This semester I'm taking a political science seminar entitled "Failed States and State-building" from a professor who was part of UNOSOM in 92-93, and we're tasked with writing a paper 30-50 pages in length. Our focus is on transitional government, including significant sections of our papers devoted to conflict analysis, assessment of the role of the international community and the transition itself, et cetera. After the success I had in my Insurgencies/Counterinsurgencies seminar last semester with my paper on COIN strategy in Iraq, I figured I would dive back into the Mesopotamian morass, this time with a perspective that is decidedly less military-oriented.

So here's my appeal: if anyone on the forum has any experience, either with the military or with civilian agencies or NGOs, dealing with Iraq's transitional government, I would absolutely love your input, and I'd be more than happy to cite you in my paper. I know the members of the forum are full of connections, so if you have no personal experience but you have a legitimate contact who has worked in this field, I'd appreciate if you could put me in touch with them.

If you are aware of any reports, articles, books, editorials, or other credible sources that you believe are particularly relevant to my research topic, I'd sincerely appreciate it if you could let me know about them. I'm about to start scouring JSTOR, LexisNexis, WORLDCAT, et cetera, for sources, and I'm currently about halfway through Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City after finishing Thomas Ricks's Fiasco two weeks ago, so I'm going to be compiling a mountain of research material for me to sift through in the coming months, and I'd like it if anyone on the forum could either add more to it or, even better, tell me what works best/worst so I can lighten my burdens a little.

Thanks!