Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers

Myers takes the reader into Iraq (not long before Saddam is taken down as the leader) and shows what it's really like to be at war. The language is sometimes strong, but the quality of story makes this a book I would highly recommend to even my junior high school students. It also allows the reader to consider the thoughts of those on the other side.

Probably the best statement I've ever heard concerning the continuation of war there comes on page 224 where a U.S. Major is talking with a sheik and the sheik says:

"Sir, the war you began is over. That war you won. It was not beautiful in the end—there were no violins, no birds singing in the sky—but it is over. What is going on now is a completely different war. In this war you merely stand on the side and hold the coats. This war is not about you or America. You are trying to stabilize a government in Baghdad. But there are others who are creating—how do the English put it? A shadow government? And which government in the end will rule the Middle East is the new war. Look around you; it is my people who are being killed in the streets of Baghdad and Fallujah. Yes, yes, I know. They kill one or two Americans to make it look good is all."

Think about it.