Jackals of Samarra was written in the period immediately preceding the Gulf War. It was just as contemporary then as it is now, as borne out by today's headlines of naval vessels falling victim to terrorist bombs. The Gulf region is a perpetual cauldron, ready to boil over at a moment's notice. The book sets up shop here and uses a scenario of fact and fiction that wends its way back and forth from the Middle East to the West. The plot employs surprise military attacks, espionage, blackmail, oil, and nuclear weapons to culminate in a gut-wrenching, unpredictable situation, with the Iranians catching the West off guard, as the world holds its collective breath. Though Jackals of Samarra is a work of fiction, it comes so uncomfortably close to being real that using a book marker at stopping points might not work too well. After reading the last sentence of Jackals… you might just feel relieved and lucky that it is only fiction. Then again you might not. See for yourself.
The riveting, exclusive true story of an Iraq whistleblower who continues to be betrayed by his country, as told by an international bestselling author. Gregory Ford, an intelligence agent and medic, was in Iraq for only a short time—from the invasion in March 2003 until early June of the same year, when he was strapped to a stretcher, drugged, and “renditioned” out of Iraq in a clandestine and criminal operation at the behest of his command, who were frantically trying to silence him. But why? Midnight in Samarra is the shocking true story of one soldier’s attempt to speak up and report the abuse and torture he saw being inflicted on the local population, as well as secret, incriminating, enormous Iraqi arms stores of American-made Weapons of Mass Destruction with bills of lading implicating, among others, famous political families. His warnings about simmering anti-American fury of the local populace were ignored and suppressed by his command; hundreds of millions of dollars in cash seized in the home of Saddam Hussein’s main banker as a result of Ford's intelligence work vanished without a trace. Ford’s information about Hussein’s location, which could have led to the dictator's apprehension six months before his actual capture, was also ignored and suppressed. As Ford was filing charges against his superior officers, they seized his weapons (illegal in a war zone), tried to declare him insane, abducted him by force, restrained him, administered a dangerous mind-altering drug during a Medevac flight, and tried to interrogate him while he was under. Years later, Gregory Ford is still trying to get justice. His command—and high-ups in both the military and the government—lied, dissembled, obfuscated, danced, and dodged while Ford endured libel, slander, and innuendo, feared for his life, and, nearly a decade after the drugging on the plane, learned that the chemical injected into him had done permanent damage to his heart and nervous system. Midnight in Samarra is the story of one man’s courage and conviction, and the horrifying truths of one of our most trusted and honored institutions.
Jack Dotson finally has everything he wants: the promotion he's spent years working for, a house in a trendy neighborhood near downtown Louisville, and a future with Lauren, his stunning, smart, too-good-for-him girlfriend. Then he gets the call that his childhood best friend Mark has died, forcing Jack to do what he never thought he would: return to the sleepy, Midwestern hometown he ran away from years ago. The plan? Give his condolences to Mark's family and make amends with the friends he left behind. Unfortunately, home isn't the place Jack remembers, blowing this to bits and forcing him to confront everything he ran away from. The best friend he betrayed. The girl who might have loved him. The town that's grown to hate him. Determined to do right by Mark, Jack commits to attending the funeral and apologizing, but the results are disastrous. Fists start flying, old love interests reignite, and Jack's carefully curated life in Louisville starts slipping through his fingertips, leaving him to wonder who his true friends are and what he even ran away from in the first place. Full of wit and wisdom, The Jackals is a humorous, heartfelt look at the complexities of friendship and the ways we try to overcome our mistakes.
Unlike other publications since the downfall of Saddam's regime, Iraq: Then & Now traces the history of the country from ancient times until the present. Supplementary boxes, many written by Iraqis themselves, reflect on life today as compared with life in Saddam's Iraq and even earlier, describing their experiences, hopes, fears, ambitions and visions for the future.The book self-consciously avoids making any judgement on the political debate surrounding the 2003 war and subsequent occupation; instead it presents the varying views, and offers a rounded, balanced picture.Published to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the change, this guide to the country and its people, provides information on Iraq's culture and archaeology, the south, Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle. The northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan stands apart as a success story and the travel appendix provides essential information for the increasing numbers of visitors to this region.
One of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dogs, the Saluki traveled throughout the Middle East with desert tribes, who valued the dogs for their ability to hunt gazelles. Famously painted on the walls of the Pharaohs' tombs, the Salukis' history intrigued English dog enthusiasts who were instrumental in popularizing the breed and importing it to Europe and the United States in the early 20th century. This book tells the story of those who brought the Saluki to the West, most notably Florence Amherst, who discovered the dogs while in Egypt and went on to breed 50 litters. Other world travelers who fell under the Salukis' spell included Lady Anne Blunt, Austen Layard and Gertrude Bell. Also covered are lesser-known Saluki aficionados, mainly military officers who hunted with their hounds in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt and sought to replicate that experience at home.
The secret story of chemical and biological warfare. A Higher Form of Killing was first published to great acclaim in 1982. The authors have written a new Introduction and a new Epilogue to take account of the events that have happened since the early 1980s - including the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the black market that appeared in chemical and biological weapons, the acquisition of these weapons by various Third World states, the attempts of various countries like Iraq to build up arsenals of these weapons and, most recently, the use of these weapons in terrorist attacks. As the authors point out, the two generations since the Second World War lived with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Now a new generation must learn to live with weapons that are more insidious and potentially more devastating.
