driven a deep divide in American public life has been matched by few other western reporters. Drawing on more than 35 years as a foreign correspondent covering wars in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Mr. Burns will offer a personal assessment of America’s enterprise in Iraq – what went right, what went wrong, and what the outcome may mean for Iraq, America and the world. Central to his conclusions is the view he has expressed often in his television appearances from Baghdad: that America must emerge from Iraq, whatever the pains endured in the end-game there, resolved not to retreat into an era of self-doubt and recrimination, but to re-affirm its role as a the principal beacon of liberty in the world.