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Acclaimed journalist Paul William Roberts shares his field notes in the opening pages of A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (ISBN 1-55192-819-1, $16.95 pb, October). “I write in a state of raging anger and shame about what I saw,” says Roberts. “A fraud was perpetrated on the entire world. A weak and defenseless nation was invaded and occupied by the greatest superpower in history on a pretext that is a transparent deception. This should bother someone. My friend Bassim and his whole family were killed. This bothers me.”

A War Against Truth is an exposé of the politics behind the war, and of the brutal reality the Iraqi people experienced but the rest of the world was not shown.

A classical scholar who has spent three decades covering the Middle East and is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Saddam Hussein, Roberts dined with Jordan’s Crown Prince Hassan in the early days of the war. Their conversation gives insight into Saddam Hussein’s character: ‘“He truly loves is country,” Hassan told me. “It is his passion – no one can take that away from him. He’s not a learned man but there is no aspect of Iraq’s vast history he isn’t intimately familiar with. That he believes he has always acted in her best interests I do not in the least bit doubt. Just as I do not doubt he is a dreadful tyrant and a brute.”’

Roberts enters Iraq in time to witness the “shock and awe” bombing campaign from a Baghdad suburb. After standing by helplessly as his old friend tries to save his family from the rubble of their bombed-out house, Roberts escapes to Jordan. He returns to witness the “liberation” of Iraq and meet with a variety of people, including Saddam Hussein’s secretary, looters selling priceless artifacts, American and Iraqi soldiers and secret police chiefs thinking about a career change. He interviews Tariq Aziz in hiding, discovers a mass grave, sleeps in Saddam’s bed in one of his opulent palaces and is interrogated by U.S. intelligence.

As Martin Amis writes, “A War Against Truth is elegant, humane, moving and as funny as it can be; as profoundly tragic as it must be.”

Paul William Roberts is the author of many books, including Smokescreen, Empire of the Soul, Journey of the Magi and The Demonic Comedy. He has written for many international publications including Harper’s, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Times Literary Supplement, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Jordan Times and The Globe and Mail.

Praise for A War Against Truth
Shortlisted for Charles Taylor literary non-fiction prize (Canada)

“I read Roberts's book in a single night, couldn't stop. Despite the bitter humor and riveting eyewitness accounts of the Iraq tragedies, reading this lacerating chronicle is about as enjoyable as ripping off scabs. But it is so vivid and compelling that it is impossible to put it down. Reading A War Against Truth is as necessary as opening one's eyes in the morning, for those who want to perceive the world as it is — and to do something about it.” – Noam Chomsky

Canadian journalist Roberts (Smokescreen ) declares his country's "actual role in the world... [is] to act as the conscience of America... it's a dirty job--but someone who speaks English has to do it." Roberts--who was in Baghdad when the U.S. first attacked, but escaped to Jordan and returned to Iraq two weeks later--takes on this duty with aplomb.... Though he details ancient and recent history of the region and the book often comes alive with his on-the-ground reporting, the narrative is refracted through his "raging anger, and shame." ... Readers who get their news from sources other than Fox may, like Roberts, object to the war in Iraq, but his strident tone will alienate all but Chomsky adherents. —Publishers Weekly

“Roberts is engaged, ethically, emotionally, and intellectually, in what he sees. He goes far beyond the 'objectivity' to which journalists pay lip service, and he renders the bloody mess of today’s Iraq from revealing angles. Going ever deeper into Iraq’s heart of darkness, he shows us how the shadows fall: from without as well as within.” —Quill & Quire

“A War Against Truth is as much history as it is current events, unfolding in a masterpiece of imagery, which sheds light on dark disturbing forces in eastern and western governments past and present.” —Common Ground

“Paul William Roberts' angry, deeply personal and finely written account of the Iraq invasion.”—Maclean's Magazine