The Spiders of Allah

The Spiders of Allah
By James Hider

Thankfully, I have not witnessed war firsthand but have relied on journalists Ike James Hider to escort me through the raw, pock-marked landscape of violent human conflict. Hider is to be commended for the understated manner by which he uses his unbeliever status to frame his engaging narrative of the Middle East during the past decade.

Unbridled, zealous belief so often undergirds violence between peoples that it might seem hackneyed to write another book on the subject. But this is a collection of personal stories that transcends political rhetoric, avoids hyperbole, and avoids oversimplification. At times Hider offers unusual Biblical references that bring to life Santayana's famous quote about those of us who do not learn from history being destined to repeat it. At other times, Hider describes primitive, pre-scientific beliefs among the Iraqis that are at once entertaining and disheartening. How can we continue to believe our Western style democracy will ever take root and flourish in such an environment.

A wartime journalist must seek to balance vivid, horrific details that satisfy prurient interests and stories that preserve to prevent their readers from becoming anesthetized. Over thirty years of practicing psychiatry I have treated many individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder but the number of persons suffering extreme trauma in the Middle East (including American and European personnel) is unimaginable to me.

Within weeks of 9/11 I was convinced that The Patriot Act, the march to war in Iraq, and many other events was proof that the terrorist attack was America's Reichstag fire. In fact, I briefly composed a basket of stocks chosen by investigating the corporate relationships of Vice President Cheney (his wife) and Cabinet members like Rumsfeld. The basket of stocks rose dramatically in the years following the attacks on the Twin Towers. My wife forbid me from actually investing in this basket of stocks that would profit from massive bloodshed and human suffering. My conspiratorial ideas may reflect an effort to find meaning from senseless violence. But Hider's broader vision of history is seasoned in real life, face to face encounters with Middle Easterners.

The Spiders of Allah is infused with a sense of destiny. For instance, in Karbala, during the holiest Shia holiday, James Hider and his girlfriend, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro (aka Lulu), a reporter for National Public Radio, are subjected to a search as they enter their hotel. They are nearly banished from town when Lulu is discovered to have a bottle of wine in her bag. The pair secure their release for fewer than ten dollars and the following day they are on the scene of terrible carnage when more than one dozen suicide bombers execute their brutal attack. Hider juxtaposes the calm demeanor of a young Shia sheikh whose religious joy belies the loss of his cousin, who hours earlier was blown apart by one of the blasts. Maybe Hider and Garcia-Navarro do not see that their commitment to reliable, honest journalism shares a heritage with the religious fervor of the young sheikh and other believers.

The Spiders of Allah opens with a slightly self conscious voice but by the end of the book, Hider gives the readers a chapter titled, "Creatures of the Id" wherein he muses and speculates about the abhorrent features of human nature that lead us to fight. The last chapters are free of self consciousness and they provide a window into how war correspondents resolve the exquisite and insane circumstances they encounter. I have been a fan of Garcia-Navarro's reporting on NPR for years and Hider's book is the sort of firsthand narrative that can only be written by persons like this pair who travel at the margins where history is made.

The book is missing the most important chapter in the lives of Hider and Garcia-Navarro that was written after the book was published. Earlier this year they were married.