Charles Tripp writes:

Cockburn tells this story well, bringing out the poignant as well as the horrific aspects of the Iraq in which the Jaish al-Mahdi and other militias have thrived. The account of his own experiences, the risks he has run and the first-hand impressions he has formed, is supported by a truly impressive list of interviews with a wide range of Iraqis. But it is also based on an informed and sensitive understanding of the condition of Iraq and of the world which has allowed a figure such as Muqtada al-Sadr to emerge as a significant figure.

(LRB 17 July 2008)

Faber | hardback 289 pp. |ISBN: 9780571239740