Mark Braswell, retired academic who taught at Baghdad University's Law College in the 1960s, returns to help Iraq's Ministry of Justice reestablish the secular court system. Met by long-time Iraqi friends, he arrives in the bomb-wracked city and is immediately embroiled in the daily car bombings, IEDs and insurgent killings. Reconnecting with Baghdad friends, he is embroiled in their continuing suffering as civil war divides or exiles them and destroys the Baghdad he knew. The novel provides a close-up view of the Iraq war and the cultural and poilitical naivete that has led to this American dilemma. The author spent nineteen years in the Middle East, five in Baghdad, and many more working with the area as executive of an educational services organization. Three earlier novels, BURIAL IN BEIRUT, RAJA'OUN, and LUKEWARM are also available at Amazon.