Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40540 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
By no means the first Saddam book and certainly not the last, but this is John Simpson, the BBC's World Affair's Editor, and it's a safe bet that of all the Saddam books past, present and forthcoming this will be one of the better reads. He's urbane, wears his learning lightly and writes in much the same way as he delivers copy to camera, which is to say clearly, engagingly, and with just the right number of rhetorical flourishes. There can be a problem with books about contemporary history. Sometimes they lack historical perspective. A broader context can be missing due to limited access to official documents. And there are a lot of them about. But John Simpson was there at the fall of Saddam, has the shrapnel wounds to prove it, and, like any good correspondent, can always be relied on to tell it like it was.

This is a moving personal account of the two wars against Saddam Hussein. John Simpson, who has been covering Sadam's Iraq for more than twenty years, here combines his extraordinary emotional courage with journalistic mastery to tell the story of this dictator and his people as well as providing an overview of Iraq's recent history, its relationship with the Arab world and the West. The book also reveals fascinating details about Sadam's complex relationship with his family, close associates, journalists, including himself, and the public. As well as providing a detailed coverage of both Gulf Wars, Simpson tackles the controversy surrounding the supposed Iraq's threat posed to international peace and security. Injured in Northern Iraq in April, Simpson is unafraid to convey not only facts but also his sorrow and guilt for the colleagues he lost there, including the translator Kamaran. Displaying his superb knowledge of the subject, and an excellent narrative, he gives us a read impossible to put down.(Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
'You can't really argue with much that John Simpson says - there is no foreign correspondent left on TV who has a fraction of his recognition and his credibility, a fact which may be unfair on the others, but happens to be true.' That was Simon Hoggart reviewing Simpson's devastating Panorama profile of Saddam Hussein, broadcast in early November 2002. This riveting, important and timely new book is the summation of more than twenty years covering Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The War Against Saddam offers, in five acts, the full story of his rise to power and the West's relationship with Saddam throughout his dictatorship. The fifth act will draw on Simpson's first-hand experience of the 2003 war in Iraq, in what will a major work of serious reportage and essential reading for us all.

Customer Reviews

Getting out of hand ?
As a fan of John Simpson, I couldn't help thinking on reading this book that it's all getting out of hand.

His television programme "Simpson's World' has become a self-publicising parody and this book rather follows that. There are much better books on Iraq - a country I know reasonably well - and through spotting the mistakes in this one, I rather wonder about some of his accounts of other places.

A knight in shining armour
John Simpson is like a knight in shining armour. He travels the world sharing his wisdom and wit with lesser mortals and then gets his team of researchers to write it all up in books. The BBC then advertises the books through a television advert called "Simpson's World'. Gullible readers who know nothing about, say Iraq, then buy the book and think they're reading something of great importance and that it shows how wonderful the BBC is.

The wars against Saddam....
A riveting read. Since I have read most of of John Simpson`s books I was not sure what new material will be in this book. I need not not have worried.There are chapters upon chapters on facts which are not known outside the war theatre.
The most touching part is the insight into his own feelings,anger and pain while covering this war. This is something John does well.I fell in love with John the journalist and John the person after reading his first book Strange places ;questionable people. He wrote so vividly about his childhood,his growing pains with utter honesty.He has done that again,his mistakes ,anger and hurt are touchingly explained.he is eloquent ,honest and an mazing writer and broadcastor. More power to your pen is all i can say!