The Wars Against Saddam: Taking the Hard Road to Baghdad
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Product Description
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 text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
'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'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
John Simpson seems to go to places now one else will go. He can talk himself out of the most dangerous situations, taking the reader on a journey through the hotspots of the world.
His journalism in this book is top class. He gives both sides of the story, we need that. Its nothing to do with being anti this or pro that, it is to do with the realism of situations. John Simpson describes Saddam with great clarity, his egotism, his cruelty, his want of being the next Nasser, leader of Arab Nations. It all came to nought with the power of American forces after September 11th.
John described how he and his crew had been bombed and the guilt of losing his translator. Reporting away from the embedded reporters was the only way he could report what he thought was going on. That it was dangerous being a free reporter in a war torn Iraq, and how many other reporters did not come back alive.
Thank goodness, he came back alive to tell us his thoughts and experiences.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What you must bear in mind when reading Simpson's book is not to confuse what he is writing with a historical assessment of events. To be fair he doesn't claim this to be the case. However when reading what he writes of current and not so current events it is easy to regard what he writes as hard fact. In the most case it probably is, however some of his statements appear affected by his well documented brush with death in Northern Iraq. Namely his stance that the American soldiers were more concerned with keeping themselves alive than protecting the lives of civilians. A statement open to interesting and lively debate one feels. However as with the rest of his books Simpson shows himself to be thoroughly informed, brave, and prepared to admit his errors. The last charateristic makes him eminently more believable.
The coverage of Hussain's rise to power and probable motivations are simply superb. That combined with extensive coverage of both Gulf Wars as well as detail on the now ignored Iran-Iraq war make this book fascinating and impossible to put down.
If you are looking for a dry historical review this is not it. But if you want an inside track and synopsis on the past 20 years in the middle east by the man who has been there and seen it all, this is it and is unlikely to be bettered.
The only reason I have not given five stars, is that one or two sections appeared poorly edited, a repetition of previously stated facts only a page or two before. Not enough to annoy, but enough to notice.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There have already been many books published about the Second Gulf War. Many of these have been written by people who were there and actually witnessed the events unfolding. Some were even written by those who witnessed the action. But how many of these people can claim to have have not only witnessed these events but fallen victim to them? How many can claim to have not only witnessed the events of the Second Gulf War but been in Baghdad during the First Gulf War and even witnessed the massacre by Chemical Ali at Halabjah during the Iran-Iraq war? There are obviously some but not many, and certainly not many with several decades of journalistic experience to recount on. John Simpson has. There's one thing witnessing an event from the sidelines but it's quite another thing to have actually been there and fall victim at that. Apart from giving a very interesting and authoritive history to Iraq and Saddam's regime of terror, John Simpson recounts in vivid and sometimes disturbing detail how he witnessed the gassing at Halabjah and was then gassed himself, how he stayed in Baghdad in 1991 when hundreds of journalists packed up and fled and, perhaps more emotionally, how an American missile struck him and his crew, wounding him and killing eighteen others, including his translator. Please buy this book. It will bring out a flood of emotions in you. Simpson describes his experiences so vividly and in such graphic detail you feel that you are actually there. Only the real feelings of pain from the torture caused by Saddam and the incompetence of trigger-happy the US Army are missing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A must read
This is the first book I have read by John Simpson. I was already a fan given his excellent reporting from across the world's trouble spots. I was not disappointed. Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Copping
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. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2005
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... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2005
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. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2004 by Mrs. Sabiha Ahmed
thorough and interesting
mr simpson reveals himself to be a pompous oaf here. he believes himself to be on a par with the world leaders of whom he writes. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2004
Is this the first draft of history?
The idea that John Simpson is at the "centre" of world affairs typifies what's gone wrong with so much journalism. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2004 by Mrad
The Wars Against Saddam
An exceptionally well written book! John Simpson really is becoming a British Institution, somebody for us to be proud of. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2004 by Paul White
great read: a must-buy
I have a shelf of all the Simpson books, he is a must-buy author. His books are informative and unputdownable (don't pick them up if you need an early night!). Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2004 by Gotothrottleup
Informed, balanced, devastating portrait of all the players
This is a superb read. Simpson's reputation preceeds him, of course. He has been (unfairly, I think) caricatured somewhat by the British media as an egocentric, self-serving star... Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2004 by Colm Doherty
Superbly balanced reporting on mankinds stupidity
John Simpson has the knack of reporting in the most balanced, often (not surprisingly), emotional way on a war in which he clearly takes no side. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2003 by Wim Wellinghoff
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