Robert Fisk - The Great War for Civilisation - The Conquest of the Middle East

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This revised eBook edition published by Fourth Estate in 2014

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2005

Previously published in paperback by Harper Perennial in 2006

Copyright © Robert Fisk 2005, 2006

Quotation of Carl Sandburg’s ‘Grass’ taken from Chicago Poems , copyright 1916 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston and renewed 1944 by Carl Sandburg, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Inc.

Quotation from W. B. Yeats’s ‘Lapiz Lazuli’ reproduced by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd. on behalf of Michael B. Yeats.

Quotation from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (edited and translated 1954 by Louis and Aylmer Maude) reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press.

Quotation from G. B. Shaw’s Major Barbara reproduced by permission of The Society of Authors, on behalf of the Bernard Shaw Estate.

Quotation from T. S. Eliot’s preface to The Dark Side of the Moon reproduced by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.

Robert Fisk asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The publishers have tried to trace and acknowledge copyright-holders,

but would be eager to rectify any omissions.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9781841150086

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2014 ISBN: 9780007370405 Version: 2017-01-12

‘There is nobody in British journalism to match Robert Fisk. This book is his testament … His technique is well-honed: a vivid eyewitness account, unmatchable quotes and the killer detail that everyone else has missed’

Sunday Times

‘Brilliant … powerfully written. He has turned a slightly dubious and over-romanticised craft into an honourable vocation’

PHILLIP KNIGHTLEY, Independent on Sunday

‘This book will make Robert Fisk an even greater star—deeply moving’

Literary Review

‘A remarkable book’

New Statesman

‘Fisk is one of the best-known reporters in the world … He interleaves political analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories which concern him [and] writes with a marvellous resource of image and language. His investigative reporting is lethally painstaking’

NEAL ACHERSON, Independent

‘Part-memoir, all heart, this 1,328-page behemoth will delight Fisk’s fans, infuriate his foes and fascinate all’

DONALD MORRISON, Financial Times

‘A fierce indictment of Britain and the United States’

Sunday Telegraph

‘A mammoth and magisterial work, the definitive summation of what has gone wrong in the West’s foreign policies towards Arabia. It should be compulsory reading for those who aspire to lead’

Scottish Sunday Herald

‘It is a history book which journalists, politicians and academics will turn to again and again in the years ahead to grasp the details of the Middle East’

WILLIAM GRAHAM, Irish News

‘Fisk is a gifted writer and an accomplished storyteller … [readers] will enjoy the colorful narrative [and] the wealth of hard-won narrative detail accumulated over his decades of intrepid reporting’

Economist

‘Vivid, graphic, intense and very personal … this is a book of unquestionable importance’

Washington Post

For Bill and Peggy, who taught me to love books and history

COVER

TITLE PAGE THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION The Conquest of the Middle East ROBERT FISK

COPYRIGHT COPYRIGHT Fourth Estate An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk This revised eBook edition published by Fourth Estate in 2014 First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2005 Previously published in paperback by Harper Perennial in 2006 Copyright © Robert Fisk 2005, 2006 Quotation of Carl Sandburg’s ‘Grass’ taken from Chicago Poems , copyright 1916 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston and renewed 1944 by Carl Sandburg, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Inc. Quotation from W. B. Yeats’s ‘Lapiz Lazuli’ reproduced by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd. on behalf of Michael B. Yeats. Quotation from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (edited and translated 1954 by Louis and Aylmer Maude) reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. Quotation from G. B. Shaw’s Major Barbara reproduced by permission of The Society of Authors, on behalf of the Bernard Shaw Estate. Quotation from T. S. Eliot’s preface to The Dark Side of the Moon reproduced by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. Robert Fisk asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publishers have tried to trace and acknowledge copyright-holders, but would be eager to rectify any omissions. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication Source ISBN: 9781841150086 Ebook Edition © JUNE 2014 ISBN: 9780007370405 Version: 2017-01-12

PRAISE PRAISE ‘There is nobody in British journalism to match Robert Fisk. This book is his testament … His technique is well-honed: a vivid eyewitness account, unmatchable quotes and the killer detail that everyone else has missed’ Sunday Times ‘Brilliant … powerfully written. He has turned a slightly dubious and over-romanticised craft into an honourable vocation’ PHILLIP KNIGHTLEY, Independent on Sunday ‘This book will make Robert Fisk an even greater star—deeply moving’ Literary Review ‘A remarkable book’ New Statesman ‘Fisk is one of the best-known reporters in the world … He interleaves political analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories which concern him [and] writes with a marvellous resource of image and language.