The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Vintage)

A masterpiece as is all his work

We join Mr Fisk in Afghanistan as he sets out to interview the now late Osama Bin Laden. In many ways this event sets the back drop for the whole of the book, as it charts the fate of the Middle East from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the aftermath of the US lead invasion of Iraq in 2003. Whilst Fisk’s book is by all accounts an epic tail, it never fails to be a very human account of the troubles of the middle east; often picking out the human stories from a back drop of general carnage. Whilst there is no doubting that Fisk has a political agenda it is one, for my liking, that is deeply welcome. One cannot help but get swept along with Fisk’s anger, and maybe even his guilt as a Brit, for the years of self serving meddling that has gone on in the middle east in the name of spreading democracy. It is a perspective that needs to be given voice, but, unfortunately, one that is too seldom heard. What strikes me above all about this book is, as well as being a heart felt and beautifully told moral tale for our age, it is also an incredibly prescient one. Written in 2005/06 time has made it more, not less, relevant. Long before the Arab spring and the rise of ISIS Frisk predicts the sinister aftermath of the British and American folly in Iraq with remarkable insight. This book should serve as fable to us all, and be required reading for anyone trying to understand this complex and fascinating region.

Interesting and very enlightening from start to finish. A "Big Book" in all respects, which is compulsive reading. Fisk's comprehensive, and fascinating history of the tragedy of the Middle East has filled the gaps in my understanding of how the present situation has evolved,and particularly the continuing "guilty "roll of the Western Powers in this most strategic area. I can now better understand the present situation playing out in Arab States, which can only be understood set into the proper historical perspective that Robert Fisk achieves in this book. The "nightmare" reports, particularly in his chapter on the Iraq, Iran War are not only shocking in detail,but also in the magnitude of the tragedy,which I had not previously fully comprehended. Fisk obviously risked his life on numerous occasions to get to places to see what was the truth for himself, and has proved himself to be among the very best of our few "great investigative journalists". (A sadly shrinking fraternity). The book has not only been a real education to me ,but has left me with a profound respect for Robert Fisk's obvious integrity,and moral,and physical courage. At a time when public opinion of the press is so low,it is good to know that we still have a few first rate "real" investigative journalists, and this great work of Fisk's illustrates his obvious right to that title.

An extremely readable and interesting tome but the reader will require patience in that there are over 1,250 pages and a considerable amount of Fisk type eulogising. That said, however Fisk writes with a style which is both attractive and compelling. The book, whilst covering topics which should be of common knowledge also opened my eyes to the fact that insofar as the Israeli/Palestinian confrontation is concerned, I and most of my cohort may well have fallen for the decidedly pro Israeli US concocted propaganda which has been our lot to digest since 1967. In my view, Fisk asks one to question the propriety of both sides in this most unfortunate of all long lasting conflicts but offers no answers. Mr Fisk has lived in the region for many years now and wisely holds back from sanctimony. As an end piece, I would say that this book helps the reader to understand the complexities which over arch the Middle East Region - an area which could possibly decide the fate of the World.

This should be required reading in all schools & colleges\ universities. By reading this book and questioning the world we live in - maybe our politicians will listen to the views of the people. This kind of journalism will always be needed if we are to avoid more conflicts.

Robert Fisk’s massive, thoughtful and humanistic portrayal of the killing fields of the middle east, brought on by the thoughtless and arrogant interventions over the past century of Britain, France and America in such areas we now know as Syria, Israel, Palestine, Iraq and Iran. Its 1300 pages are a modern “War and Peace” – and can be put down only long enough to rest one’s arms from the weight of the book! I’ve tried before to understand the history and events of this area – but the previous books have clinically recited events and dates and referred in a few cliches only to the horror of those events. The only individuals who figure in these other books are the leaders – but this book portrays both the victims of the slaughter and their families and also those in the Western bureaucracies – both private and public – who make the slaughter possible. Their words are closely analysed – and their actions held to account in a relentless way which restores one faith in journalism. The book’s theme of our lack of historical perspective is echoed in a much shorter book first published in 2003 by Karl Meyer - but Fisk’s book is interlaced with powerful references to his father and others who fought in these same places at the beginning of the 20th Century. This is the book which should be required reading for students of government and for those aspiring to leadership – and the subject of discussion at all book clubs. It is writing and humanity at its highest level. Government is about individuals making, or colluding with, decisions - and how rarely do we get this level of research and critical scrutiny of the words individuals use to protect themselves from questions which might challenge the lives they lead. I too have read his previous book on Lebanon - and disagree with another reviewer's comparison. This is the more significant book - which needs this detail to balance the countless times the victims are simply written out of history. But yes, perhaps, the chapter on Armenia is overdone - and fails to mention the slaughter by Armenians of Azeris in the 1990s and the displacement by them of 1 million Azeris to tent cities.

