A classic, engrossing war correspondent's story by the only Australian journalist who was in Baghdad for the duration of the war.
As war loomed, reporters from around the world swarmed into Iraq. But in the end Paul McGeough was one of a handful - and the only Australian - to cover the entire war from Baghdad.
McGeough was there when the Americans tried to short-circuit full-blown war, with a targeted missile strike aimed at destroying the Iraqi leadership in one fell swoop; and, two days later, when an electrifying missile blitz on downtown Baghdad signalled the unmitigated power of the Pentagon's 'Shock and Awe' battle plan.
In the following days he documented the death of the innocents and the cheap propaganda efforts of both sides; the heroic efforts by doctors and nurses in filthy, under-supplied hospitals; the collapse of the regime and the US-led conquest of Baghdad; and the rampant looting that tore away the last vestiges of Saddam.
It is a unique feat to be the sole Australian reporter to see such raw history in the making. But Paul McGeough's remarkable achievement is to have written such an incredibly compelling narrative of the closing days of the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein while under real and present danger.
Here - with his personal daily diaries - is his definitive account of 30 days in Baghdad that changed the Middle East forever.
