The Baghdad Betrayal by Robert Charles is a ripping yarn set in Iraq at the start of ‘the invasion’ and focuses on the UK SAS’ involvement in securing UK citizens and interests.

Mark Falcon (ex-SAS, now ‘journalist’ happens to be the right person in the right place to do a favour for his former boss, Colonel Harry Killian who needs to rescue an Iraqi military defector. ‘The West’ is poised to invade so Falcon’s window for the rescue/extraction is small.

Falcon is also to get British businessman’s son out, but, because it seems a story always needs a romantic thread, young Richard Campbell won’t leave without his Iraqi girlfriend, but she won’t leave without her father’s permission and her brother won’t let her anyway and as it turns out, the father is also the defector. Time because scarce as the invasion starts, Campbell and his girlfriend are captured by the Iraqi secret police and then and what’s with the defector who made it safely to London sneaking himself back into Iraq. It’s money of course.

This is a story about the old stories of UK business tycoons and their military associations as much as it is about religious and political (and money) intrigue in Iraq. It’s an exciting story, would make a great movie and is well worth reading if only to reinforce the cynical view that all wars are really about money. Highly recommended.