"While I especially wish I had read this book before I went to Iraq, I am glad to have been able to read it after I came home. Some other well-meaning American is there now, no doubt meeting some of the same questions, ignorant of the other Americans who walked those same streets. I hope he gets the chance to read Jason Whiteley’s book."—Peter Van Buren, wemeantwell.com
"Father of Money is a hugely enjoyable read, a profoundly honest and powerful memoir by a U.S. Army officer forced to negotiate the moral abyss that was Iraq in 2004. Further, it is a searing analysis of the institutional blunders and foolhardy policies that characterized Bush and Rumsfeld’s invasion and their devastating impact on brave men and women who went to Iraq to serve their country. Whiteley’s courage in writing this book is inspiring."—Tom Roberts, director, A Company of Soldiers, PBS Frontline
"Father of Money tells the story of the Iraq war as it actually happened. Far from a tale of duty, honor, god, and country, Jason's year in Iraq was filled with moral ambiguity, and fraught with fragile loyalties and progress that was frustratingly ephemeral. He documents the momentous challenges of the U.S. occupation from the ground level, the brotherhood of war, and the imperfect compromises that marked the intersection of the U.S. government and Iraqi culture."—Garrett M. Graff, author of The Threat Matrix: The FBI at War in the Age of Global Terror
“After serving two year-long tours in Baghdad, including four months with Jason Whiteley in Al Dora in 2004, I can tell you that Father of Money is a riveting book that accurately describes what it was like trying to establish local governance after the invasion of Iraq. It was innovative junior officers like Captain Whiteley who first realized that ‘money is a weapon system’ that buys protection for U.S. troops, allegiance from local power brokers, and has the potential to douse the flames—albeit tragically only for a short period in this case—of ethnic violence and civil war. I strongly recommend this book to all junior and mid-level officers in preparation for future deployments where the army will likely be asked again to help establish local governance and jump-start the local economy.”—Lt. Col. David T. Seigel, USA (Ret.), professor, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College