Library

Sections of This Guide News-American Sources News-International Sources Periodicals Books, Videos & Gov’t. Documents Think Tanks/Research Papers Background on Iraq & Maps Key Documents Comprehensive Web Sites Questions/Further Assistanc

Related campus resources: World Affairs Crisis Resources Prof. Dov Waxman’s Sources Intellectual Freedom Project Forums on the War

Library staff have selected and compiled for the Bowdoin community the following list of information resources about the war in Iraq. Our intent is to support informed scholarly discourse on campus, as well as to foster individual understanding of this war.

Note: Items with an asterisk (*) require a Bowdoin ID for off-campus access.

News Coverage – American Sources

These library databases are good sources for current and retrospective news coverage:

• LexisNexis-Academic*
  Local, regional, and national newspaper & newswire coverage; transcripts from ABC, CBS, CNN, National Public Radio, The NewsHour and more; full text.

• ProQuest Newspapers*
  Regional and national newspaper coverage; mostly full text.

• Wall Street Journal
  Full text coverage from 1986-

Special news coverage also is available from these Web sites:

• New York Times (requires free registration)

  http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/worldspecial/

• Washington Post

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/iraq/

• CNN

  http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/Iraq/index.html

• National Public Radio

  http://www.npr.org/news/specials/iraq2003/index.html

• Yahoo! News
  http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=World&cat=IraqA collection of articles from a variety of sources.

News Coverage – International Sources

For a different perspective, consider following the news from another country:

• LexisNexis-Academic*
  International newspaper & newswire coverage; full text.

• World News Connection*
  Full text of foreign news broadcasts and press releases translated into English beginning November 1994.
• BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation)

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2002/conflict_with_iraq/default.stm

• CBC News (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

  http://www.cbc.ca/news/Iraq/

• Yahoo! News & Media By Country
  http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/By_Region/Countries/Media outlets listed by country.

Periodical Indexing and Abstracting Services

These Library databases won’t necessarily bring you up-to-the-minute articles on the war but are excellent for scholarly research into political, economic, and social issues in Iraq and U.S.-Iraq relations. For databases without full text, use the Find Journals tool to determine if the Library has the full text in another source; if not, use Interlibrary Loan.

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts*
  Covers periodicals from around the world since 1975; political science, international relations, law and public administration; abstracts only, no full text

• PAIS International*
  Articles, books and government documents (including the U.N.) since 1972; no full text.
  Paper version (Main Library, Index Section) of PAIS covers 1915-1994.

• Academic Search Premier*
  Multidisciplinary database that covers popular magazines and scholarly journals; many full text articles.

Books, Videos & Government Documents in the Bowdoin College Library

For books, videos, and government documents (1999+) in the Library, please use the Catalog. For government documents prior to 1999, use Government Documents Monthly Catalog.

Subject searching in the Library’s catalog produces a focused list of sources on a topic. Consider using the following subject headings:

• United States–Foreign Relations–Iraq
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Persian Gulf War of 1991
• Iraq–Foreign Relations
• Disarmament
• Iraq–History
• Iraq (this link will place you at the beginning of a browsable list of all subject headings on Iraq)

A keyword search is more random but often can be productive. Try some of the following suggestions:

• Iraq and sanctions
• Iraq and terrorism
• (Iraq or hussein) and (weapons or arms)

To limit a subject or keyword search to videos in the catalog, use the “Limit/Sort” or “Modify” function.

Think Tanks/Research Papers

• CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online*
  Collection of working papers, conference proceedings, journals and books since 1991. See the special section on U.S. policy and Iraq. Some full text.

• Iraq Research and Documentation Project (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University)

  http://fas-www.harvard.edu/~irdp/index.html

  “The Iraq Research and Documentation Project aims to create a comprehensive, accessible, computerized, multi-media database system about the government, politics and civil society of modern Iraq basing itself on such hitherto inaccessible sources of information.”–IRDP Information page

Here is a selection of research institutes and think tanks representing a variety of viewpoints:

• American Enterprise Institute http://www.aei.org/

• Brookings Institution

  http://www.brook.edu/default.htm

• Center for Defense Information

  http://www.cdi.org/

• Center for International and Strategic Studies

  http://www.csis.org/

• Council on Foreign Affairs

  http://www.foreignaffairs.org/

• Washington Institute for Near East Policy

  http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/

Iraq Background Country Reports/Maps

• Iraq: A Country Study (Library of Congress)
  http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/iqtoc.htmlOne of a series, these Dept. of the Army studies provide detailed coverage of many aspects of a country, e.g., history, transportation, economy, government.

• Background Notes: Iraq (US Dept. of State)

  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6804.htm

  Brief information on people, government, economy, defense, foreign relations.

• CIA World Factbook

  http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html

  Basic facts on the people, government, economy.

• Frontline: The Long Road to War (PBS)

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/longroad/

  Frontline chronicles twelve years of US confrontation with Saddam Hussein.

• Iraq-related reports from the Congressional Research Service (Dept. of State)

  http://fpc.state.gov/c7690.htm

• Iraq: Selected Internet Resources (Library of Congress)

  http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/amed/Iraq/iraq.html

  Thorough selection of Internet sources on Iraq’s government, culture, economy, education, history, religion and more.

Maps

• CIA Maps
  (Main Library, Gov’t. Ref. PrEx 3.10/4:)Variety of physical and political maps on Iraq and the region; available in different sizes.

• University of Texas Library
  Online maps of Iraq.

Key Documents

• Lexis/Nexis Congressional*
  Comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information, including The Congressional Record; full text.

• AccessUN*
  Documents from the six main bodies of the United Nations – General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, Secretariat and International Court of Justice; full-text is included for some.

• Congressional Action on Iraq 1990-2002: A Compilation of Legislation (Congressional Research Service)

  http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/17330.pdf

• Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (US Public Law 107-243)

  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:H.J.RES.114:

• United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 (November 8, 2002)

  http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/RES/1441(2002)

• United Nations Security Council Draft Resolution (March 7, 2003)

  http://www.un.org/News/dh/Iraq/res-iraq-07mar03-en-rev.pdf

  Second resolution proposed by the United States, United Kingdom and Spain. It was announced on March 17 that the three countries would not pursue a vote on the resolution.

• United Nations: The Situation in Iraq

  http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=50&Body=Iraq&Body1=inspect

  Compilation of U.N. briefings, statements, humanitarian efforts, key developments and related stories.

• United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)

  http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/

  UNMOVIC is the U.N.’s inspection team in Iraq.

• Statements by US officials:

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents

  http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html

  Full text of Presidential executive orders, speeches, press conferences.

• The White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/
  Press briefings, speeches and initiatives of the Bush administration.

• Department of State’s Iraq Country Page http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c3212.htm
  Press briefings, speeches, policies, Sec. Powell’s address to the UN Security Council.

• Department of Defense

Comprehensive Sites

These sites served as sources for this page and are excellent places for continued research.

• University of Michigan Documents Center

  http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/iraqwar.html

• University of Windsor–Leddy Library (Ontario, Canada)

  http://athena.uwindsor.ca/units/leddy/2002.nsf/HelpSubjectGuidesIraq2003

• City College of New York Libraries

  http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/library/Divisions/Government/iraqbib.html

• Eastern Carolina University–Joyner Library

  http://www.lib.ecu.edu/govdoc/iraq.html

• University of Buffalo Libraries

  http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/law/guides_handouts/Iraq.html

• Librarians’ Index to the Internet–Iraq Page

  http://lii.org/search/warandpeace

• Globalsecurity.org

  http://www.globalsecurity.org

• Middle Eastern Network Information Center (MENIC)-Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

  http://menic.utexas.edu/menic/iraqcrisis.html

Questions & Further Assistance

Please call the Library’s reference desk at 725-3227 or visit our Ask A Reference Librarian page.