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Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7000-year History of War, Profit & Conflict
New York Times and international bestselling author Edwin Black uncovers Iraq's hidden economy and the companies that profit from its upheaval
Big business and global warfare have long been fiery and symbiotic forces in Iraq. Banking on Baghdad tells the dramatic and tragic history of a land long the center of world commerce-and documents the many ways Iraq's recent history mirrors its tumultuous past. Tracing the involvement
of Western governments and militaries, as well as oil, banking, and other corporate interests in Iraq, Black shows that today, just as yesterday, the world needs Iraq's resources-and is always willing to fight and invade in order to acquire and protect them.
While demonstrating that Iraq itself is partially to blame for its current state of turmoil, Black does not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that war and profit have also played an equal part in creating the Iraq we know today. Just as he did in IBM and the Holocaust, Black exposes the hidden associations between leading corporations, war, and oil-such as the astonishing connections between Nazi Germany, Iraq, and the Holocaust.
He exposes the war and race-based profiteering by some of the world's most prestigious corporations, as well as the political and economic ties between the Bush administration and the companies that gain handsomely from its foreign policy. Just as he did in War Against the Weak, Black offers a compelling blend of history and contemporary investigative journalism that spans a century and eschews easy answers for complicated questions.
Edwin Black (Washington, DC) is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, The Transfer Agreement, and War Against the Weak. His journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Sunday Times (of London), and The Los Angeles Times.
Big business and global warfare have long been fiery and symbiotic forces in Iraq. Banking on Baghdad tells the dramatic and tragic history of a land long the center of world commerce-and documents the many ways Iraq's recent history mirrors its tumultuous past. Tracing the involvement
of Western governments and militaries, as well as oil, banking, and other corporate interests in Iraq, Black shows that today, just as yesterday, the world needs Iraq's resources-and is always willing to fight and invade in order to acquire and protect them.
While demonstrating that Iraq itself is partially to blame for its current state of turmoil, Black does not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that war and profit have also played an equal part in creating the Iraq we know today. Just as he did in IBM and the Holocaust, Black exposes the hidden associations between leading corporations, war, and oil-such as the astonishing connections between Nazi Germany, Iraq, and the Holocaust.
He exposes the war and race-based profiteering by some of the world's most prestigious corporations, as well as the political and economic ties between the Bush administration and the companies that gain handsomely from its foreign policy. Just as he did in War Against the Weak, Black offers a compelling blend of history and contemporary investigative journalism that spans a century and eschews easy answers for complicated questions.
Edwin Black (Washington, DC) is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, The Transfer Agreement, and War Against the Weak. His journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Sunday Times (of London), and The Los Angeles Times.
496 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2004
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About the author
Edwin Black
53 books156 followersIs an American syndicated columnist and journalist. He specializes in human rights, the historical interplay between economics and politics in the Middle East, petroleum policy, the abuses practiced by corporations, and the financial underpinnings of Nazi Germany.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 5, 2016
After reading 'Banking on Baghdad', I was reminded about how I couldn't fathom what in the world the Bush II administration was thinking when it decided to stay in Iraq after the masterfully meaningless 'Mission Accomplished' moment. George Santayana's now cliched quip about the ignorant repeating the past finds what could be its most stunning example in President G.W.Bush. It was so obvious - having been there, done that, the British could have made a suckers bet about what would happen to the American military in Iraq.
Baghdad (and Mesopotamia) has to be one of the bloodiest places on earth, hosting a nasty, brutish and long legacy of thousands of years of cruelty and suffering. There were some stretches of peace and prosperity, but Black mentions them only in passing, and the flourishing moments of Babylon and episodes of tolerance in medieval Baghdad are overshadowed by the staggering body counts. (To be fair, nor was contemporary Europe a peaceful place.)
The book starts awkwardly, trying to cover a few thousand years in a couple of chapters, and I had a sense that Black wanted to put more material here, but was forced to hack out pieces for brevity. And I quickly tired of reading "possession is nine-tenths of the law", which makes too many appearances in the text. (Oh, and where are the maps in this edition?)
He hits his stride with the formation of the Ottoman Empire, making the arcane details of the colonial administration and cynical division of Mesopotamia, starting in the 18th century up to the mid-20th century, relevant and interesting. Black argues convincingly that the anti-Jewish sentiment prevalent throughout much of the Middle East today is a result of Nazi propaganda that found fertile ground coincident with the rise of Israel (facilitated by the Arab-Nazi alliance to evict the British). I was surprised to learn about the purge of the Jews from Baghdad in the 1940s and 1950s and how important Iraq was, as a consequence, in the formation of modern Israel.
Another interesting note was the mention of Major John Glubb, perhaps one of the first westerners to see through and criticize the transparent 'democracy' that the British claimed to have installed, and the Americans would have liked to have replanted (as long as the oil continued to flow, of course). That Mesopotamia is rarely a self-governing region is a long thread throughout the book.
But by the time we arrive at the 1960s and go into the most recent history, the material gets sparse again, as if Black ran out of time and/or room. With the Desert Storms, he missed what I think was a opportune moment to mention the administration of Iraq by the American Paul Bremer, and compare his management to the British administrators Jones and Manesty, or how Washington usurped London's role in its patronizing, extractive governance of Iraq.
