Rory Stewart; The Prince of the Marshes

[SFG75]

Received this one in our Secret Santa swap from Flor. I've never heard of the author, but he has done quite a bit for being a young 'un of 30. Wikipedia has an impressive list which features his stints at Oxford and Harvard. I'm intrigued with his work as a coalition provisional authority official in Iraq. I'm curious about how officials went about their job and what compromises they made with the local leaders of each province. His government background and experience in working with the elite "Black Watch" worries me a bit, as he may play down the challenges that Iraq faces. I'm hoping that he is realistic and that this won't be some Cecil Rhodes benevolent grand empire narrative that someone like Niall Ferguson would gush about. I just read the introduction and will hopefully be done with the first couple of chapters before the night is over. More to come, stay tuned.

 

[Flor]

This sounds really good, SFG, and I plan to read it in 07. What is Black Watch? By the way, his book The Places in Between was one of the NYTimes top 10. It is an amazing travel book that is so much more

 

[abecedarian]

After looking at Stewart's books on amazon, I see I'll have to read him too. Tack em on to my never ending Candidates List!

 

[SFG75]

This sounds really good, SFG, and I plan to read it in 07. What is Black Watch? By the way, his book The Places in Between was one of the NYTimes top 10. It is an amazing travel book that is so much more

The Black Watch is a famous Scottish regiment. They were, interestingly enough, known as the "Ladies from hell" during WWI, due to their fighting ability and wearing of kilts. They are currently working in southern Iraq and have stepped up operations south of Baghdad in response to calls for help from the U.S.

I started the book late last night and found some interesting information. Stewart applied for a job with the coalition provisional authority, but didn't hear from anyone. He traveled from Jordan to Baghdad to apply for a job in person, talk about initiative!. Like many westerners, the attitude going into Iraq appeared to be a variation of a Wilsonian "save the world" tune. Stewart sounded like a liberal with his wanting to create a better society for people. Utopianism here we come!. I was surprised to find in his writing early on, a distrust in western involvement in areas such as Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Bosnia. All three conflicts were more than justified in terms of international help. How anyone could possibly believe that Afghanistan could be anything but a noble endeavor is beyond me. It's somewhat akin to asking why we would be involved in Japan after Pearl Harbor.

This is also a good book that explains more in detail, how and why critical supplies in Iraq never seemed to get off the ground in terms of repairs and distribution. Stewart blamed a number of things for the infrastructural problems of Iraq. You had opportunistic Iraqis who would pull down electrical pylons with tractors in order to sell them to Iranian copper dealers, only to have the same pylons replaced to the tune of $15 million. Interestingly enough, Stewart also blames the bureaucracy created by Saddam Hussein. A small number of people ran entire industries of the nation and it is almost impossible to arrive in Iraq, determined to carry out the same duties that need to be done. This view is an interesting one to me, and perhaps one that should get more air time. There is more to the story than just mismanagement of money and corruption on the part of local leaders. I'm really enjoying his perspective as the only view to see anything, is from the eyes of a person who has been there.

It is also interesting to see how the CPA worked. You have a cobbled together governing system of Iraqi civilian leaders, coalition military, and coalition civilians. Somehow, Stewart was in charge of the province that he was in, but he really wasn't.

 

[Flor]

Thanks for the glimpse, SFG. His style is very readable, imho, for this type of writing. Not flashy, but not dry at all. It's as though you're walking next to the man and he's explaining things along the way. At least that's how the other book felt. Interesting about the Black Watch as well. I'd never heard of that.

 

[SFG75]

Thanks for the glimpse, SFG. His style is very readable, imho, for this type of writing. Not flashy, but not dry at all. It's as though you're walking next to the man and he's explaining things along the way. At least that's how the other book felt. Interesting about the Black Watch as well. I'd never heard of that.

I'm about 3/4ths the way through it now. I agree that he is very readable, yet entertaining. The really interesting thing is that you get a better picture of how the CPA tried to have these competing groups form a working democracy. Sadly, it's clear that the occupiers have a different concept of what that entails as opposed to the occupied. The Iraqis who do favor separation of church and state and who would function very well in 95% of western governments around the world, have no power. Those that want a theocratic or dictatorial state are small in number, but have a large influence. I was quite surprised to learn of the urban-rural split as well. Many urban workers view the rural Imams(i.e.-Muqtada al-Sadr) and others as backward, dangerous individuals who should have no say in how the government is run. Sadly, they have a good number of followers through their pandering to anti-Zionism and desire to turn Islam into a giant car burning cult(apologies to Anne Coulter for the stolen reference.) It was also interesting that Stewart noted the degree of animosity the clerics have towards one another. When addressing why it would be important to bring in other clerics to form a coalition government, Stewart found that he would be lectured about how he needed to be strong and that no one would respect him unless he did that. They want a powerful sultan, not a president. Sadly, no one has told the western political rulers that.