This is an enormous book, and covering developments in the wider Middle East from 1915 till the 2003 Coalition invasion of Iraq. The book doesn't really cover the whole of that time frame but rather sub-periods within. As such, it consists of seven basic sections: Interviews with Osama bin Laden, the Iran - Iraq War, Afghanistan, Algeria, the Armenian Holocaust, the Palestinian - Israeli conflict and the 91 & 03 wars with Iraq. The canvas is written as a journalistic fly-on-the-wall account, which means that in order to get the full benefit from Fisk's writing, it is often advisable to supplement ones reading with a historical perspective. Irrespective of whether you try to develop a historical perspective, it very quickly becomes clear that there is absolutely nothing that ties these seven sections together apart from their geographic proximity, the fact that a lot of people die on each page and a somewhat feeble attempt to try and link each one of them to the participation of Fisk's father in the last 6 months of World War 1. In fact, there is so little connect between the sections that the book's publisher should have suggested that each section was published as a separate book in its own right, thereby giving Fisk the opportunity to set the story in a wider historical context. This book does not benefit from being narrowed to a defined time, place or context which hugely benefitted "Pity the Nation". The book is also massively long and whole rainforests are wasted on uninteresting and redundant information. You read and read and read and keep on thinking "Come on, Fisky. Get on with it. Where is the story here?" Though far between, the stories are there and some are very good indeed, however they could have been produced much more powerfully on 700 pages rather than 1,300. There is no doubt that Fisk is a controversial writer. Comments like "Typical Fisk. It is all Israel's fault" do not do the book justice and are not a fair representation of the book's message. (Less than 1/3 of the book actually deals with Palestine & Israel) Fisk readily dishes out criticism, where he thinks criticism is due. Arafat and the PLO get as much deserved criticism for its corruption, totalitarianism manipulation as Israel gets for its settlements in Palestine. Fisk's obsession is not with Israel, but with morality. His world is good or bad. Black or white. He does not have to pay the politician's price of having to prioritize how bad, bad actually is. That is what makes him interesting and why the world needs people like him. He is a fascinating writer, always worth a read, but "The Great War for Civilisation" is by no stretch his finest hour.

The most gripping book I have ever read and a must read to understanding the seemingly endless conflicts in the middle east. Fisk tells modern history from his first hand experience in dense detail and without remorse for the perpetrators and suppliers of evil. This includes the leaders who, from the persuasion by the turkish government, have denounced the Armenian genocide to the propping up of madmen such as Saddam Hussein by western governments, arms dealers who profit from the killing of civilians, and finally to the utterly false reasons for the US to invade Iraq and the fallout from these lies that we are seeing today. Reviewers have called this book Anti-Semetic, which only goes to show that some people are afraid to hear the truth about the brutal actions of the Israeli government. This blind eye includes most governments and reporters from the western media. Fisk does not fear backlash from Israel, nor does he favor one people over the other, he simply reports what he has witnessed and what he has gathered from countless hours of research and interviews. This book is no more anti-Semitic than it is islamophobic. Fisk is simply telling history as it actually happened, no matter who it makes look bad. Personally this book was very difficult to read for two reasons. Firstly, it is a bloody narrative from first hand accounts, and should not be read if you want something warm and fuzzy. The narrative is cold, relentless, and sad, because of the brutality and betrayal of which these people have had to endure. Secondly because of how dense it is. Fisk writes in a wonderfully clear manner to cover so much information, but it would be wise to read this book with a notepad and pencil to keep the names and places straight and also to highlight some of the more telling insights that Fisk has on the events, the precursors and the fallout.

