A good collection of short works that convey a coherent message recognizing the pointless horror and degradation produced by American wars of choice and accompanying British complicity, written by some interesting people including Richard Dawkins and Harold Pinter.

A booklet more than a book, an anthology of essays by various famous authors including John le Carré condemning and lamenting the war against terror that has been raging since 2003. A war that has devastated three of the most important Arab countries, and seriously destabilised the whole region. Now the poorest Arab country, Yemen, is facing starvation, as well as being in the grip of an uncontrolled cholera epidemic. The result of this war is that Saudi Arabia is now emerging as the regional counterbalance to Iran - whether by dastardly design or not, who can say. It has also spawned the vilest and most dreaded terrorist organisation since the Khmer Rouge. The book was published in 2006, and sadly has proven to be prophetic. For people living in the Middle East, it must seem as if WWIII has already started - and for people living in the West, it seems as if things are getting worse, not better. As T.E. Lawrence wrote 100 years ago:

“We could see that a new factor was needed in the East […] No encouragement was given us by history to think that these qualities could be supplied ready-made from Europe. The efforts of the European Powers to keep a footing in the Asiatic Levant had been uniformly disastrous […] Our successor and solution must be local”.

Worth reading.

A very compelling collection of essays about/against the 2003 war in Iraq. As relevant and worth reading today, sadly, as it was twelve years ago.

God. Reading this 20+ years after the US and it's trusty side-kick the UK invaded Iraq is hard. Clearly, the world (and especially the US, UK and Israel) learned nothing in 20 years. Or perhaps, they did learn. Which is the shittiest reality of them all. Anyway, this small book contains 6 anti-war (specifically anti-2003 Iraq War) essays by:
- Brian Eno
- John LeCarre
- Richard Dawkins
- Maifa Zangana
- Michael Faber
I bought the book for the John LeCarre essay. I'm getting close to being a completist and wanted to grab a couple extra essays, short-stories, etc. Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound. Which I guess is very British and very relevant to the US and UK's foreign policy. Each of these essays is a masterwork in anti-war writing. All different with different approaches, audiences, and directions; all angry. It feels VERY relevant with the UK and the US sending arms and money to Israel while more innocents are dying under us bombs and from US-made ammunition. The story goes on, the death toll increases, the enemy is inside the house.

Good vitriolic anti-war essays.

Brilliant, worth reading twice, three times...

A must read for those who want to know the truth behind Iraq's invasion in 2003. Weapons of Mass Destruction were never found in Iraq but Iraq was destroyed in the name of 'democracy' and 'freedom'.

FUCK BLAIR AND BUSH BOTH R THE BIGGEST WAR CRIMINALS

Great series of anti-war essays about the Bush/Blair administrations in the period right before the Iraq War. Informative, terrifying, and somehow, hilarious. Cannot recommend this book enough, especially to those of us who have no memory of the Iraq War aside from what was taught to us by our history teachers and told to us by our parents.