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'From as many perspectives as possible' The War We Could Not Stop The real story of the battle for Iraq  Edited by Randeep Ramesh Published by Faber and Faber Ltd. on behalf of the Guardian Newspaper Ltd., London, 2003 Pp. 303 AN AMERICAN sergeant who serves in Iraq wrote in a letter to his wife in the United States: “I am sorry that we lost a precious opportunity to prevent the war on Iraq that we had before it started. Now we are waiting for the Iraqi people to decide when they want to stop the war.” `The war we could not stop' discusses in detail and day by day the war on Iraq led by the United States and Britain. The book tries to explain why the war happened when it did and how it finishes. It was designed to tell the story from as many perspectives and places as possible. The book is based on the contribution of reporters who lived in Baghdad and the bordering countries during the war or travelled both “embedded” and as free agents with the coalition on ship and on land. There are also contributions from American reporters and Arabic speakers from around the region bringing different perspectives. The book is mainly the result of a collaborative effort by the Guardian and the Observer team of reporters and photographers who sought to explain the historical background to the war and the unanswered question. Alan Rushbridger, editor of the Guardian, writes that the book has been written without the benefit of either official papers or hindsight. “It is more than a simple slug of eyewitness history”. Ramesh writes in the book introduction that central to this book is the idea that the war of Iraq liberation was a “vehicle for advancing American interests. Some of these are undeniably noble: democracy and liberty were scarce commodities in Saddam's Iraq”. The book looks at the 12 years since the first Gulf War, of 1991, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Ramesh writes in an article titled “Crossroad in the desert” that critics argued that the first Gulf War was a golden missed chance to overthrow Saddam. “Why, when Schwarzkopf cut the Baghdad-Basra road (accompanied, ironically in the light of what happened in 2003, by French forces), did they not turn right, turning the screw on Basra? Why did they not turn left, and head for Baghdad, and unseat Saddam himself?” inquires the editor. In other article on the first casualty, Ramesh writes that the first confirmed casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom was neither Iraqi nor American nor even British. Ahmad Al Baz was a Jordanian taxi driver on the busy road from Baghdad to Amman. The book comprises photos of civilians injured or killed during the war, in addition to others showing demonstrators protesting the war in America, Britain and the rest of the world. The book also has more than 100 war expressions that reporters who “participated” in the war used during their coverage. Some were used for the first time, others were invented as no “available description suited what was happenings during the intensive bombing of the cities”. The book can be found at Bustan Lil Kutob bookstore in Shmeisani. Hada Sarhan Monday, November 3, 2003 |