Illusions of Triumph: An Arab View of the Gulf War

Mohamed Heikal is one of the Arab world's most distinguished journalists and commentators. This book describes the Gulf War and the events which led up to it from an Arab perspective - a perspective very different from the often simplistic and stereotypical reporting of the Western media. Heikal argues that Western observers have completely failed to recognize that Arabs see themselves as members of a single nation, and that many of the borders between present-day Arab states are regarded as arbitrary, artificial and much-resented impositions. In the course of this book the author raises, and attempts to answer, fundamental questions such as how Saddam Hussein came to be regarded as a hero by some many in the Arab and Third Worlds, what are Arab perceptions of Kuwait and what were President Bush's motives for pursuing a war with Iraq?