As I write this, the Syrian civil war is spilling into Iraq, with Al-Qaeda resurgent into a 1300 year old Sunni-Shia conflict which is as violent as ever, with Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran engaging in a proxy war in Syria. It's easy to see this as a rehash of an earlier conflict when puritanical Wahhabis out of the Arabian peninsula took control of Baghdad in the early 19th century, and found themselves between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shiite Persians. Another Santayana cliche seems appropriate here, that only the dead have seen the end to war, which apparently is a bloody axiom of life in Mesopotamia.
Baghdad (and Mesopotamia) has to be one of the bloodiest places on earth, hosting a nasty, brutish and long legacy of thousands of years of cruelty and suffering. There were some stretches of peace and prosperity, but Black mentions them only in passing, and the flourishing moments of Babylon and episodes of tolerance in medieval Baghdad are overshadowed by the staggering body counts. (To be fair, nor was contemporary Europe a peaceful place.)
The book starts awkwardly, trying to cover a few thousand years in a couple of chapters, and I had a sense that Black wanted to put more material here, but was forced to hack out pieces for brevity. And I quickly tired of reading "possession is nine-tenths of the law", which makes too many appearances in the text. (Oh, and where are the maps in this edition?)
He hits his stride with the formation of the Ottoman Empire, making the arcane details of the colonial administration and cynical division of Mesopotamia, starting in the 18th century up to the mid-20th century, relevant and interesting. Black argues convincingly that the anti-Jewish sentiment prevalent throughout much of the Middle East today is a result of Nazi propaganda that found fertile ground coincident with the rise of Israel (facilitated by the Arab-Nazi alliance to evict the British). I was surprised to learn about the purge of the Jews from Baghdad in the 1940s and 1950s and how important Iraq was, as a consequence, in the formation of modern Israel.
Another interesting note was the mention of Major John Glubb, perhaps one of the first westerners to see through and criticize the transparent 'democracy' that the British claimed to have installed, and the Americans would have liked to have replanted (as long as the oil continued to flow, of course). That Mesopotamia is rarely a self-governing region is a long thread throughout the book.
But by the time we arrive at the 1960s and go into the most recent history, the material gets sparse again, as if Black ran out of time and/or room. With the Desert Storms, he missed what I think was a opportune moment to mention the administration of Iraq by the American Paul Bremer, and compare his management to the British administrators Jones and Manesty, or how Washington usurped London's role in its patronizing, extractive governance of Iraq.
As I write this, the Syrian civil war is spilling into Iraq, with Al-Qaeda resurgent into a 1300 year old Sunni-Shia conflict which is as violent as ever, with Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran engaging in a proxy war in Syria. It's easy to see this as a rehash of an earlier conflict when puritanical Wahhabis out of the Arabian peninsula took control of Baghdad in the early 19th century, and found themselves between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shiite Persians. Another Santayana cliche seems appropriate here, that only the dead have seen the end to war, which apparently is a bloody axiom of life in Mesopotamia.
Read
November 7, 2019This book is dense, packed full of information, opinions, facts, and horror stories. The discussion of so many broken promises, so much backstabbing, so many conflicts and so much deceit with regard to Mesopotamia made the story hard for me to follow. I came away with an appreciation of the long history of outsiders using the region and a better understanding of the evolution of religious influences.
This book demands a lot of attention to read.
This book demands a lot of attention to read.
July 1, 2025
Please do not be deceived by this hack job of a book. The 'author' is a journalist not a historian. He used a large number of "volunteers" to seek out and select pieces of information from, no doubt impeccable sources, to stitch together this not entirely convincing tripe. Unfortunately, if you have any real knowledge of parts of the history he alludes to, you will throw up your hands in frustration. It is a trial to read as it clearly has an agenda which is not the honest telling of any story. I'd categorize this as book as semi-fiction. A confection. A patchwork of worn out old tropes. A missed opportunity or a deliberate con? You decide.
September 6, 2025
An incredibly informative read about the History of this region. If you ever wanted to know about the History of Oil in the Arab world, from the Stone Age until the Iraq War, this book will tell you all about it. Black also shines a light on the various atrocities and genocides that have taken place throughout History in this part of the World. At times hard to read, it’s a good book to help understand how we got to now.
April 19, 2023
The book documents the many ways Iraq's recent history mirrors its tumultuous past. Mesopotamia-the ancient land comprising Mosul,Baghdad,Basra,Najaf- from the annihilation of Baghdad by the Mongol horde in 1258 to the lightning charge of American battle tanks in 2003,Ottoman Empire, the tragic history of the 2500 years, Jews, Saddam Hussein - makes for tragic reading.
December 4, 2008
depressing as hell but SO interesting
November 18, 2009
Absolutely excellent historical perspective of issues in the mid East.Discusses Mesopotamia, 13 century Mongol invasions and everything up to today's war. Excellent AND interesting.
Read
February 17, 2010A must-read for anyone trying to figure out what is happening in Iraq.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews