Understanding Iraq

Literature is most direct way I know to experience another life. Before we bomb the country to smithereens, I'd like to understand some things about Iraq, but I haven't found much to help me. From a one-page website on Iraq Arts and Culture: "Dhu al-Nun (b. 1918) is considered a pioneer of modern Iraqi fiction. His novel Al-Duktur Ibrahim is an Iraqi classic. Other well-known writers are poets Muhammad Mehdi El Jawahiri, Wafaa' Abdul Razak and Lamia Abbas Amara." That's good to know, but are these works available anywhere in English? So far the only Iraqi fiction I've located is an anthology, Nancy E. Berg (ed.),�1996, Exile from Exile: Israeli Writers from Iraq. Recommendations welcome--please hit the "Contact" link to the left.