000			03079cam a22002538a 4500
001			011129
005			20231009192143.0
008			090804s2009 nyu 000 0beng
010			_a2008024402
050	0	0	_aDS79.66.J385 _bS74 2009
082	0	0	_a956.7044 STE
100	1		_aSteavenson, Wendell, 1970-
245	1	4	_aThe weight of a mustard seed _b: the intimate story of an Iraqi General and his family during thirty years of tyranny _c/ Wendell Steavenson
260			_aNew York _b: Collins Pub. Group _c, 2009.
300			_a288 p. _b: map _c; 22 cm.
505	0		_aHis wife -- His first victory -- His eldest and favourite daughter -- Inside -- Yes, but -- His third and most religious son -- "Are you sure it's not kut?" -- Euphemisms -- Uprising -- The good Caliph -- Mosque -- His Sheikh -- Shame -- Pride -- Waiting with machination -- The carcass of an abandoned refridgerator -- Collection -- Generals in general -- Epilogue -- Cast of characters.
520			_aGeneral Kamel Sachet was a favorite of Saddam Hussein's, a hero of the Iran-Iraq war, head of the army in Kuwait City during Desert Storm, governor of the province of Maysan, and father of nine children. When author Wendell Steavenson became intrigued by his story, she began with a few questions about Sachet and his fellow Baathist loyalists: "Why had they served such a regime? How had they accommodated their own morality? How had they lived? How had they lived with themselves?" Her journey to find these answers took five years, and an accumulation of facts, opinions, fears, confessions and suspicions from Sachet's family, friends, and enemies. The result is not just a gripping account of one man's rise and fall, but a vivid and compassionate portrayal of the Iraqi people.As Sachet rose from policeman to Special Forces officer and then General, he made more and more sacrifices to remain in Saddam's good favor. Steadfast in his loyalty to God and his President, Sachet attended military executions and endured his own imprisonment as Saddam's behavior took increasingly paranoiac and power-crazy turns. But when it came time for Sachet's sons to do their military service, he refused to let them join the "criminal" organization to which he had given his life. Kamel Sachet realized, too late, that he'd become a participant in the terror regime that had strangled his county and destroyed its people. Through his story and the stories of those around him, Wendell Steavenson shows the choices Iraqis have had to make between exile and collaboration, God and jihad. Here are the Iraqis behind the headlines and the tragedy begotten of unintended consequences. And here is the first full-length narrative from an immensely talented journalist who has already been compared by critics to Bruce Chatwin and Ryszard Kapucinksi.
600	1	0	_aJanabi, Kamel Sachet Aziz.
650		0	_aGenerals _x--Iraq _z--Biography
651			_aIraq _x-Politics and government _y-1979-1991
651			_aIraq _x-Politics and government _y-1991-2003
651		0	_aIraq _x--Social life and customs
942			_cMO
999			_c230254 _d230254