Pp. 244

`THIRTY DAYS' sheds light on the most critical days in the political life of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair before and during the US/Britain-led war against Iraq.

The book's 30 diaries are an inside account of how Blair fought for his own future as well as his vision of the civilised world, how he changed and why he survived during March 10 and April 9.

Blair decided to have a closely observed record of his leadership in his war against Saddam Hussein. He chose Peter Stothard, from The Time Magazine, to be with him in his war against Iraq.

Stothard was given access to Blair and his inner circle, from the last-minute attempts to get a second UN resolution on Iraq until the statues in Baghdad were sent tumbling down.

Stothard enjoyed a privilege that has never been granted any journalist before, following Blair from Downing Street and the House of Commons through the war summits in the Azores, Brussels, Belfast and Camp David, in the closest and most private of quarters

The author takes readers inside the corridors of power during this extraordinary time, offering a vivid, remarkably up-close view of a leader facing the challenge of his life.

“These were among the tensest and most tumultuous weeks the world had seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall, perhaps since World War II. At stake were the building blocks of the international community — the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and the European Union,” he writes.

Politicians, explains the writer, sometimes take the risk of inviting a journalist in to see them as they really are.

“This is only either when they need the publicity or when they have a high degree of control,” writes Stothard.

But no prime minister, he adds, however confident, has ever before taken that risk.

According to Stothard, the book is an “insightful glimpse” into the strategies that were employed by Blair and his advisers.

“Blair fought hard but without success for the diplomatic support he wanted for the war; he then fought hard and with great success for the support of a sceptical Labour Party and parliament. It was as much a fight for his own future as it was for his vision of the civilised world,” writes Stothard currently the editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

Blair, the author points out, gambled everything, convinced that he and George Bush were right about fighting Saddam Hussein.

Stothard writes that Blair and Bush shared almost nothing and barely a single belief about how a country should be taxed and run.

“The only powerful belief they seemed to share was Christianity,” writes Stothard. However, he adds, “religious beliefs were the most dangerous of all”.

Stothard believes that over a period of four weeks in March and April of 2003, Blair risked his status as Britain's most successful Labour prime minister for the chance of a place in world history.

“History seems to be much on his mind,” Stothard writes, explaining that the prime minister told a newspaper that “history will be my judge”.

The book comprises several photos of Blair in his office, with the press or the family.

It can be found at Bustan Lil Kutob bookstore in Shmeisani.

Hada Sarhan

Monday, September 8, 2003