Iraq-written book on war mixes myths/rumors

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...aq_pages_of_war

 

Iraqi Book on War Mixes Myth, Rumors

Mon Jun 9, 1:58 AM ET 

 

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Americans dropped a "tactical nuclear bomb" on Iraqi forces. Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) made a final radio broadcast hours after Baghdad fell, pausing three times to stop himself from breaking down on the air. And casualties among U.S.-led coalition forces? Twenty thousand dead.

 

 

Iraq (news - web sites)'s first homegrown book about the war that changed it forever is a 124-page hodgepodge of anti-American tirades and wartime rumors.

 

 

"Under the Ashes of the Stormy War," by Islamic author Alaa el-din al-Mudaris, also feeds the web of myths on the whereabouts and actions of Saddam during the crucial days before and after Baghdad's fall at U.S. hands on April 9.

 

 

"It's like a literary epic," al-Mudaris said in an interview in his office on the storied al-Motanabi street in Baghdad's old quarter.

 

 

"Some things in the book may not be true and the chronological order of events may not be 100 percent correct," he said, "but the book's aim is to restore confidence to Iraqis — to tell them, `You've fought courageously.'"

 

 

Hurriedly written and highly emotional, his book neither provides a remotely reliable account of battlefield hostilities nor captures the trauma of life in Iraq during the war.

 

 

Instead, it repeats much of the anti-American rhetoric of Saddam's toppled regime and highlights what the author sees as the battlefield valor of ordinary Iraqis and the Arab volunteers who joined them to try and defend Baghdad.

 

 

It also projects a sense of confusion felt by many in a postwar Iraq coming to terms with the conflict and coping with an enduring power vacuum.

 

 

Iraqis, al-Mudaris writes, "stand today on the threshold of an unknown tomorrow, a tomorrow in which they only recognize the face of occupation and loss of sovereignty."

 

 

Al-Mudaris' claim that U.S. forces dropped a "tactical nuclear weapon" or a "microwave bomb" on Baghdad's airport, pulverizing thousands of Iraqi troops, mirrors a rumor that circulated in the Iraqi capital during the war.

 

 

His claim that Saddam used an FM radio frequency to deliver a final address to the Iraqi people the night of Baghdad's fall was the subject of unconfirmed reports that spread at the time.

 

 

Al-Mudaris said Saddam sounded like a broken man in his address, speaking of betrayal by the army and the ruling Baath party. "I think he was trying to stop himself from breaking down and crying while on the air," al-Mudaris said.

 

 

Al-Mudaris acknowledges that "Under the Ashes of the Stormy War" is not the fruit of painstaking research or a thorough examination of events; after all, he wrote it in two weeks. Instead, he says, it is a reflection of how the war is perceived by ordinary Iraqis.

 

 

It seems to be working. By Iraqi standards, the book is flying off the shelves.

 

 

"It's a bestseller for me right now," said Mohammed Abu Bakr, owner of a Baghdad book stall.

 

 

Not many in Iraq, a nation of 24 million reduced to poverty by 13 years of U.N. sanctions, can afford to buy books. Finding out about new ones is often the result of browsing on al-Motanabi street, Baghdad's main book market, or through word of mouth.

 

 

"Under The Ashes of a Stormy War," which sells for $1, came out May 13 in a limited first edition of 1,000 copies. It was published by the Al-Rageem publishing house in Baghdad and funded by the author. A second edition came out this month, and at least 4,000 of the 6,000 printed copies had been sold by the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

"My book is like the spiritual climax of a mystic," said al-Mudaris, who has authored 42 mostly religious and short books. "I was a witness to the tragedy of Saddam's overthrow, the tragedy of Baghdad's fall and the tragedy of the looting and thefts that followed. These are things that agitated me mentally."

 

A father of five and a fundamentalist, al-Mudaris shares many Iraqis' conviction that the war was not about democratic rule or ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, but about the country's vast oil wealth.

 

The U.S.-led occupation, he wrote, "replaced the darkness of oppression and tyranny with the darkness of colonialism."

 

Al-Mudaris, detained for seven months in 1995 for illegally dealing in U.S. dollars, is somewhat ambivalent about Saddam's legacy. He shifts from outright condemnation to almost apologizing for his deposed leader's excesses.

 

He portrays Saddam as both a tyrant and a courageous man who personally took part in defending Baghdad after he was betrayed by his army and Baath fighters.

 

In an imaginary dialogue between the ousted Iraqi leader and "the people of Iraq," the author seems to even offer some justification for Saddam's excesses during his 23-year rule.

 

In the dialogue, Saddam is asked why he chose to be a dictator. In response, he cites the assassinations and bouts of violence that plagued Iraqi politics for much of the last century.

 

"It was not easy to govern a rebellious people like the Iraqis," Saddam says in the dialogue. "Absolute, one-man rule to impose control was necessary."

 

Ooooook....

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Hilarious. I lost track of the number of internal contradictions alone.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

If an English language version is put out, will the FBI still swoop down on us if we got some copies as a 'fiction' book.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

<g> No.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

No different than the sort of garbage published by the tabloid/gutter press in North America, which explains why it's selling well. No matter what culture they are from, there is always money to be made by pandering to the lowest common denominator.