Book Review

I struggled to finish Robert Fisk’s The Great War For Civilisation The Conquest of The Middle East thanks to the many and unrelenting tragic stories. Find out for yourself about bacon slicers, gas elements and bed frames on pulleys :( Hundreds of personal experiences, many humorous, reward the effort as does the historical background he provides on Turkey, Algeria, Iran and Iraq.

The book hints at hope for the region, not least from Fisk’s long term residence in Lebanon and his respect for things Arab, but dependant on a change of American attitude that wasn’t going to come from George. Glaring examples include comparisons of conduct in Iraq with Geneva Convention requirements eg failure to record Iraqi military casualties: dead were bulldozed into mass graves with no attempt at identification (this IDing was done even for dead German SS soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII). Fisk’s arguments around use of cluster and bunker busting bombs on civilian areas (civilians being 'protected persons' in the GC) are also fair as is questioning acceptable collateral damage to get bad guys like Saddam and his sons.

In my teens I read Leon Uris’ Israeli/Jewish perspective in Exodus and Mila18, and I visited Anne Franks house and Dachau in my 20s but never bothered to take much interest in the Arab side of the story. For this the book is essential reading to balance the apparent ’eye for an eye’ madness condemning the region.
Don't skip this ***** book.