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mubeenirfan's review
5.0
We have all heard of the Iraq war and how it has proved to be the mother of all modern terror in world. Their are numerous books which debate this thesis, this book isn't one of them.
Jon Lee is a veteran journalist who has done something different than debating the pros and cons of American invasion of Iraq. He has written a memoir about the city itself, the city of Baghdad, which is also the birthplace of human civilization. The writer was in and out of Baghdad before, during and after the invasion of Iraq and has written down a memoir of what the city went through as the shadows of war were looming large on the city and when those dark clouds actually descended on the city.
I am sure we all know about WMDs that weren't there. Again, the writer doesn't talk about those WMDS because that would have meant arguing the merits of this was which he is shying away from, rightly so. His time in Baghdad was with an average Baghdadi resident who hated Saddam due to torture inflicted on him or his family by Saddam and as part of his job he also sat in the drawing rooms of people close to regime, the Baath party members and ministers. He saw war from their perspective. Reading the book you feel how a superpower like USA could be so naive to think that ordinary Iraqis would stand up to welcome them for giving them freedom. It almost felt like that there was no groundwork to war.
If I were to put it in a nutshell: Iraqis wanted Saddam out but they didn't want the Americans in. Someone should have put on the drawing board how to achieve that but that's an ideal world and we aren't living in one.
This is an absolutely amazing book and one which I came across by chance. Full 5 stars.
Jon Lee is a veteran journalist who has done something different than debating the pros and cons of American invasion of Iraq. He has written a memoir about the city itself, the city of Baghdad, which is also the birthplace of human civilization. The writer was in and out of Baghdad before, during and after the invasion of Iraq and has written down a memoir of what the city went through as the shadows of war were looming large on the city and when those dark clouds actually descended on the city.
I am sure we all know about WMDs that weren't there. Again, the writer doesn't talk about those WMDS because that would have meant arguing the merits of this was which he is shying away from, rightly so. His time in Baghdad was with an average Baghdadi resident who hated Saddam due to torture inflicted on him or his family by Saddam and as part of his job he also sat in the drawing rooms of people close to regime, the Baath party members and ministers. He saw war from their perspective. Reading the book you feel how a superpower like USA could be so naive to think that ordinary Iraqis would stand up to welcome them for giving them freedom. It almost felt like that there was no groundwork to war.
If I were to put it in a nutshell: Iraqis wanted Saddam out but they didn't want the Americans in. Someone should have put on the drawing board how to achieve that but that's an ideal world and we aren't living in one.
This is an absolutely amazing book and one which I came across by chance. Full 5 stars.
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