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The Sirens of Baghdad

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Yasmin Khadra (a female pseudonym for Mohammed Moulessehoul) in his novel THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD takes the reader inside the head of a young unnamed first-person narrator who has been recruited for a secret mission, the nature of which he himself does not know when the story begins when he has just arrived in Beirut to carry out the mission: "All I know is, what's been planned will be the greatest operation ever carried out on enemy territory, a thousand times more awesome than the attacks of September 11. . . ." The rest of this chilling novel covers the events in this young man's life that get him to this appointment with destiny.

The narrator was a humanities student who had to leave the University of Baghdad when the American forces invaded Iraq and return to his home in the remote village of Kafr Karam. Gentle and nonviolent by nature, he lives a relatively quiet life with his sisters and aging parents. "I had nothing to complain about in my parents' house. I could be satisfied with little. I lived on the roof, in a remodeled laundry room." Although he had no television, he listened to a "tinny radio." Then three events occur that make the narrator willing to do anything to get vengence against the American soldiers whom one character describes as shooting first and verifying later. He witnesses the killing of a retarded youth about his age by American soldiers at a checkpoint when he starts running away. The Americans mistakenly believe he might be carrying explosives. Then an American plane drops a missle on a wedding party. Finally soldiers break into the home of the narrator's family looking for terrorists and commit an atrocity that "a Westerner can't undertand," as the family is disgraced.

The young narrator returns to Baghdad, a man on a monomaniacal mission, where he encounters more violence and ignorance from all sides, betrayal and where his views clash with that of his friend Omar who tells him: "No one owns the truth." Although certainly most Westerners will disagree vehemently with most of the young narrator's conclusions, this novel is instructive as to the hopelessness and rage that can blind someone who has experienced what the narrator has and turn him into an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.

To call this novel unsettling would be a gross understatement. It is frightening beyond measure. We have to ask ourselves (without revealing more of the plot) if the narrator's mission is possible. We can no longer call novels like this science fiction. It should be read with another finely-written, nuanced novel, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST.

The concluding sentence of Yasmina Khadra's latest book, THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD, magnificently encapsulates the present-day Middle East and the worldviews of too many Westerners and Middle Easterners alike. Speaking from a hillside overlooking Beirut, the unnamed first-person narrator states, "I concentrate on the lights of the city, which I was never able to perceive through the anger of men."

THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD is essentially two books. For its first 240 pages, it is a study in the formation of a non-religious terrorist. The unnamed protagonist begins as a university student in Baghdad, a Bedouin from a remote Iraqi village named Kafr Karam. For this young man, college represents more than an opportunity for advanced education; it is family pride rstored, a pathway to a successful career, and a means to secure his family's future. The U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003 forces the student to return home to Kafr Karam, and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime mirrors the decline in the protagonist's fortunes.

When the neighbor blacksmith's young, mentally handicapped son loses two fingers to a metal gate, the narrator accompanies him for an emergency trip to the hospital, only to see the boy gunned down on the way there by American soldiers at a checkpoint. Not long after, an American drone missile explodes in the middle of a village wedding party, killing seventeen women and children. The final insult occurs when American soldiers invade the narrator's own home in the middle of the night in search of weapons. During their incursion, they treat the narrator's father so poorly that he involuntarily exposes himself to his son, described as the ultimate indignity for an Arab man and his family. "For Bedouin," the narrator tells us, "...honor is no joking matter. An offense must be washed away in blood, which is the sole authorized detergent when it's a question of keeping one's self-respect." Later in the book, he explains, "Either live like a man or die as a martyr - there's no other alternative for one who wants to be free....I'm waiting for the moment when I'll recover my self-esteem, without which a man is nothing but a stain." Thus, the sirens of the title are many - the siren call of commercial Western culture, the lure of terrorism and violence for revenge, and of course, the sirens sounding alert during warfare.

This succession of increasingly close at hand tragedies and affronts leads an otherwise secular and educated young man to seek revenge on their source, the ugly Westerners by joining a small terrorist cell. Time slows to a crawl for the narrator as he receives training and a series of small jobs by which he can prove himself. Up to this point, the book offers a chilling and realistic look into the making of a terrorist while simultaneously criticizing the West by inference for being the creator of its own enemies. The narrator's motivation is not religious fanaticism or radical fundamentalish, just revenge against the perceived abuses and animalistic behavior of these foreign invaders.

The final third of THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD devolves into a low grade and rather far-fetched Robert Ludlum thriller with a dash of James Bond added for good measure. The narrator, motivated by revenge but hardly a rabid, heartless killer, passes what seems a rather thin screening process in Baghdad and becomes the chosen vessel for the ultimate act of terrorism in London. It is a truly apocalyptic plan that will bring the West, and the rest of the world, to its knees. While he waits, the narrator steels himself for this coup de gras, this fatal thrust into the British heart of the Satanic West. He travels to Beirut with false identity and papers to receive his final instructions and the means by which he will conduct his awful revenge. Yet as the final moments approach for him to move forward on his mission, he must decide if the ends - his and his people's - justify the awful means he represents.

