The Fist of God (Hardcover)

Frederick Forsyth is a masterful plotter. In this case, he has woven a story that unusual complexity with delicate balance of perspectives using real details. I remember reading about everything mentioned in this book in some press report related to the Gulf War against the Iraqis after the invasion of Kuwait. The plot is so well done that it will add new depths to your understanding of the political considerations that played such a large role in the Gulf War. If government studies were written as interestingly as this novel is, all college students would be government majors. There is fascinating technology in the story, but the novel is reined in by large doses of realism that make the material more interesting for its relevance.

If you are like me, you have often wondered about the following questions:

(1) Why did Saddam Hussein survive the successful prosecution of the war by the allies?

(2) How might target planners determine where weapons of mass destruction were being developed and housed?

(3) Why did Saddam Hussein prepare so poorly for the U.S.-led attack?

(4) Why did the Iraqis stop with Kuwait, when the more attractive target of Saudi Arabia lay just ahead essentially undefended?

Mr. Forsyth offers a number of plausible and interesting possible answers to these and other questions you surely have had and may still have.

To me, the drawback of a Forsyth novel is that they can become bogged down in too much detail. Foreign names can also quickly cause the eyes to glaze over as well. You will be pleased to know that this abridgement (approved by Mr. Forsyth) overcomes both of those potential problems. The elegant plot is tautly maintained, and moves along rapidly. Mr. Jones takes all of the tongue-twisting, unfamilar names and pronounces them in accented ways that capture the lyricism inherent in the various Middle Eastern and European cultures displayed here.

I have only one complaint. Unfortunately, Mr. Jones chose to characterize many Americans as "cowboys" so those characters' raw, harsh accents will be the least attractive to listen to for you.

Some of the most interesting aspects of the book for me included Major Mike Morgan's (of Britain's Special Air Service) operations behind enemy lines in Kuwait and Iran, the psychology of the inner council that served Saddam Hussein, the complicity of Western sources in making dangerous weapons available to the Iraqis, the methods by which many different types of intelligence sources can be used to build a composite picture of an issue, the morality of trying to save lives in combat, and the political agendas of the Americans. Israelis will find the operations of the Mossad described in ways that are highly complimentary about that country's intelligence operations.

One of the really intriguing thoughts you will have after reading this book is what secrets are still being kept about American intentions towards Iraq.

After you finish enjoying hearing this book read to you, I suggest that you find a veteran of the Gulf War who feels comfortable taling about it, and ask what her or his impressions are of what happened there. Although most of us watched this nightly on CNN, we have perhaps become too distanced from the fundamental horrors of war. This will be a good way to be sure that we learn the lessons that should be learned from this experience, and also honor those who served the world in the desert.

May the fist of God always be relaxed into the open hand of God's peace.

This story works very well at two levels - a high level conflict and various individual conflicts. The high level conflict involves Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the build-up to the Gulf War and the decisions being made by President Bush Sr. and Margaret Thatcher and the CIA and the British MI6. This conflict is very exciting, even though we know the final result: a coalition victory and Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait.

The individual conflicts consist of the fights between the various good guys and the Iraqi soldiers and agents of the Iraqi secret service and Iraqi counter-intelligence. There are also some Israeli Mossad agents involved just to make things more complicated.

At the individual conflicts level the main good guy is Mike Martins, a British SAS soldier who is recruited by MI6 and who is inserted into occupied Kuwait and later into Baghdad. Mike Martins' adventures are certainly exciting enough, but it seems too contrived that the same hero gets sent on three different missions. In particular, pulling Mike Martins out of Kuwait to send him to Baghdad has the negative effect of making the Kuwait operation seem unimportant. Similarly, his escape from Baghdad just at the time when someone is needed for a third mission is too big a coincidence.

The basic story involves the British discovering that Saddam Hussein has some kind of secret weapon, code-named "The Fist of God". So then the British (and Americans) have to determine exactly what kind of weapon it is, and where it's located. The story is a bit farfetched, but not totally implausible, so it's easy to get involved and feel a desire to keep reading to find out what's going to happen next.

One thing I liked a lot was that certain historical facts are mixed into the story, although perhaps not in a completely accurate way. For example, the Canadian weapons expert Dr. Gerry Bull and his death in Brussels in the spring of 1990 are woven into the story. Similarly, the Manhattan Project (the American nuclear weapons effort during WW II) and the Oak Ridge laboratory play a role in the story, and I found the information presented to be very interesting.

Among the things I wasn't so happy about was the emphasis on the British involvement in the Gulf War. Yes, the British did play a significant role, but still the Gulf War was basically an American show. But to hear Frederick Forsyth tell it you'd almost think the Americans couldn't have gotten anywhere without the British, and he even has a scene where Margaret Thatcher tells President Bush to pull himself together and do something about Saddam Hussein!

Another negative aspect is the description of the third mission that the hero, Mike Martins, is sent on in chapter 22, the second-last chapter of the book. Frederick Forsyth tells about this operation in such a dry and factual style that it's almost like reading a telephone directory. I definitely got the feeling that Mr. Forsyth had gotten tired and just wanted to wrap up the story.

Still, I liked "The Fist of God" a lot, and recommend it, especially if you're interested in a fairly modern thriller interwoven with a major real-life conflict.

Rennie Petersen