What do you think?
Rate this book
Escape from Baghdad
The gripping true story of James Ashcroft’s audacious return to war-torn Iraq to save his friend In James Ashcroft’s first book, Making a Killing , his escape from death at the hands of insurgents in Iraq was thanks to the bravery of his interpreter and friend Sammy, a Sunni ex-Iraqi air force pilot. Now, a call for help means Ash must take a break from chasing pirates in West Africa and return to the chaos of war-torn Baghdad. Abandoned by the occupying Coalition Forces and at the mercy of the Shia-dominated Iraqi police, Sammy and his family face certain death unless Ash and his crack team can get in and quickly rescue them. From secretly acquiring weapons on the black market to dodging the fearsome death squads that roam the streets and the suicide bombers that wreak havoc on a daily basis, this is the story of a vulnerable family adrift in the chaos of war, where the only thing that can be relied upon is the bond between former brothers-in-arms. And this time, these guns-for-hire who come with a hefty price tag aren’t even being paid—this time, it’s personal.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 2009
7 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 23, 2013
Membaca buku ini umpama membaca sebuah buku fiksyen. Tetapi,buku ini bukan sebuah kisah rekaan. Sebaliknya,sebuah kisah benar! Namun,thrillnya mengatasi cereka di dalam sesebuah novel.
Buku ini merupakan sebuah memoir yang menyaksikan penulis buku ini,James Ashcroft,kembali ke Baghdad,Iraq pada tahun 2007 untuk menyelamatkan seorang yang dikenalinya. Orang itu merupakan seorang bekas juruterbang tentera udara Iraq sewaktu zaman pemerintahan Saddam Hussein yang bernama Assam Mashooen (lebih dikenali sebagai Sammy). Ashcroft mengenali Sammy ketika beliau menjadi seorang operator untuk sebuah Private Military Contractor (PMC) pada tahun 2003-2005. Sammy ketika itu menjadi penterjemah untuk Ashcroft dan rakan-rakan sejawatnya yang lain. Selepas beberapa tahun meninggalkan bumi Iraq yang bergolak,Ashcroft dan beberapa rakannya yang terhutang nyawa dengannya dahulu kembali untuk menyelamatkan Sammy dan keluarganya. Mereka melakukannya atas kerana ehsan dan budi. Mereka mempertaruhkan nyawa mereka tanpa mengharapkan balasan wang. Ashcroft dan rakan-rakannya perlu membawa keluar Sammy dan anggota keluarganya daripada Baghdad,dengan skuad pembunuh Syiah memburu mereka!
Ini merupakan kali pertama saya membaca sebuah memoir dari sudut kaca mata seorang 'tentera upahan' atau nama komersilnya kini,PMC. Dari sudut yang lain juga,membaca buku ini seolah-olah sebuah eye-opener kepada saya sendiri secara peribadinya. Banyak perkara mengenai Perang Iraq (dan konflik yang berlanjutan kesan dari perang tersebut) yang selama ini saya tidak tahu atau tidak saya endahkan,didedahkan. Secara ringkasnya,terdapat tiga (3) pengajaran yang saya dapati usai membaca buku yang bertajuk Escape from Baghdad: First Time Was For the Money, This Time It's Personal ini:
1) Tidak semua orang kafir itu jahat dan tidak berperikemanusiaan. Dalam konteks buku ini,orang Barat yang berkulit putih dan beragama Kristian (sesetengahnya tidak beragama,mengamalkan ateis di dalam kehidupan). Adanya golongan ini yang sanggup berjuang,meletakkan nyawa mereka di hujung tanduk untuk menyelamatkan seseorang yang pernah berjasa kepada mereka. Inilah contoh moral baik yang dipamerkan oleh Ashcroft dan rakan-rakannya seperti yang diceritakan di dalam buku ini.
2) Hargai keamanan yang kita miliki ini,terutamanya di Malaysia. Manfaatkan sebaik-baiknya dan peliharalah keamanan itu sebaik-baiknya. Membaca penderitaan yang dialami oleh rakyat Iraq seperti yang digambarkan melalui beberapa helaian di dalam buku ini ternyata menginsafkan.
