[I wrote this book review in 2003.  Saddam Hussein was executed in 2006. The worsening of the situation in Iraq after that and the present ISIS violence show that this book is still relevant and readable. Hence, I am posting the review here.]

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The End of Saddam Hussein: History through the Eyes of the Victims.
Prem Shankar Jha
222 pp. New Delhi: Rupa.
Rs. 295.  ISBN:81-291-0362-1

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The 21^st century is not even a decade old and it has already witnessed three events that have stirred our world. Its first year saw the 9/11 attacks, the second, saw the consequent retaliation in Afghanistan and the third has witnessed the Second Gulf War. Of these three, the recently concluded Second Gulf War is the event of supreme significance and is undoubtedly, going to leave the most profound impact on subsequent course of history.

Throughout the US-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, which had been on a high particularly in last year and a half, the Iraqi perspective was seldom presented. The world listened in awe to the relentless pounding of propaganda by the US and its allies, but Iraq’s voice either remained unheard or was deliberately suppressed. Now that the dust setting, we finally have a book that fills the ‘gaps’ in the story to make it complete. Prem Shankar Jha’s book ‘The End of Saddam Hussein: History through the Eyes of the Victims’ is a brilliant attempt – and a successful one- to present the other side of the coin. It is always the Victors who have written history. To present the perspective of the losing side has always been a challenge for impartial historians. However, Prem Shankar Jha, – a former UN civil servant and an eminent political analyst has done remarkably well to meet this challenge. The whole burden of blame for Iraq’s destruction has been laid on Saddam’s shoulders, but this book tells us a completely different story. It shows us how Iraq’s downfall was brought about by three crucial factors: Iraq’s large oil reserves, the hypocrisy of successive American administrators and the cunning role which Israel played from behind the certain. This downfall was quickened by the sudden rise of mass media which first criticized the US stand on Iraq and later became a mouthpiece of the US and its allies. Continue reading →