A deftly pitched account of the manifold dangers and grim farce that Rory Stewart encountered as a young British diplomat in Iraq in the wake of the controversial UK backed invasion. Humane, sensitive and gifted with an ability to consider the bigger picture, Stewart is an unflinchingly honest guide to diplomatic dysfunction and chaotic nation-building.
By September 2003, six months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the anarchy had begun. Rory Stewart, a young Biritish diplomat, was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority's deputy governor of a province of 850,000 people in the southern marshland region. There, he and his colleagues confronted gangsters, Iranian-linked politicians, tribal vendettas and a full Islamist insurgency.
Occupational Hazards is Rory Stewart's inside account of the attempt to rebuild a nation, the errors made, the misunderstandings and insurmountable difficulties encountered. It reveals an Iraq hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers. Stewart is an award-winning writer, gifted with extraordinary insight into the comedy, occasional heroism and moral risks of foreign occupation.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9780330440509
Number of pages: 464
Weight: 322 g
Dimensions: 196 x 131 x 30 mm
Beautifully written, highly evocative . . . a joy to read. - John Simpson
A marvellous book . . . a devastating narrative. - Simon Jenkins
Absolutely absorbing. - Ken Loach
Strikes gut and brain at once. - James Meek
Wonderfully observed, wise, evocative. - Observer
The best book by far to come out of the Iraq mess. - Sunday Herald
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