A helpful reader:

Derb—I completely agree with you that you wouldn’t learn much about Iraq on a three week trip. You would learn much more if you spent those three weeks on reading a very thick book that has just been published. It is ’The Great War for Civilization’ by British journalist Robert Fisk.
Fisk has spent thirty years in the Middle East and this book is apparently a compilation of his notes for that period. It is a tour de force, superb as journalism but also as history. Fisk is incredibly well-informed, perceptive, intelligent and also a very brave war correspondent.
In my opinion, no one should be allowed to write about Iraq until they have read Fisk’s book. Give it a try and see if you agree!

[Derb] Fisk, hm? Funny, that name rings a bell somehow.