Muqtada Al Sadr and the real fall of Iraq
n this compellingly readable account, prize-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn tells the story of Muqtada's rise to become the leader of Iraq's p.. Lire la suite
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n this compellingly
readable account, prize-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn tells the
story of Muqtada's rise to become the leader of Iraq's poor Shi'ites and
the resistance to the occupation. Cockburn looks at the killings by
Saddam's executioners and hit men of the young cleric's father, two
brothers, and father-in-law; his leadership of the
seventy-thousand-strong Mehdi Army; the fierce rivalries between him and
other Shia religious leaders; his complex relationship with the Iraqi
government; and his frequent confrontations with the American military,
including battles that took place in Najaf in 2004. The portrait that
emerges is of a complex man and a sophisticated politician, who engages
with religious and nationalist aspirations in a manner unlike any other
Iraqi leader. Cockburn, who was among the very few Western
journalists to remain in Baghdad during the Gulf War and has been an
intrepid reporter of Iraq ever since, draws on his extensive firsthand
experience in the country to produce a book that is richly interwoven
with the voices of Iraqis themselves. His personal encounters with the
Mehdi Army include a tense occasion when he was nearly killed at a
roadblock outside the city of Kufa. Though it often reads like an adventure story, Muqtada
is also a work of painstaking research and measured analysis that leads
to a deeper understanding both of one of the most critical conflicts in
the world today and of the man who may well be a decisive voice in
determining the future of Iraq when the Americans eventually leave.
