bout de papier, Volume 6, Issue No. 4, 1989
Four Months as Saddam’s ‘Guest’ in Baghdad
Three weeks after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the Canadian Embassy was forced to downsize. Despite Iraq’s threat to round up all foreign embassy staff that did not leave the country by August 24th, five colleagues remained inside the…
Baghdad
Through my two years in Baghdad Iraq was at war with Iran, a particularly savage war of attrition. It raged on in the trenches for eight years and over a million casualties. It has been aptly described as a war fought with…
Desert Queen — The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
I read this book with a sense of real delight. It is a good solid read. While not academic in the sense it does not get caught up with footnotes and references, the book is based upon the public and private writings…
Baghdad: Life in a War Zone
“This isn’t our war — should we really be here?” The question was voiced by an Embassy staff member one morning last March after an Iranian missile had struck our residential neighborhood about 500 meters from the chancery, demolishing five villas and…
