A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq [Hardcover]

Paul William Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2005

An acclaimed journalist who has covered the Middle East for decades — and one of the few to have interviewed Saddam Hussein — Paul William Roberts knows Iraq better than most. This is his exposé of the politics behind the recent war — and the brutal reality the Iraqis experienced but the rest of the world didn't see. In Baghdad when the bombs started falling, Roberts witnesses the "shock and awe" campaign firsthand, mourns the loss of his friend's entire family, and escapes to Jordan, only to return two weeks later behind the American army. A scathing indictment of the Bush administration's new imperialism, A War Against Truth recounts Robert’s experiences in the newly "liberated" Iraq, where he meets looters selling priceless artifacts, interviews Tariq Aziz in hiding, is interrogated by U.S. intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this relentless polemic, Canadian journalist Roberts (Smokescreen) declares his country's "actual role in the world... [is] to act as the conscience of America... it's a dirty job;but someone who speaks English has to do it." Roberts;who was in Baghdad when the U.S. first attacked, but escaped to Jordan and returned to Iraq two weeks later;takes on this duty with aplomb. But he seethes so uncontrollably with anti-Americanism that his credibility collapses under the weight of accusations, innuendo and conspiracy theories. Though he details ancient and recent history of the region and the book often comes alive with his on-the-ground reporting, the narrative is refracted through his "raging anger, and shame." Roberts dismisses American political parties as "merely window dressing" on a one-party imperialist, oligarchic state dominated by sinister institutions like the Pentagon and CIA. American citizens are cowed, and media outlets are "merely extensions of the state." As for the invasion itself;and the war on terror;these policies are part of America's "plan for world domination." Readers who get their news from sources other than Fox may, like Roberts, object to the war in Iraq, but his strident tone will alienate all but Chomsky adherents. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Raincoast Books (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551926881
• ISBN-13: 978-1551926889
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,599,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Anger is Justified--Listen to the Conscience, November 21, 2005

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (Paperback)

I have just posted a list of books relevant to citizen evaluation of whether Dick Cheney should be impeached for dereliction of duty and high crimes and misdemeanors (lying to everyone including his ward, the President), and this book is on that list.

I agree with those reviewers that are put off by the seething anger, but I would also hasten to add that seething anger is exactly the right emotion with which to view the thousands of US dead, the tens of thousands of US woundeded including more amputees than ever before in history, and the billions of angry Muslims who see America as a rogue nation.

I am, with all humility and perhaps the good fortune of timing, the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction about global issues and national security. I take this book very seriously, and believe that everyone else should as well. Viewing my list "Books Relevant to Evaluating Cheney" will provide some helpful perspective. Two US Senators, and three major league Republicans have written books against Cheney, and this should carry some weight with the public.

This is a good book, worthy of everyone's consideration.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Embedded in the carnage of war, May 15, 2006

By 

Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (Paperback)

Modern neuroscience teaches that anger has a short decay time and that it requires frequent inputs to sustain itself. In reading this book, when thinking about the events in Iraq for the past fifteen years, and when listening to the dull platitudes of the yellow regime in Washington, it is very difficult not to be angry. The savagery unleashed upon Iraq, along with the jingoistic echolalia of the Western press, all contribute to a seemingly sustainable level of anger and frustration.

But anger, although motivating perhaps to a degree, by itself does not offer any constructive solutions. This book, written by a person who was "on the ground" during the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, is riddled with anger, even polluted with it. But if anger can have a moral justification, one will find such a justification in this book. When your neighborhood is invaded, when your neighbors and friends are killed, one does not usually cogitate over the reasons for these killings.

The author holds the reader's interest because of the rarity of finding first hand accounts of what was going on in Iraq before and after the invasion. It would be difficult to verify the author's account though because of the paucity of reliable information coming from Iraq. Cameras and embedded reporters are of no help in this regard, since they are forced to observe from the supervised eye of the military.

The horror of the invasion is brought out with great clarity in the book. It will probably not convince the fist-raising soldiers of the sofa to refrain from their rhetorical support of the war, but it does offer the reader a viewpoint from someone who is embedded in its carnage. It also offers some facts or claims that need further investigation but that are perhaps surprising to those readers, such as this reviewer, who have not lived in that part of the world. It is a book that will certainly reinforce the opinions of those opposed to the war, and is a refreshing alternative to the non-critical flag-waving of the ideologically entrenched news agencies.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you read a single book on the Iraq war, this should be it, January 2, 2005

By 

S. Villeneuve (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (Hardcover)

This book captured my attention like no other. PWR perfectly recreates the emotion of witnessing the American Empire rape and pillage Iraq. Hopefully it won't take too many more innocent lives before the American people learn from their mistakes.