Occupational Hazards

By September 2003, six months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the anarchy had begun. Rory Stewart, a young British 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. Rory Stewart’s inside account of the attempt to re-build a nation, the errors made, the misunderstandings and insurmountable difficulties encountered, reveals a unique side to Iraq, hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers. Stewart is an award winning writer and his luminous voice provides extraordinary insight into the comedy, occasional heroism and moral risks of foreign occupation. — ISBN13: 9780330440509