Miguel di Icaza has been mentioning Robert Fisk a lot lately (Barry was the first to put me onto him, linking to an article on his long-abandoned blog - hint, hint). A week or so ago I checked out a lecture recording or Robert speaking in LA. This was enough to prompt me to buy his latest book, The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East.

I’m only two chapters in, and it’s a lengthy book - fun holiday reading - and I’m hooked. A very good read so far. Miguel has posted some thoughts on the chapter on Iraq, and points to a part of chapter 11, on the 1917 invasion of Iraq.

Although different in topic and tone, it reminds me a lot of Absurdistan by Eric Campbell, in terms of Fisk’s recollections of being a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, launched in 1979.