Book Review - The Vicar of Baghdad: Fighting for Peace in the Middle East

Photograph from the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle EastReligion and Politics have always had a long and complicated relationship, particularly in the Middle East. Reverend Canon Andrew White, a larger-than-life figure perhaps best known as the "Vicar of Baghdad", is an Anglican Christian minister with long-term experience as both a priest and mediator in the region. His autobiographical book "The Vicar of Baghdad: Fighting for Peace in the Middle East" recalls his experience in that region and is a moving story of a courageous man facing apparently insurmountable odds but remaining true to his humanity and his beliefs.

The book covers Canon White's general history in Middle East though it focuses largely on his experience in Iraq following the recent war. Canon White had been involved with Iraq since 1998, long prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and bears a testament to the horrors of Saddam Hussein's regime, relating his run in with one of Hussein's sons and showing the reader something of how rotten that government had become. Even though he was in favour of the invasion, Canon White has been critical of the handling of the aftermath and the subsequent events in Iraq, although one of his biggest financial and material supporters is the US Pentagon (another complex relation that he has to balance).

Saddam Hussein's government had been a strongly secularist baathist state, long attempting to keep religious and other sectarian divisions under control. Canon White understood these divisions and also the danger that would happen within Iraq were Saddam's regime to crumble. Speaking with the new American administrator following the invasion, Canon White argued that among the first priorities of the coalition should be to engage with local religious leaders and to win their support, while the Americans believed that Iraq was simply a secular culture and that the first priorities should be utilities such as power and water. Arguably, it was neglecting those importance divisions that led to the a lot of the serious violence and strife following the invasion.

Canon White does not shy away from the negative impact of religion on a divided state, but he also write movingly of those in positions of religious authority who are working to build greater peace in Iraq, who he refers to as a "high council". He writes of how he uses his position as cleric to build rapport with different leaders, both religious (including different Muslim groups, Jews and Christians) and political, in order to mediate disputes for which he has gained a large amount of local respect. One of the most interest stories Canon White recalls resolves around his learning how to write an Islamic Fatwa to be signed by Sunni and Shi'a leaders that would condemn any who used violence in the name of Islam in Iraq. However, Canon White makes no bones about the difficult position his role as intermediary gives him: "I live with a price on my head ...The kind of people that I spend my time engaging with are not usually very nice. On the whole nice people do not cause wars ."

A latter part of the book focuses on Canon White's personal ministry in Iraq (with notable items such as how Saddam Hussein's palace swimming pool is now used as a baptistry), including his time split between his chaplaincy role with coalition forces within the Green Zone in Baghdad and also outside at St George's Anglican church in the city itself. Whether you follow a faith or none at all, the story of Canon White's congregation at St George is a deeply moving one where the impact of large events is felt on individuals who are often helpless in the face of violence and the turmoil in Iraq. St George's has suffered bombing and attacks by terrorists and militia groups. In his role as Vicar, he has been involved in complex hostage negotiation as well as having to console families who have lost loved ones and providing free medical care to all who come with need (including to Muslims).

In conclusion, Canon Andrew White is an extraordinary man in a very challenging position doing the work he believes God has called him to do. Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim or any other faith or none, I fully recommend this book as a window onto modern Iraq and into the process of negotiation and mediation in a difficult region of the world. While it offers no easy answers (for there are none), the final tone of the book is ultimately hopeful, even in troubled situations.

For further information on Canon White's work, visit his website of his organisation The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East