As he demonstrated earlier in THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL and THE ATTACK, Khadra is an accomplished storyteller with keen insight into the Middle Eastern mindset and culture. His stories are well-paced, and we find ourselves identifying, even empathizing, with his protagonists. Khadra's stories, especially his two most recent, strive to help Westerners see themselves through secular, well-educated Arabic eyes. There is much for us to see and learn from the vantage point he offers. THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD is a welcomed addition to Khadra's growing body of work.

This book was a very well written book. The story is a great one because throughout this war the media rarely talks about what the Iragis are feeling or why they fight. All though this book gives just one primary viewpoint (i.e. Iragi against U.S.) it still allows you to understand why Iragis are fighting period whether it be against each other or the U.S. through smaller passages. It is a great read, I didn't want to put it down. It is intoxicating with its descriptions of Iragi life. Everyone should read this if they want to feel as if they understand in total this war. It will not be for everyone and the book itself does not pick sides but merely explains how Iraqis feel.

I read this book in French, having bought it in Europe, where it is prominently displayed in bookshops. I found it to be a frighteningly realistic portrayal of the life of ordinary Iraqis since the beginning of U.S. military involvement in Iraq. It really helps illuminate how anti-American feeling has been generated, through the description of the transformation of an ordinary man into a terrorist.

What struck me most of all about the book was the multiplicity of voices. These include the fanatical, militant terrorists who wish to assert Middle Eastern supremacy while destroying the West; the Bedouin woman who has left her village to become a doctor in Baghdad, and supports most of her relatives financially; her brother, who rejects her when he discovers she is living, unmarried, with a man; and the hero's friend, who tries to turn him away from the path leading to terrorism by reminding him that not all of the West is anti-Islamic, as exemplified by the popular demonstrations across the world in support of the Iraqis when the U.S. had announced its decision to invade. This is a truly excellent book that deserves to be read by everyone.

Wow! Pick the book up if you get a chance, especially if you have ever lived/worked in the Middle East or know someone who has, or if you would like to read a novel from an Iraqi point of view. I bought this book before my son, serving in the U.S. Navy in Iraq, got out of there, but did not start to read it until he was on U.S. soil. The ending is kind of weak, in my opinion, but it's so interesting to read the author's take on why the Americans are over there. It also provides some insight as to why there are so many young men who are happy to take on a suicide mission. This IS a work of fiction but I'm sure the author's sentiments match those of a lot of the Iraqis.

Writing under the pen name Yasmina Khadra, Mohammed Moulessehoul deftly weaves a harrowing story of a young, gentle bedouin man studying in a university that witnesses a chain of unfortunate events that transform him into a hardened terrorist.

The journey of an innocent boy, that people mocked as being "too-soft", through the three life changing events that result in the falling of his beliefs(in himself, in his people, in the meaning of life), and the taking over of an agonising revenge-mania that changes him and his life completely. The three events were very well written by the author(and sent shivers through my spine); the overall writing is very good, does not read like a documentary or a cheesy novel. There is a definite change in the style and tone of writing between the last few chapters and the rest of the novel. That I think is in keeping with the change in the narrator(the un-named protagonoist) himself. Overall - I highly recommend the book and am hoping to read the other two novels by the author soon.

Mohammed Moulessehoul, who writes as Yasmina Khadra, is a former officer of the Algerian army, an army that for the better part of the last two decades has primarily involved itself with fighting several well organized terrorist organizations within Algeria's borders. Some critics, including many Algerians, have accused the army of being as bad as the terrorists it professes to fight, labeling it little more than the government's own band of terrorists. Whatever the case may be, Khadra's experience certainly places him in the position to offer insights into the minds of those who dedicate their lives to the destruction of the West and everything for which it stands.

The Sirens of Baghdad, originally published in France, is the story one young Iraqi university student (the book's narrator) who is almost accidentally transformed overnight from a peacefully ambitious young man seeking to honor his family by his educational achievements into a human weapon of mass destruction. When the American invasion of Iraq reached Baghdad, this nameless student was forced to return to his remote desert village, Kafr Karam, to wait for a time that would allow him to return to his studies. His home is so remotely located that for a time he and the rest of those in the village were hardly touched by the war being waged in their country.

But, of course, time would bring the war even to a village as remote as his, and direct contact with the violence of war turned him into someone convinced that there was only one worthy goal left to him in his lifetime: revenge on the people who destroyed his way of life and, most importantly, dishonored his family in perhaps the worst way imaginable to an Iraqi Bedouin like him.

