As the Iraqis go to the polls, Jack Doyle considers a book by the BBC's man on the spot during the war.
REVOLUTION DAY by Rageh Omaar (Penguin Books, £7.99)
WHEN Rageh Omaar returned from Iraq a media star, a furious bidding war broke out between book publishers fighting for his signature. Penguin triumphed, and the Scud Stud landed a two-book deal and, reportedly, a cheque for £1m.
But despite being the point man for the BBC's coverage of the Iraq war, Rageh's first work, a book about reporting from Iraq, mustered only lacklustre sales. Now it's out in paperback, with a new chapter on the coalition's failures to secure the country after the war ended, it should help make Penguin back some of their advance.
The new chapter makes for gripping reading. It's a serious analysis of strategic errors made by the American decision-makers; principally dissolving the Iraqi army and security forces, despite objections from the American military. The rest of the book also benefits from the time that's passed since the war. With Iraq on the front pages for months and months, fatigue set in. Reading it now gives the story of the war a new urgency.
Omaar isn't a brilliant storyteller, and much of what he has to say will be familiar to anyone who followed the war, or has read any of the other journalistic accounts. But what he does convey is a real love for the country, and an insight into its history, culture and people that is uniquely his own.
Published: 01/02/2005
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