The Spiders of Allah

236 Pages·2009·1.14 MB·English

by  James Hider

About the Book
Whether it’s Shia death squads roaming the lawless streets of Iraq in the
aftermath of Saddam or hardcore Zionist settlers still fighting ancient Biblical
battles in the hills of the West Bank, the bloodshed perpetrated in the name of
religion today is nowhere more obvious than in the Middle East.
Dodging bullets, dogma and certainty, James Hider travels around the region
witnessing what he calls the ‘crack cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism’. From
Israel to Gaza, to Iraq and then back to Jerusalem, his journey takes him to the
very heart of today’s holy wars.
There he meets terrorists and their victims, soldiers and clerics, ordinary people
and extraordinary people. And the question at the back of his mind is: how can
people not only believe in all this madness, but die and kill for it too?
About the Author
James Hider is The Times Middle East Bureau Chief, currently based in
Jerusalem. This is his first book.
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THE SPIDERS OF ALLAH
A BLACK SWAN BOOK: 9780552775496
First published in Great Britain
in 2009 by Doubleday
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Black Swan edition published 2010
Copyright © James Hider 2009
James Hider has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is substantially a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences
and recollections of the author. In some limited cases names of people, places,
dates, sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the
privacy of others. The author has stated to the publishers that, except in such
minor respects not affecting the substantial accuracy of the work, the contents of
this book are true.
Extract on page 152, reprinted with the permission of The Free Press, a division
of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen
Mitchell. Copyright © 2004 by Stephen Mitchell. All rights reserved.
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copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions
in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in
any future edition.
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CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Al-Qaeda Goes to Hollywood Jaffa Road
The Transmitter of Hopes and Fears The Mickey Mouse Death Club
The Dirt Lot of the Philistines Fallen Idols, Risen Angels
Into Iraq Cut Adrift
Freedom’s City
Bring ’em On
The Birth of an Insurgency Translator Wars
Learning to Pity the US Proconsul In Babylon’s Halls
Tourism under Fire Ancient Feuds
A Festival of Blood in Karbala City of Broken Mosques
How the Spiders of Allah Defeated the US Marine Corps Two in the Heart,
One in the Mind
Battlefields of the Soul Death in the Venice of the East
Three Summers in Basra Inside the Spider’s Web
The Fall of Fallujah Pandora’s Sandbox
Bombs, Beheadings and Bullshit Creatures of the Id
Why We Fight
Epilogue
Canaanite Karma
For Lulu
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to all my Iraqi friends and colleagues
for their great courage and enduring friendship throughout the years of war: I
could not have done what I did without them. Special thanks also to Rebecca
Strong, my friend and agent, without whose encouragement and guidance this
book would probably not have been completed. Thanks also to Doug Young and
all the team at Transworld for their instant enthusiasm and continued hard work
at each stage.