First he was stunned to witness the shooting of a retarded villager by American troops who mistakenly believed the man to be trying to escape from them at a roadblock. Only a few days later, even before he could recover from the shock of that death, an American missile struck a nearby wedding celebration, killing a number of women and children. But those events alone were not enough to turn him from student to avowed terrorist.

He reached his own personal tipping point when American troops searched his home and, in the process, almost inadvertently managed to dishonor and disgrace his family by the way they treated his father. The former student knew that revenge for a disgrace of this magnitude required blood to be spilled, and he immediately walked out of his village and made his way back to Baghdad so that he could spill as much American blood as possible.

As the narrator tries to connect with terrorist organizers who can use his willingness to die for the cause to their advantage, The Sirens of Baghdad describes life in occupied Baghdad through the eyes of others like him, men and women whose only purpose in life has become to maim and kill as many Westerners as possible before they die in the effort. What Khadra describes is a vivid portrayal of the dangers, intrigues and frustrations faced by American and Iraqi soldiers and those working with them to stabilize the country.

Although Yasmina Khadra does not attempt to justify what either side in Iraq is doing, he does tell his story only from the Iraqi point-of-view despite occasionally pointing out that American soldiers often insult Iraqi customs and cultural expectations more from ignorance of the culture than from spite or anger. Books like this one offer Western readers a rare opportunity to get inside the heads of those who live only to see our culture destroyed and, despite its relatively weak ending, this is a book that has much to offer to anyone struggling to understand the mindset of those so willing to blow themselves up simply to take a few Westerners with them.

For the past few years I have been one of the biggest advocates for the works of Yasmina Khadra, especially the 'Swallows of Kabul,' which I found to be one of the most poetically powerful works of modern prose. I waited with anticipation the 'Sirens of Baghdad,' hoping that it would be another masterpiece,.

But first, let me make it perfectly clear, I am not an advocate of George W. Bush's preemptive strategy that got us into Iraq. Yet I do take exception with Mr. Khadra's singular characterization of the tragedies of that war as being a manifestation of arrogant American imperialists ravaging a proud, noble Iraqi people; the analogy a la Graham Greene's renderings in 'The Quiet American' is a little shaky in this case. Could it not be said that a preponderance of the bloody violence in Iraq is inspired by ancient Shia vs. Sunni rivalries? This consideration, however, does not even remotely factor into the abyss of which he paints. Beyond that, while it had its moments of magic, I found much of the the book strung together with a series of clichés I associate with writers far below his caliber.

I regreted having to make these negative remarks, because I have found Mr. Khadra to be very gracious in responding to my inquiries. I truly hope that his next book will indeed live up to all of the notoriety---which he deserves---of his being France's best novelists since Albert Camus.

a sensitive book that shows that good does prevail! Takes you into the mind of a suicide bomber/attacker... the author does try to portray views of both sides of the war... ending could have been a little more detailed..

Author Yasmina Khadra (a female pseudonym for Mohammed Moulessehoul)is becoming one of my favorite authors. He currently lives in France, is Muslim and served in the Algerian army.

In THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD, an educated bedouin man goes through a series of unfortunate events resulting from the Western incursions into Iraq. Logically as a Westerner, it is easy for me to explain the hows and whys of these tragic events yet spiritually I understand how these events can impact a Muslim male.

First the war begins and his university is closed sending him home. His venture into advanced education was a source of pride for him and his family..

After returning home, his relationship with his father is changed, his life is boring and without purpose and he struggles to find direction. The next event that impacts this character is the shooting death of a mentally challenged by U.S. Forces who think this handicapped man is armed with a suicide bomb as he runs away from a check point.

A local wedding is accidentally bombed by western force aircraft. This event prompts several of the young men in this small bedouin town to become terrorists. While searching for these terrorists, our GI's invade the protangist's home and he is dishonored and must avenge his family's honor.

This book pointed out several things to me:
1. We really don't understand the muslim culture, mores and ways of thinking and the same can be said of them regarding us.

2. Once again this author, as he did in THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL, points out how environment and events impact our view of the world, our surroundings and ourselves.

3. There are terrible options for terrorism out there that shake tour naive foundation of perceived safety.

4. What is the truth about our incursion into the middle east? This is not a clear cut, black and white answer...this book and THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL left me realizing yes we need to be over there but that perhaps our motives are not as clear and pure as we think.

5. Are the Muslims at war with themselves (Sunni vs Shia)? What really is the bottom line? Why are Muslims killing Muslims just to sabotage the aid of the West?

6. What can we do better to bridge the gap between us and the Muslim world? We really need to understand their culture before we interface with them.

7. Pride, pride, pride...is that an honorable feeling or goal or is it a foolish myoptic condition?

I loved this book, although I occassionally felt like the protanganist whined a bit too much (like Elizabeth Gilbert in EAT PRAY LOVE). However he did have justification