3) Banteras agama/fahaman Syiah! Negara Malaysia merupakan,secara tradisinya,sebuah negara yang mengamalkan Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah yang berpaksikan mazhab Syafie. Namun,pada hari ini,kita diancam dengan fahaman sesat tersebut. Sememangnya,kini mereka nampak kecil dan tidak kuat. Namun,belajarlah apa yang berlaku di Iraq. Selepas sahaja Saddam Hussein digulingkan,golongan Syiah ini mula menunjukkan 'belang' mereka yang sebenar. Mereka menubuhkan Killer Squad Syiah yang memburu orang-orang Sunni di Iraq. Bukan sahaja membunuh,mereka juga menculik,menyeksa,memperkosa dan merampas harta orang-orang Sunni hanya kerana dendam dan hasad dengki. Tidak mustahil perkara ini berlaku kerana agama mereka ini wujud hasil dari Fitnah,Dendam dan Amarah! Agama yang terhasil daripada bisikan syaitan yang dilaknat! Di dalam buku ini,Ashcroft sendiri menyedari betapa berbahayanya Syiah yang bersifat ekstremis ini. Justeru itu,kita orang Islam perlu berwaspada dengan ancaman Syiah ini.
Buku ini merupakan sebuah memoir yang menyaksikan penulis buku ini,James Ashcroft,kembali ke Baghdad,Iraq pada tahun 2007 untuk menyelamatkan seorang yang dikenalinya. Orang itu merupakan seorang bekas juruterbang tentera udara Iraq sewaktu zaman pemerintahan Saddam Hussein yang bernama Assam Mashooen (lebih dikenali sebagai Sammy). Ashcroft mengenali Sammy ketika beliau menjadi seorang operator untuk sebuah Private Military Contractor (PMC) pada tahun 2003-2005. Sammy ketika itu menjadi penterjemah untuk Ashcroft dan rakan-rakan sejawatnya yang lain. Selepas beberapa tahun meninggalkan bumi Iraq yang bergolak,Ashcroft dan beberapa rakannya yang terhutang nyawa dengannya dahulu kembali untuk menyelamatkan Sammy dan keluarganya. Mereka melakukannya atas kerana ehsan dan budi. Mereka mempertaruhkan nyawa mereka tanpa mengharapkan balasan wang. Ashcroft dan rakan-rakannya perlu membawa keluar Sammy dan anggota keluarganya daripada Baghdad,dengan skuad pembunuh Syiah memburu mereka!
Ini merupakan kali pertama saya membaca sebuah memoir dari sudut kaca mata seorang 'tentera upahan' atau nama komersilnya kini,PMC. Dari sudut yang lain juga,membaca buku ini seolah-olah sebuah eye-opener kepada saya sendiri secara peribadinya. Banyak perkara mengenai Perang Iraq (dan konflik yang berlanjutan kesan dari perang tersebut) yang selama ini saya tidak tahu atau tidak saya endahkan,didedahkan. Secara ringkasnya,terdapat tiga (3) pengajaran yang saya dapati usai membaca buku yang bertajuk Escape from Baghdad: First Time Was For the Money, This Time It's Personal ini:
1) Tidak semua orang kafir itu jahat dan tidak berperikemanusiaan. Dalam konteks buku ini,orang Barat yang berkulit putih dan beragama Kristian (sesetengahnya tidak beragama,mengamalkan ateis di dalam kehidupan). Adanya golongan ini yang sanggup berjuang,meletakkan nyawa mereka di hujung tanduk untuk menyelamatkan seseorang yang pernah berjasa kepada mereka. Inilah contoh moral baik yang dipamerkan oleh Ashcroft dan rakan-rakannya seperti yang diceritakan di dalam buku ini.
2) Hargai keamanan yang kita miliki ini,terutamanya di Malaysia. Manfaatkan sebaik-baiknya dan peliharalah keamanan itu sebaik-baiknya. Membaca penderitaan yang dialami oleh rakyat Iraq seperti yang digambarkan melalui beberapa helaian di dalam buku ini ternyata menginsafkan.
