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The Weight Of A Mustard Seed: An Iraqi General's Moral Journey During The Time Of Saddam (2009)

by Wendell Steavenson(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061721786 (ISBN13: 9780061721786)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Collins

review 1: Steavenson's time spent with the family of Iraqi General Kamel Sachet really shows the progression in the life of the country from the early optimism of Saddam's rule to the abuses that followed and the ambivalent complicity of those Baathies in high places. Sachet is shown to be a moral man whose guilt over the role he played in the regime is pushed to the breaking point. The irony is that his sons became involved in the anti-American insurgency - perhaps a twisted attempt to continue their father's tradition of military courage.
review 2: This masterful book weaves together Iraq's past and present, focusing on the life of respected general Kamel Sachet and the individuals that made up his life- family, friends, fellow officers that served with or under his... more command, and those that knew of this legendary patriot and warrior. Through her accounts and interviews with these people, Steavenson reveals the psychotic nature of the Iraqi system under Saddam Hussein, the climate of fear that he perpetrated and the paranoia that became an inherent part of all Iraqi's in a visceral certitude that is at once both disturbing and intriguing. Clinical, raw and fluid, the book paints a stunningly depressing image of life under the regime. It does not shy away from the graphic and private, presenting the inner moral struggles many Iraqi's had to face at the hands of oppression and dictatorial subjugation. I found her final chapters leading up to the death of General Sachet particularly moving. You come away with a much more holistic picture of why Iraqi's acted they way they did after the American Invasion (the religio and socio-motivated killings and kidnappings, as well as the attacks on Americans), how they rationalize their actions and judgement, and the deep-seated reasons behind their opposition to the West. Their perceptions, however skewed, are vindicated by their historical experiences, and Steavenson demonstrates that with sensitive, human precision. less

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