The Prince of the Marshes

The Prince of the Marshes
Rory Stewart
Harvest Books
ISBN: 978-0156032797
Non-Fiction, History, Memoir
Reviewed by Chris Gerrib

I have just finished reading The Prince of the Marshes, a book about the Iraq occupation. It’s not a terribly hopeful picture. The Prince of the Marshes is a memoir, and like all such books, has the not-so-hidden agenda of not making the author look like a fool. Even reading with that filter, one finds Iraq to be a depressing place.
The title refers to a tribal sheik who was very influential in Maysan, an Iraqi province in the south. The author, Rory Stewart, was assigned as deputy governor there under the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). For a time, the governor post was vacant, so he was de-facto ruler of that province. Stewart also spent some time in Dhi Qar, at the provincial capital of Nasiriyah, during the first Shia uprising.
Although the CPA had no shortage of self-imposed problems, from lack of staff to an extremely aggressive reconstruction timetable, the real problem painted by Stewart is an Iraqi society that was fragmented, distrustful, and unwilling to cooperate with each other. Kidnappings and shootings of people by rival parties, tribes or groups was common. Stewart held a number of meetings and got pledges by all the influential attendees as to a course of action, but then watched as those same people didn't match action with words.
Stewart surprisingly accomplished much in terms of reconstruction, but political success eluded him. The Prince of the Marshes is a powerful but depressing story of that effort, yet well worth the read, especially now as we evaluate the way forward in Iraq.