Behind Enemy Lies: War, News and Chaos in the Middle East

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In this urgent and timely book, Patrick Cockburn writes the first draft of the history of the current crisis in the Middle East. Here he charts the period from the recapture of Mosul in 2017 to Turkey's attack on Kurdish territory in November 2019, and recounts the new phase in the wars of disintegration that have plagued the region, leading to the assassination of Iranian General Sulemani. Cockburn offers panoramic on-the-ground analysis as well as a lifetime's study of the region. As author of The Rise of Islamic State, and the Age of Jihad, he has proved to be leading, critical commentator of US intervention and the chaos it has wrecked/ And here he shows how, since Trump entered the White House promising an end to the Forever War, peace appears a distant possibility with the continuation of conflict in Syria, Saudi Arabia's violent intervention in the Yemen, the fall of the Kurds, riots in Baghdad, and the continued aggression towards Iran. While ISIS has been defeated, it is not clear whether it has disappeared from the region. Trump's policies has appeared to pour petrol on the flames, emboldening the other superpowers involved in the proxy wars. Following the collapse of the deal with Iran, and the threat of war crimes, is a new balance of power possible

Reviews

Quite simply, the best Western journalist at work in Iraq today. -- Seymour Hersh
Eminently readable...One of the region's most distinguished western observers...Soaked in blood, sectarian strife and fanaticism, mired in Great Power hypocrisy and betrayal, this may not be everyone's idea of feelgood lockdown literature but for anyone interested in the Middle East it is essential reading. -- Justin Marozzi * Sunday Times *
Cockburn makes a powerful denunciation of double standards in western media * Irish Times *
A fine and courageous journalist, who has displayed a sustained commitment to laying bare the tribulations of the Middle East . This book confirms Cockburn's reputation as a reporter and analyst. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times [for The Age of Jihad] *
An invaluable history of IS along with a powerful critique of Western policy in Iraq and Syria and an unsparing analysis of Shia politics in Baghdad. -- Hugh Roberts * London Review of Books [for The Rise of Islamic State] *
This book is required reading for anyone who wants to try to understand the disaster. It should be compulsory reading for politicians, diplomats, defence chiefs and the academic think-tanks whose members make confident predictions, usually confounded by what follows. -- Allan Massie * Scotland on Sunday [for The Age of Jihad] *
It is a brilliant tour d'horizon of the new wars, a chronicle compiled from despatches, notes and diaries. No one could be better placed for this task and no one else could have produced such a lucid and comprehensive account. -- Robert Fox * Evening Standard [For The Age of Jihad] *
The greatest living foreign correspondent in English, a writer of understated integrity and compassion, with the necessary balance of indignation and detachment -- Richard Lloyd Parry * New York Times [for The Age of Jihad] *

Author Bio

Patrick Cockburn is a Middle East correspondent for the Independent and has worked previously for the Financial Times. His work on the crisis in the Middle East include the National Book Circle Awards shortlisted The Occupation and Saddam Hussein, The best-selling The Rise of the Islamic State and The Age of Jihad. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize in 2006, and the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2009. More recently he has been awarded Foreign Commentator of the Year at the 2013 Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards, Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year in British Journalism Award 2014, and Foreign Reporter of the Year in Press Awards 2014.