I have a few books for the summer, some of which I read, some of which I presented in yesterday's column, some of which I will read, and others that I will not but with the reviews of which I will content myself. I continue then today with a book that I read entitled “Saving Iraq: Rebuilding a broken nation” (where the meaning of broken here is either destroyed or collapsing). The book is written by Nemir Kirdar, a prominent Arab banker and the CEO and founder of the investment bank Investcorp. But first I want to say that there is an old family friendship between me and Nemir. Yet, I will try my best to remain objective and take advantage of our friendship, as I directly heard from Nemir Kirdar a great deal of news and ideas, in addition to having read some of his lectures and studies. In the first line of his book's introduction, he says that this is a very personal book, about an old Iraq, and a new Iraq, and in the first paragraph of the first chapter he says that his hope for a better Iraq is based not on a fanciful dream but on the hard realities of what Iraq used to be: a country on the road to openness, tolerance and prosperity. If I wanted to summarize my whole review of the book in a few words, I would say that the old Iraq the author is dreaming of is forever gone. But in any case, I will go along with the book's material step by step. The book is made up of three sections: The first is about Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion, and the second is about the invasion and subsequent occupation of Kuwait and all the banes this has brought upon Iraq. The third and most important section is a complete economic and political plan to lift Iraq from the pitfalls of its crisis. Moreover, Nemir Kirdar is a “Royalist”, and one of the supporters of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq. His world was shattered by the military coup of 14/7/1958, which took away his friendly meetings with King Faisal II and the leaders of that era. After the defeat of Saddam Hussein and the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, he started criticising the suspicious leaderships that were forming abroad and preparing themselves to inherit power from the Baath Party in Iraq. In this vein, he was asking at the time why we should not return to the Hashemite rule in Iraq, in a federation with Jordan, led by King Hussein, the experienced moderate ruler with a stable country. In the author's opinion, the 1958 coup was devastating and catastrophic and a “black Monday”, opening the way for the several coups that followed and exacerbated the damage done, leading up to the disaster of the occupation of Iraq. Also, while Nemir Kirdar expressed his doubts about the self-proclaimed leaders who surfaced after the liberation of Kuwait, and who believed that their time has come to rule Iraq, he is much more distrustful of the Iraqi dissidents and exiles that were sponsored and financed by the Americans under the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998. Some of these then returned to Iraq after the invasion, and contributed whether deliberately or inadvertently to the havoc wrought upon Iraq along with the American “High Commissioner” Paul Bremer, and the governing sectarian council. We all know about the imprudent decision of dismissing the Baathist employees from the government, or about 50 thousand competent employees, as well as the decision to disband the army, i.e. 400 thousand men who master the use of arms and can have easy access to weapons. This is in addition to the destruction of Iraq's heritage, archaeological treasures, resources and its future itself. The author not only documents all of this information, providing extremely precise details, but he also accomplishes something else: After 40 years of studying, working, and succeeding abroad, his relation to Iraq remains firm and dynamic. As such, we find him talking about his efforts in trying to persuade George Bush Sr. to rectify the U.S. actions in Iraq, and about his similar efforts with Condoleezza Rice , the then Chairperson of the National Security Council, in addition to Elliott Abrams, the head of the Middle Eastern affairs under Rice. Nevertheless, I will say something that Nemir did not say in his book: Behind the American invasion and occupation of Iraq was the war gang led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, along with Likudnik extremists such as Abrams, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and others. These people forged the justifications that led to the war, with their aim being the destruction of Iraq and not its liberation. This is because Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted to build an American Empire, while the Likudniks only wanted to serve Israel. Meanwhile, the book's third Chapter merges Nemir Kirdar's heart and mind, as he proposes the building of a promising new Iraq, along the model of the old monarchy in Iraq. He also proposes the separation of religion from the state, the separation of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of power, in addition to proposing a new oil law that safeguards the rights of the country while respecting the agreements that have been signed, and suggesting that a new oil company be formed with foreign participation as well as the restructuring of the Economic Development Council. All of the above is fine talk that makes sense, but I think (and I pray that I am wrong) that it will never be achieved. Nemir Kirdar's dream will remain only that, a dream, and an Iraq governed by a monarchy as mentioned by the author up until the last lines of the books, is now history. The fact of the matter is that the people have changed, and after the prime ministers and ministers from different sects and ethnic groups that are governing in Nemir Kirdar's Iraq, there is a sectarian rule in Iraq today based on the two parties of the Supreme Council and Al-Da'wa, and a sectarian division on every level in the country, not to mention a Kurdish desire for secession being disguised under Federalism or self-governance. The old Iraq, just like youth, will never return, but “how harsh would life be, if it were not for hopefulness”. Finally, I have two books to read and that were translated into English from Arabic: the first is Yalu, a book written by Elias Khoury, and second is “The Locust and the bird: the story of my mother” written by Hanan Al-Sheikh. The latter's original title in Arabic was “My Story: a prolonged explanation”. I continue tomorrow.
