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Yasmina Khadra. Les Sirènes de Bagdad. Paris. Julliard. 2006. 337 pages. euro19. ISBN 978-2-260-01712-7
_____. The Sirens of Baghdad. John Cullen, tr. New York. Nan A. Talese / Doubleday. 2007. 307 pages. $19.95. ISBN 978-0-385-52174-1
Yasmina Khadra's last three novels offer close encounters with the forces that render Kabul, Israel, and the West Bank-and now Baghdad and Beirut-hotspots. The unnamed protagonist of Les Sirènes de Bagdad attends university classes in Baghdad until the American occupation forces his return to his isolated Bedouin village. Revering his traditional culture, the quiet young man prefers static Kafr Karem to bustling modern Baghdad. Abhorring violence, he distances himself from the angry young voices that increasingly drown out those of the elders. But as the occupation draws ever closer, disrupting the town's rhythms, the war confronts him directly: GIs kill his friend in a misunderstanding; an American missile strikes a wedding party in a nearby village; insurgent-seeking GIs callously shame his father before him. Horror...