This book has been in my to-read list for years, since i first saw it in Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville. I've since read The Places In Between and loved it, so it's now time to give The Prince of the Marshes a spin.
Stewart does a great job of showing chronicling the surreal world of the aftermath of the USA x Iraq war, the high hopes and almost farcical reality of the occupation government. Each chapter opens with a quotation from Machiavelli or Don Quixote. Thus alternating between the paranoid and the delusional, the quotes set the tone but really can't compete with the surreality of the occupation, the Coalition Provisional Authority and a mad and dangerous world turned upside down. The story occupation of Iraq balances between the Machiavellic and the Quixotic.
Quotes:
("What is religion?") "You don't know?" he asked with great surprise. "Religion is about the respect for the other human being. Each of us is created by one God. Each of us is respected. This is religion. Even the Jewish religion. But these men do not respect one another. Things are very bad now."
"Our traditional work as Christian people, you know, was selling alcohol," he said. "There was no problem under Saddam."
[Iranian cinema shown in provincial towns] tended to kung fu movies with Israeli villains and Iranian heroes.
What would be the point of implying that our new police chief was nepotistic, biased, violent, and semi-criminal?
I sent a deputation to Baghdad, paid for ministry officials to sit in the substations in Nasiriyah and Amara, bought them satellite telephones, and told them to report whenever the power dropped below sixty megawatts. Within four days we had a steady supply for twelve rather than four hours a day. But not everything could be solved so easily.
It was only the next morning that word began to spread that what they had seen, highlighted in the green glow of their night-image goggles, was men gathering for gay sex.
"Welcome to your new democracy," said the democracy expert. "I have met you before. I have met you in Cambodia. I have met you in Russia. I have met you in Nigeria." At the mention of Nigeria, two of the sheikhs walked out.
I wanted to build a gate for the souk as a permanent gift from the CPA to Amara, so that there would be at least one enduring trace of our presence. We discussed this with the governor, showed him photographs of traditional souk gates from Egypt to Kuwait, and suggested a competition for the design. The governor returned the next day with a design for a concrete arch, to be faced with bright modern bathroom tiles and fairy lights. Again we had to choose whether to empower the governor. We overruled him. The gate was never built.
"This is Iraq, not Britain," replied Riyadh. "They do not understand about peaceful demonstrations-you must clear them away."
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