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Book Review: The Prince of Marshes
By: Caroline Anne Sapp '09
STAFF WRITER

As a Foreign Service officer for the British Empire and The New York Times best selling-author of The Places in Between, a tale of the author’s journey on-foot across Afghanistan, Rory Stewart surprised no one when he wrote a book on the war in Iraq. Stewart writes to give a voice to the Marsh Arab tribes for whom he served as deputy governor in their provinces of Amara and Nasiriyah.

Stewart’s book, The Prince of the Marshes, is neither a history of the Coalition Provisional Authority nor of the provinces in which he serves. The book is instead Stewart’s personal memoir of his time in Iraq and the goals he tries to accomplish with the Marsh Arabs.

The book flows from the comical, as Stewart negotiates with two sheiks clad in fake Nike sportswear demanding the eviction of the CPA, to the downright harrowing as Stewart quells rebellion in Nisiriyah against the entire Coaltion presence that, at its height, includes three days of RPG (rapidly propelled grenades) fire upon the CPA compound in Nasiriyah.

The overwhelming tone of Stewart’s work is of dejection. The southern tribes of Iraq reject the presence of both the CPAs, and each other’s presence in cooperative government. Stewart spends over $10 million dollars in less than five months on building factories, schools, and hospitals and continues to be accused of stealing oil for the United States.

There is also an underlying tone condemning the disorganization of the Coalition, as Stewart relates the repeated failures of the Italians to protect the civilian staff on the CPA compound.

However, Stewart does try to add a bit of color to his story, by inserting anecdotes about the different Iraqi and Coalition people he meets along the way.

A British businessman in Nasiriyah reveals some interesting realities about the accuracy of news reporting and competition for prestige between allied armies. He is kidnapped and the newly elected Iraqi governor negotiates his release. However, when he is released to the CPA, the media quickly gives credit first to the Italians, then to the Americans, and then to the British.

Stewart closes his book with a confrontation with Asad, the man who organized the shelling of the CPA compound in reaction to the election of an unwanted police chief. To Stewart’s surprise, the insurgent calls the diplomat a hero. When Stewart questions him as to why he tried to kill him two weeks earlier, Asad replies “Ah, Seyyed Rory that was nothing personal.” This again reflects the clashing ideologies of the CPA and the people of Iraq.

While Stewart’s book does not presuppose to offer a political judgment on the morality or the necessity of the war, Rory Stewart’s The Prince of the Marshes goes a long way to explain how our military men and women and our tax dollars are being spent in defense of American values and the protection and promotion of the Iraqi people.

Rory Stewart, The Prince of the Marshes. (New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2006. pp. 396).