of two brothers and best friends: from growing up in Iraq under a tyrant regime, to trying to date girls in an ultraconservative society, to the moment when the U.S. Armed Forces set foot in Iraq and change their lives forever.
Stubborn, loyal, and with a reckless belief in his own invincibility, Mohammed is one of the U.S. Forces’ top interpreters, volunteering for dangerous missions with everyone from the Navy Seals to the Green Berets. He earns the ironic nickname “Saint” while protecting street children one minute and weaving a destructive path of jilted lovers the next.
However, when insurgents label him a traitor and post his picture in mosques throughout the city, Mohammed rises to the top of Baghdad’s most wanted. From narrowly avoiding being kidnapped by his best friend to finding himself in the desert with a knife to his neck, Mohammed is simply too stubborn to die.
Kadhim is in medical school when the U.S. Forces come to Baghdad in 2003. He believes this to be Iraq’s chance for a free and democratic society, and is shocked as he watches friends and classmates – including his own girlfriend – become increasingly polarized as the country turns to war.
He starts a surgical residency at Baghdad’s largest hospital, only to discover that his workplace is overrun by a brutal Shiite militia, corruption, and a certain number of amorous female patients. While doctors and staff flee, Kadhim remains, conducting triage at gunpoint, facing threats from corrupt staff, and trying to save his patients from being kidnapped from their hospital beds. As circumstances escalate, he realizes that soon he must either give up everything he ever loved… or join the dark side.
In a world where “boy scout” groups groom twelve year-olds for the dictator’s special forces, Mohammed and Kadhim struggle to feign a love for Saddam and his Ba’ath regime. That is, until April of 2003, when the U.S. Armed Forces land in Iraq.
The Brothers of Baghdad is the true story of two Iraqi brothers becoming unintentional heroes in the midst of the Iraq war. Full of humorous anecdotes and heart-stopping action, it is one of the first nonfiction narratives to show the war from the Iraqi perspective.