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Title: Out of the Ashes : The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein by Andrew Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn ISBN: 0-06-092983-9 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.19 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Do we even have a policy?
Comment: It is hard to imagine how a better book on the subject of Iraq since the Gulf War could be written. Andrew Cockburn - based in Washington, DC and Patrick - based in Jerusalem - are able to make use of an incredible assortment of inside sources to take us step-by-step through the US's (in most cases the CIA's) disastrous non-strategy of the past decade. Illogical and inconsistent policies, the betrayal of allies, lost opportunities, a continued failure to support viable oppostion movements - it's all here, crisply narrated.
What really sets this book apart is the authors' astounding ability to elicit surreal humor from the most evil of situations - for example a first-hand account of Saddam's murdurous son Uday (who is also Chair of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, which has its own prison) discussing with his very fat and very drunk Armenian tailor (known as 'the philosopher') the relative merits of Liberace and Engelbert Humperdinck.
I read this book this weekend at a single sitting, and I am proud to add it to my extensive library of Middle East policy studies. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Rating: 5
Summary: In the end, there is only Hope
Comment: To paraphrase the philosopher Walter Benjamin, 'hope was given to us precisely for the sake of the hopeless.' I recall here Benjamin's brilliant apercu because there might not be another people so utterly lacking in hope and so desperately in need of the consolations and opportunities provided by such hope as the Iraqis. These people have been fated to suffer not only the murderous clan led by Saddam Hussein but also the scheming and witless 'help' of their morally defective 'protector,' the United States. This conclusion is given ample support by Andrew and Patrick Cockburn's fine book on Saddam Hussein's Iraq, 'Out of the Ashes.'
The authors cover all of the relevant topics, including: The sanctions regime and the dreadful effects the regime has had on most Iraqis. The British creation of Iraq and its Monarch. The rise of Iraq's Baath party and Saddam Hussein. The mindlessness of Iraqi nationalism as represented by the Baath party. The nature and extent of Iraq's police state. Gulf war I and the many American betrayals of the Iraqi people. Hussein's pursuit and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Palace politics in Baghdad and Washington. The vicious fools at Langley, with their telling preference for dictators and military men.
It all makes for a dreary read, although the authors cannot be faulted for this since they keep the story moving along with clear prose and adequate organization. It's the story they tell. At the very least a million Iraqis have died because of the Baath party and Saddam Hussein. Many more will die because of Gulf War II. There was nothing inevitable about the catastrophe just as Gulf War II will be the product of the ill-formed men and women willing it into being.
The Cockburns end their book on a hopeful note by asserting that only the Iraqi people could effect the downfall of Saddam Hussein and Iraq's Baath party. But they published their book in 1999 and could not know that fate would again deal the Iraqis another disastrous hand with the election of George W. Bush to the presidency. Harboring the sinister men of The Project for the New American Century and using the horror veiling 9.11 as political cover, the Bush administration now seeks to transform the remnants of America's Cold War system of alliances, treaties and institutional commitments into a self'conscious and self'perpetuating imperium founded on the control of oil and an overwhelming military power. The coming war is merely a part of that grandiose effort. Given the sorry record of those now leading the country, it is also prudent to expect the American effort in Iraq to undermine any revolt of the Iraqis themselves just as Desert Storm ended with the United States enabling the Republican Guard to crush the rebellion that arose in the wake its victory. Neither democracy nor Iraqi sovereignty will be a war aim of the United States, notwithstanding Bush claims to the contrary.
But, then again, these are matters to be decided by the Iraqis themselves. The next war will only delay the just settling of accounts.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Hidden Gem
Comment: In the lead up to the latest Iraq war, there was no end to books and press on the weapons of mass destruction, terrorist links, and just how nasty Saddam was. In my opinion, the one area that was ignored or just not fully covered was the period of time between the two wars. This book fills a major part of that time gap. The authors give a concise and readable history of Saddam up to 1991, which is no small feat given the rather obscure political situation and tribal consideration of Middle East Politics or more accurately coup engineering. The book really focuses on three main areas, the effect of the UN economic sanctions on the general population of Iraqi, the way Saddam kept power and dealt with the Kurdish area, and the internal Saddam family relations.
The section on the sanctions is very eye opening. What is disappointing about the U.S. media is that for ten years conditions deteriorated daily in Iraq, yet the general U.S. public really did not have an idea of the conditions in Iraq. A policy that was put in place to punish and hopefully remove Saddam was in fact responsible for the misery and death of many of the population of Iraq. One can only assume that uninspired or lazy world leadership left a policy that did not work in place for so long. The one area that I would have been interested in would have been more coverage from the authors on the effect of the sanctions on the Iraqi military, but this interest is primarily driven by the events of the last year so it is not fair to ding the book for this. I also felt that at times the book dragged or became a bit dry, this is the reason I am not giving it a five star rating. Overall I enjoyed the book and found it covered new ground for me given the reading I have done over the last year on Iraq.
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Title: Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography by Efraim Karsh, Inari Rautsi ISBN: 0802139787 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Saddam Hussein by Said K. Aburish, Said Aburish ISBN: 0747549036 Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: Saddam: King of Terror by Con Coughlin ISBN: 0060505419 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict by Dilip Hiro ISBN: 0415904072 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 January, 1991 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic by Chalmers Johnson ISBN: 0805070044 Publisher: Metropolitan Books Pub. Date: 13 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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