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A Wonderful Book About Carpets
Friday, October 4, 2002 / Rajab 27, 1423
By Keith Birmingham
Special to Arab News

There is fascinating insight into his government-escorted trips around Baghdad, Iraq arriving a day after the end of the US and UK Operation Dessert Fox. It was great testimony to the character of the ordinary Iraqi that he was still treated as a guest in their sanction-devastated country despite their anger at being targeted yet again. When visiting an auction in Baghdad, antique carpets were seen being auctioned off for less than $100 each.

A glance at the title of this book will stir in the imagination vivid images of shady carpet merchant cartels trying to outfox one another with the intention of becoming the No. 1 choice for both importers and individual collectors.

However, "The Carpet Wars" is not about carpet cartels. It’s about the Australian journalist Christopher Kremmer’s epic 10-year journey through the ancient carpet trade routes of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. His insatiable desire to visit and write about these beautiful, historic, cultured -- and at times internally troubled -- lands and their people was not without risks, be it from a stray mortar shell, a hidden land mine in Afghanistan, Kargil or Kashmir or the haphazard firing of a Taleban rifle. Death was always lurking in the shades, looking for a victim; and he was never too far away from whoever it chose.

The book is a treasure trove of information: Historical, religious, geographical, cultural, political and artistic. Christopher Kremmer describes, with a clarity that is magnified by his razor sharp observations and colorful imagination, his personal meetings and interviews with the many personalities he encountered on his travels.

Interviews included the likes of former Afghan President Dr. Muhammad Najibullah, internationally famous warlords such as Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmad Shah Masood and numerous high-level Taleban representatives.
(More: ArabNews.com News Source)
2002 © Arab News.

Dan