Here is an outstanding work of truly epic proportion - more ambitious, more impressive, more profound than anything that has been published by political scientists, historians or critical observers in recent decades."The Great War for Civilization" by British journalist Robert Fisk is a stupendous achievement from the pen of a man who distinguishes himself by an impeccable sense of justice, an unswerving commitment to human rights and an undauntable courage in the teeth of adversity and deprecation. With the possible exception of Edward Said, who has written on the same subject, Fisk has no peer. He is a one-man demolition crew in that he relentlessly demolishes the prevalent myths and ideologies that have long obfuscated the view of Western policy-makers when dealing with the nations of the Middle East. He exposes their hypocrisy and partiality when they take sides in the Jewish-Palestinian conflict and obtusely favor Israel. He plausibly explains the reason why the West, especially the USA and their client state Israel, have become hated and despised throughout the Arab world: too many crimes committed, too many innocents killed,too many promises broken. Fisk sweeps away the popular misconception about the causes of the sveltering problems in the region and sets the historical record straight.What is most valuable perhaps is his critial look at the fuzzy concept of "the war against terrorism", which demonstrably serves the ideological purposes of those who, under the pretext of fighting terror, attempt to impose their own political and cultural standards on people who don't want them. As the author makes clear, the explosiveness of the situation is not so much attributable to an endemic unruliness or aggressiveness of the Muslim population as to their endless sufferings at the hands of Western colonialists and imperialists. It is oppression and humiliation that have sown the seeds for violence. It is the many interventions and military campaigns of the US and their allies in Iraq, Palestine, Libya, lebanon and Afghanistan that stoke the flames of wrath. While professedly bringing the blessings of peace, justice and stability they have invariably caused bloodshed and wrought havoc. Fisk's book is a real eye-opener which deserves to be translated into all European languages and studied by all readers with a minimal interest in historical truth. If it is a truism that there are always two (or more) sides to a given human problem, Fisk is to be applauded for presenting the other side.

Anyone who wants to know more than stereotype descriptions of Middle East must read this book! Even for me, originally from the region, the book contains many new information. And what makes the book unique is that the write has had first-hand experience on almost all stories he is telling

Provavelmente o livro mais instigante que li em mais de 10 anos. Poderia ser um romance, mas é a vida profissional - e pessoal - do autor, com excelentes digressões históricas.

"...war is a security organization...because it succeeds...in inventing, real enemies to kill, and...if...not for war, society would...leave men defenseless before...a purely internal foe" ("The Psychoanalysis of War," Franco Fornari, 1974). A scribe at Britain's "The Independent," English born Robert Fisk, (1946- ), Ph.D., Political Science, LL.D., et al, has resided in Beirut, Lebanon since 1976. His compassionate book, "The Great War for Civilisation" (2006), is based on 16 years of eyewitness reporting on "The Conquest of the Middle East," culled from over 350,000 various documents. It is almost 1,400 pages, replete with 10 maps, bibliography, exhaustive notes and a chronology. Fisk's coverage of Israel's influence here and the American invasion of Iraq is provocative, because nobody wants to "damage the peace process"... Arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, whom the author questioned, don't speak out against improprieties Israel commits with ordnances because they are a valued customer. And "The Independent" did a fortnight study of American military stocks, ascertaining that thousands of armour, tanks and planes were grabbed by Israel during two decades. Officers apprised Fisk that the omnipotent Israeli lobby doesn't tolerate captious politicians, who treasure their longevity in government, therefore allowing Israel to anytime snatch more than the minimum $14 million in arms required for congressional notification, uncontested and unreported because it is "classified." The most powerful such lobby group is the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, which former doyen of, Denis Ross, plus three other Jews--if they were all Arabs, someone would've taken notice--became head negotiators of in the latter 1990's "peace envoy." The American press was reticent about this bias, but the Israeli press welcomed them. Fisk pondered, not just the "how" and "who," but the "why," behind "9/11," the 2001 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York City. Also, he says, just after this event, on September 16, no British or American newspaper "...would recall the fact that on that date in 1982, Israel's Phalangist militia allies started their three-day orgy of rape and knifing and murder in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. It followed an Israeli invasion of Lebanon...which cost the lives of 17,500 Lebanese and Palestinians, almost all of them civilians...more than five times the death toll in the September 11th, 2001 attacks.... No, Israel was not to blame for what happened..." The author explains that it was Osama bin Laden, whom he first met in 1993, and al-Qaeda, who were the perpetrators, making their statement regarding how they felt about America's involvement in the Middle East--not because "they hate our democracy." None came from Iraq, which U.S. President George W. Bush's aggressors invaded, seeking "weapons of mass destruction" which never existed, through their "war on terror." Fisk documents America's pitiless sanctions and civilian killings--"collateral damage"--in Iraq. In Baghdad, citizens' looting is not precluded by U.S. forces, who protect only the Ministry of the Interior, with its intelligence info, and the Ministry of Oil--go figure. It is Israel, who dispossessed 750,000 Palestinians of their land--and "right to exist," in the West Bank, in 1948, who now dictates American foreign policy in the Middle East, weakening Arab voices. Get "The Great War for Civilisation" by Robert Fisk, where a sparrow tells an uncaring world from a plaintive branch.

Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, most Americans, indeed most people living outside of the region that sits between the border of western China and Morocco's coastline were not interested about bespeckled patch of deserts, mountains, valleys, gorges that had been plagued with violence since time immemorial. However, as the United States' wild forays into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 came into being, much of that amnesia and blithe disregard dissipated. With that being said, journalist Robert Fisk of the UK newspaper, the Independent, has written an enormous tome that chronicles the Middle East's history and its entanglement with the great "civilised countries" of the West. While many authors have painted the region with a thick brush that simply labels the entire Middle East as a terrorist haven, Fisk is much more sensible to get past the antiquated cliches and banal platitudes that often hamper the ability for many of us to have a clear understanding about a region many of us are quite, emotionally, indifferent to. Fisk's book begins with his trip to Afghanistan in 1996. After being led from checkpoint to checkpoint, Fisk is presented to none other than Osama bin Laden himself. He holds a cordial interview with him while bin Laden goes on about his latest criticism of the West as Fisk faithfully takes note of his posture, tone, and least to say, his words; the most chilling of which makes one's hair rise: "One of our brothers had a dream..." Fisk's book is essentially about his travels along the Middle Eastern countries and occasionally taps open the history book. His book is revealing and written with excellence and empathy. As he traveled to Afghanistan to cover the war, with the Soviets in 1979, not 2001, he captures the brutality of the Afghan rebels who mercilessly slaughter Soviet teachers, hanging them from telephone wires. Yet it was not all conquest and satellite states for the Soviet Union as Fisk notes, "a modern educational system in which girls as well as boys would go to school, at which young women did not have to wear the veil, in which science and literature would be taught alongside Islam...."It had been trying to create a secular, equal society in the villages around Jalalabad" (page 58). The next several chapters spans and chronographs the Iranian revolution and its subsequent struggles in fending off the invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which was unconditionally supported by the West. Fisk documents the brutal torture methods employed by the United States' second greatest ally in the Middle East on its domestic population and how the US turned a blind eye against the atrocities. Of course, the author has no kind words to spare for the West's adored "Butcher of Baghdad", constantly and rightly so, castigating him and reminding us of his victims. The Islamic "tribunals" set up by Iran are also extensively mentioned with the US, bizarrely enough, condemning Iran. Yet the United States has no words of regret when it came to downing an Iranian passenger jet during the Iran-Iraq war despite the fact evidence proved an otherwise intentional attack. Perhaps Fisk's most emotionally driven part of the book is Chapter 10, entitled "The First Holocaust", known much better as the Armenian Genocide. Being an Armenian myself I was surprised to find an entire chapter solely devoted to the near elimination of the Armenian people in 1915, when the Ottoman Turkish government sought to cleanse its minority problem by systematic rape, mass murder, and deportations through the scorching deserts of Syria. Fisk's fervent arguments are seen most pronounced in this chapter as he lambastes the world media which often refers to the event with simple euphemisms: "tragedy", "massacres", and "deportations". He documents how even many Jewish leaders, notably Shimon Peres, refuse to acknowledge the plight of the Armenians as a Genocide. He condemns the present day Turkish government for giving its ridiculous excuses and for denying its own past and goes further to condemn those countries who refuses to do it because of their close relations with the NATO member. Fisk asks us what would happen if world leaders would similarly use those terms to describe the Jewish Holocaust and refer it to a disputed event...of course we all know what would happen if they did. Of course no Middle Eastern book can be written without mentioning the Palestine-Israel conflict. Three chapters are devoted and while Fisk acknowledges the brutality of the Palestinian suicide bombers he turns and asks why Israel's actions often go uncritcized by the media and by world leaders. He does an exceptional job in not only this section but the entire book by naming for us the once nameless, the victims who weren't famous partisan leaders or known diplomats but those who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. By doing this, he allows us to at least place some sympathy so that those who perished in a cell in Iraq's torture pens do not remain a statistic; only to be cited endlessly twenty years later as a rational for war. He doesn't allow us to forget Israel's indiscrimante military raids which lead to the deaths of thousands and notes the number of UN resolutions it has violated, including building illegal settlements across the West Bank and Gaza. He recognizes the violence committed by the Palestinians but also forces us to take a look and scrutinize Israel's questionable ethics in dealing with the Palestinians. Fisk's book also contains no praise for the George W. Bush administration, especially its botched invasions of not only Iraq but also Afghanistan. He records the US's reckless trampling of Iraq against its former ally, Saddam and the subsequent looting that took place after Saddam fell as the administration obliviously pointed to it as an example of new found liberty. His work chronicles the Middle East from the 20th century and its frequent interventions by the French, British, and Americans whom constantly change the region's political landscape each time it reconfigures itself to be incongruent with their interests. It is poigant, shocking at times, and he does not spare us from the bloody carnage that has been wrought upon the area for decades and which will most probably continue to do as years pass by as we idlely watch it change all over again.