I was excited to read this book. I thought Rosen's movement outside of the Green Zone might have generated valuable insight into both Iraqi and resistance culture. Unfortunately, I found the book analytically shallow, skimming the public surface of the society without penetrating into the substance beneath it. He overwhelms the reader with details of his experience in Iraq, and emphasizes that his knowledge of the language and the culture aided his understanding, but these details are only compensation for his inability to actually explain much about the things he is describing.

As examples, I will use two themes that dominate Rosen's book: anti-Semitism and the rhetoric of religious leaders. Rosen is repeatedly pointing out Iraqis' tendency to blame the circumstances of the Middle East, and particularly the occupation of Iraq, on conspiring Jews, as well as the frequent use of the term as an insult. He does not, however, attempt any explanation for this phenomenon outside of brief references to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. How do Iraqis perceive of Jewish-ness? What explains their belief in the conspiracy? These questions are not addressed. Instead, he is content to simply quote a number of anti-Semitic slurs.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the book is the incessant quoting of speeches in mosques without providing any interpretive tools for understanding the rhetoric. Rosen spent a lot of time - the overwhelming majority of the book - listening to sermons and talking to religious leaders. While Rosen does a good job of indicating when a leader might be speaking to militants, he does absolutely nothing to contextualize the language, attitude or culture of political Islam. How do "ordinary" Iraqis interpret these sermons? What do the words mean to them? How does this language - shocking in a Western vocabulary of "tolerance" - actually shape itself within Iraqi society? The people of Iraq - the recipients of these statements - are rendered nearly invisible, leaving a crucial gap in the lifespan of this rhetoric. Rhetoric is, after all, only as meaningful as its interpretation. Rosen simply translates the statements and sermons, leading the reader to the conclusion that they - and their attending masses - are predominately irrational, bloodthirsty and violent.

In failing to engage in a more thorough analysis of these two themes, Rosen mystifies them, erasing all but the most superficial conditions from which they emerged and in which they have purpose (or "reason"). Anti-Semitism and vitriolic rhetoric, then, risk being "naturalized", perceived as conditions that are somehow "natural" or intrinsic to Arabic culture. This is not explicit in the book. I believe Rosen's desire to portray the Iraqi people was genuine. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line there was a failure. Rosen was not capable of gathering any real insight or he was not capable of putting it into his book. Either way, "In the Belly of the Green Bird" is a disappointment.

Review of "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq" by Nir Rosen