Iraq, The Last Day of the War by John Hinman

About the book

During a pre-war summer, an Iraqi boy is shot and his father's tongue cut out. In a neighboring family who witness this, one child had turned in the victim's name to the secret police, whereas another had been secretly spying with him. Family interactions reveal a wide spread in attitudes toward the government and toward the directives of their Muslim religion.

For an American family, during a comparable time period, summer adventures include a road rage incident, varied performance at an annual softball challenge, and a falling death of a close friend. Variations in attitude, proficiency, and role models lead the children in separate directions.

Onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom finds the Iraqi children grown with one a radical in the Fedayeen, another a moderate in the Republican Guard, a third an operative in Central Intelligence, and a fourth seeking escape to England for a career in medical research. The American family finds one in humanitarian work for the UN, one a marine recruit, one a career soldier in Special Forces, and one a peace shield headed for Iraq.

The war brings a series of skirmishes in which the families interact. Several ambushes, a shoot-out in front of an orphanage, capture of the UN worker, encounter with human shields at a Day Care Center, a suicide bomber, deceptive appearances, an ongoing romance in a desert encounter, and conflicting goals complicate the lives of the characters. Major action centers around the attempt to use or block use of bacteriologic agents hidden beneath a hospital.

The day following completion of the above action finds the city of Baghdad fallen. The two protagonists, one from each family, work in the chaos of a disorganized city and overwhelmed facilities. They struggle to find the missing, arrange care for the dead and injured, plan for the future, and face their own character weaknesses, the absence of which could have results in major changes in all their lives.

Some months later, two with major injuries have reestablished their lives. The former Republican Guard member is now a diplomat to England, where he manages an exciting escape from an assassination attempt. The two protagonists meet in a recovery project in Iraq, fall in love, and schedule their wedding. The event will unite the two families, bringing together several who worked together, as well as the two involved in the desert romance-all of whom had become lost from one another to follow-up. It will also permit adoption of an orphan who had been semi-adopted by the girl acting as a peace-shield, she having been killed in the orphanage shoot-out.

About the author

John Hinman was born and raised in Newman Grove, Nebraska. Prior to receiving an MD degree at the University of Nebraska, he completed an MS degree and briefly taught physiology and performed research at the school. From there, he went directly into the navy, and later held several field medicine positions for the marines. He followed this with thirty-five years practicing family medicine in Longmont, Colorado.

Earlier written works include organizational manuals for Longmont United Hospital, and patient handbooks for office use. He is the author of a published book, The Making of a Doctor; and is co-author for an article published in The Physiologist which lists findings noted of action potential changes associated with muscular dystrophy.

An area of particular interest during medical practice was personality and character development, focusing on the factors shaping individual patterns, and the lifetime roles which tended to follow. Following his retirement, this interest has shifted to writing: to constructing characters whose personality developments lead them to varying performance in the roles into which life throws them.

He and his wife live in Colorado. They enjoy the mountains, music, books, friends, and their family. Three married children with their husband and wives have provided eight grandchildren whose activities and development are a joy in which to share.