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A review by tanyarobinson
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death by Jim Frederick
3.0
This is definitely a guy's book - a detailed account of 1st Platoon Bravo Company's year in Iraq's "Triangle of Death." I chose to read it because I was interested to understand the explanation for one of America's worst war crimes (the rape and murder of an Iraqi teen and her family), and because the book has such a high Goodreads rating. I learned more than I really wanted to.
First of all, I think I have a glorified picture of American servicemen, and I like it that way. Reading about a bunch of drunken and disorderly punks running around bullying Iraqi citizens does not sit well with me. Black Hearts makes it clear that responsibility for the breakdown of the guilty men extends far up the chain of command, which doesn't make me feel better at all. If anything, it just lays bare the complete miscalculations of overall U.S. military strategy in Iraq. I kept looking for a character I could respect, someone who I felt represented America in a positive way. Most of the officers came off looking self-interested, while the enlisted men were just angry violent boys out to vent their hatred on the population. I suppose I have to respect the man who blew the whistle on his criminal comrades, though even he didn't appear particularly bright and shiny. Every single soldier interviewed for this book, including the Battalion commander, couldn't speak a sentence without multiple uses of profanity. Honestly, I was just turned off by the whole thing.
I know that there are honorable servicemen out there. I am related to some of them! I really hope what I was introduced to in Black Hearts is not representative of the modern military.
First of all, I think I have a glorified picture of American servicemen, and I like it that way. Reading about a bunch of drunken and disorderly punks running around bullying Iraqi citizens does not sit well with me. Black Hearts makes it clear that responsibility for the breakdown of the guilty men extends far up the chain of command, which doesn't make me feel better at all. If anything, it just lays bare the complete miscalculations of overall U.S. military strategy in Iraq. I kept looking for a character I could respect, someone who I felt represented America in a positive way. Most of the officers came off looking self-interested, while the enlisted men were just angry violent boys out to vent their hatred on the population. I suppose I have to respect the man who blew the whistle on his criminal comrades, though even he didn't appear particularly bright and shiny. Every single soldier interviewed for this book, including the Battalion commander, couldn't speak a sentence without multiple uses of profanity. Honestly, I was just turned off by the whole thing.
I know that there are honorable servicemen out there. I am related to some of them! I really hope what I was introduced to in Black Hearts is not representative of the modern military.