 Word On Books
with Jeremy Fenton
Saddam: The Secret Life
By Con Coughlin
Published by Macmillan
 One of the biggest claims to come from British journalist Con Coughlin’s biography of Saddam Hussein is that two weeks before the World Trade Centre attacks on the United States, the dictator placed his military on the highest military alert since the Gulf War. Coughlin is convinced that the “dangerous and murderous dictator” has provided funding, logistical support and training for the al-Qaeda network.
The other details that emerge from his book are no less shocking, or even believable in some cases. But the evidence and eyewitnesses (including family members) that the meticulous Coughlin quotes give a veracity that is hard to deny.
The picture of Saddam painted is fascinating, complex and often bewildering.
He is, in many ways, the ultimate proof that power corrupts – if not sends you right over the edge into a madness of paranoia, delusion and self-perpetuating violence.
This is a man who sponsors Islamic fundamentalism while “drinking whisky and womanising”, who preaches the sanctity of the family while severely mistreating (even killing) his own, who essentially demands love and devotion at the barrel of a gun. There is no end to such contradictions in the life of Saddam.
Coughlin’s book is a comprehensive – even exhaustive – look into arguably one of the world’s key players, even if he only occupies that position through his own inflated sense of ego and the geological chance of sitting atop vast oil fields. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes hard to separate Coughlin’s own obvious dislike (and seemingly US-centric viewpoints) for the man from the facts in what should have been the definitive book on the dictator.
That said, it’s still well-worth reading for a staggering look into the life of a bloody megalomaniac. And no doubt the British government will quote it extensively as an ‘intelligence report’.
War on Iraq
By Scott Ritter and William Rivers Pitt
Published by Allen & Unwin
 In the lead up to war, with concerned citizens the world over beginning to strongly express their displeasure at the prospect of attacking Iraq, the authors of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want you to Know present as especially qualified to put forth an argument for no war.
Scott Ritter is a former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq (who also served in the US Marines during the Gulf War) and William Pitt is an ‘activist’ and expert on the Middle East. In an effort to truly present a bipartisan argument, they have even listed on the cover their political preferences: one’s a Democrat and the other’s a Republican.
Essentially the book contains an essay by Pitt on the broad historical reasons behind the conflict, as well as an interview with Scott Ritter in which he puts forward his reasons for the futility of a war on Iraq. While most of his arguments and ‘revelations’ are not new (at least not outside the US).
Ritter has been a key media critic of the looming war, leading to a savaging from right-wing commentators – not to mention some unpleasant accusations about his sexual behaviour – but there’s no doubting that his arguments are cogently put from the mouth of a former insider.
War on Iraq is a slim book, one that would have served as good research for a more in-depth or balanced work, but there’s no denying the logic and the expertise of its authors' arguments.
jeremy@wordonbooks.com
www.wordonbooks.com
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