A review by misspalah
The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have a question," he intoned gravely. "Why did Bush attack our country?" The question passed around the room without finding a taker; the others figured it was a trap, and no one wanted to be the subject of ridicule. Doc Jabir coughed into his fist, certain that he had everyone's attention. His ferrety eyes searched his audience for a hostile look; then, finding none, he began: "Because they wished to rid us of a despot, their former flunky, but now a compromising figure? Because our sufferings had finally touched the hearts of the vultures in Washington? If you believe that fairy tale for one second, then you're irredeemably screwed. The USA was extremely worried about two things that might interfere with its hegemonic projects. One: Our country was very close to acquiring full sovereignty-that is, a nuclear weapon. In the new world order, only nations that have a nuclear arsenal are sovereign; the others may be potential hotbeds of tension or providential sources of raw materials for the great powers, but from now on, that's all. The world is run by the forces of international finance, for which peace is equivalent to layoffs. It's all a matter of living space. The second thing the USA knew was that Iraq was the only military force in the region capable of standing up to Israel. Bringing Iraq to its knees would make it possible for Israel to dominate the Middle East. Those are the two real reasons that led to the occupation of our country. Saddam was nothing but an ex-cuse. If he seems to give the Americans' aggression legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion, that doesn't mean using him is any less of a diabolical ploy. Their trick is to create a diversion in order to conceal the essential objectives of the exercise, which are to prevent an Arab country from acquiring the means of its strategic defense and therefore from protecting its integrity, and, at the same time, to help Israel establish definitive authority over this part of the world."

• The Sirens of Baghdad By Yasmina Khadra

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Funny how the book published in 2008 still making sense in 2008 particularly in pointing out the US hypocrisy in playing the saviour to whichever countries they viewed as commodities  and to the country they deemed as terrorist will be annihilated according to his wish. And then the cycle continues as there’s an occupier, there’s a resistance movement among the occupied. The story brought us back during the Iraq War and highlighted how our main character, a young bedouin man becomes radicalized in response to the injustice and violence inflicted by the American occupation. The plot is straightforward but Yasmina Khadra’s writing never failed to impress me despite this was translated from French. He captured the dehumanisation of Iraqis during the invasion and how innocent civilians were caught during the crossfire of the conflict itself. The question of ‘West’ versus ‘the rest of the world’ - on their supposed moral superiority complex and on their animosity towards Islam and anything that is associated  with it were pointed out quite many times in the story via other characters, Doc Jabir and Dr Jalal. Open ending has been the writing style for Yasmina Khadra and since this is the third book i have read of him, i am not really mad on how it was ended. Overall, a gripping novel. One that can really made us ponder on the morality of western countries today particularly the US, UK that bombing Yemen one of the poorest countries in the world to retaliate against the Houthis’s sea blockade (which can be stopped if Isnotreal stop the genocide on Palestinian lives). But hey what do you expect from these mf colonisers?