> I guess only John Lacny here has read the huge tome of
> Hanna Batatu
I wish I had -- I just can't take credit where credit isn't due. I've read parts of it; it's thorough and very informative, and I'm sure I'd profit from reading all of it. Learning as much as possible about Iraq is a good idea for obvious reasons, it's just that I've been doing other kinds of reading in my spare time. But it's my understanding that Batatu's book is the most thorough on the political history of modern Iraq, though it ends around the time of Saddam Hussein's final ascent to sole power in the late 1970s.
The book is out of print, though it should be relatively easy to find in a good library or through inter-library loan. But it's a good 1,200 pages or more, so photocopying costs would be pretty high.
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!