3) Banteras agama/fahaman Syiah! Negara Malaysia merupakan,secara tradisinya,sebuah negara yang mengamalkan Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah yang berpaksikan mazhab Syafie. Namun,pada hari ini,kita diancam dengan fahaman sesat tersebut. Sememangnya,kini mereka nampak kecil dan tidak kuat. Namun,belajarlah apa yang berlaku di Iraq. Selepas sahaja Saddam Hussein digulingkan,golongan Syiah ini mula menunjukkan 'belang' mereka yang sebenar. Mereka menubuhkan Killer Squad Syiah yang memburu orang-orang Sunni di Iraq. Bukan sahaja membunuh,mereka juga menculik,menyeksa,memperkosa dan merampas harta orang-orang Sunni hanya kerana dendam dan hasad dengki. Tidak mustahil perkara ini berlaku kerana agama mereka ini wujud hasil dari Fitnah,Dendam dan Amarah! Agama yang terhasil daripada bisikan syaitan yang dilaknat! Di dalam buku ini,Ashcroft sendiri menyedari betapa berbahayanya Syiah yang bersifat ekstremis ini. Justeru itu,kita orang Islam perlu berwaspada dengan ancaman Syiah ini.
June 21, 2010
Another fascinating story from Ash. It's full of action and suspense, but what I like best about his books is the unusual point of view they give someone like me, who is probably never, ever going to experience anything like the war in Iraq. By reading his books, I feel I gain a deeper understanding of what goes on in places like that, and what people who live there go through. His portrait in this book of the Iraqi Sammy and his family is particularly well done and very poignant.
September 9, 2017
A very well written, tense and most of all human book.
James Ashcroft is writing from experience and what an experience. What ever your feeling about the war in Iraqi, whether you agree it was right ( I don't). Nobody can ever claim that Iraq is a better place now than it was when Saddam was terrorizing it. At least then half the people were not fighting. Now everybody is involved. It's a civil war, a religious war, a tribal war it's a chance for anybody and everybody to settle old scores and for those who just want to live a normal life, no chance! It's a bloody massacre. And stuck in the middle of all this score settling is Sammy an ex officer in Saddams Air Force and his Family. They are on a hit list for collaborating with the Invading Americans. As the American & British government used interpreters when it needed them, so it disgracefully dropped them to fend for themselves as soon as that need was gone and also handed over all there details to the local forces taking over, putting them and all their families right in the firing line. Many would be executed at the first opportunity. Sammy was on a list to join them,luckily for him he had impressed some people who regardless of the danger to themselves, were willing to go in and get Sammy and his family out - Oh and forget getting paid, this literally is all a favor for a friend and ex-college, Sammy. This is that story and it's a cracker. Read it.
James Ashcroft is writing from experience and what an experience. What ever your feeling about the war in Iraqi, whether you agree it was right ( I don't). Nobody can ever claim that Iraq is a better place now than it was when Saddam was terrorizing it. At least then half the people were not fighting. Now everybody is involved. It's a civil war, a religious war, a tribal war it's a chance for anybody and everybody to settle old scores and for those who just want to live a normal life, no chance! It's a bloody massacre. And stuck in the middle of all this score settling is Sammy an ex officer in Saddams Air Force and his Family. They are on a hit list for collaborating with the Invading Americans. As the American & British government used interpreters when it needed them, so it disgracefully dropped them to fend for themselves as soon as that need was gone and also handed over all there details to the local forces taking over, putting them and all their families right in the firing line. Many would be executed at the first opportunity. Sammy was on a list to join them,luckily for him he had impressed some people who regardless of the danger to themselves, were willing to go in and get Sammy and his family out - Oh and forget getting paid, this literally is all a favor for a friend and ex-college, Sammy. This is that story and it's a cracker. Read it.
August 28, 2012
Hearing and reading about all the politics involving Iraq and Afghanistan often makes one forget that, in the end, political decisions made far from where they will be implemented involve real people.
Ashcroft's book brings a fresh perspective brings back the aspect of humanity. Real people are affected and his writing style almost makes the reader feel like they were there.
A recommended read for anyone.
Ashcroft's book brings a fresh perspective brings back the aspect of humanity. Real people are affected and his writing style almost makes the reader feel like they were there.
A recommended read for anyone.
March 18, 2014
Get out of the way Hollywood, reality beats all of your make-believe movies. Incredible story and excellent writing.
There's surprisingly lot of political pondering and opinion on the situation of Iraq, but when the story picks up you cannot set the book down.
Read the first book, Making a Killing, first to get to know the cast!
There's surprisingly lot of political pondering and opinion on the situation of Iraq, but when the story picks up you cannot set the book down.
Read the first book, Making a Killing, first to get to know the cast!
March 31, 2014
Former soldier James Ashcroft goes back to Iraq to rescue and escort his friend Sammy out of Baghdad and to safety.
An exciting and well written true story, there are some edge of the seat moments as situations take a turn for the worse.
Funny in parts, it's got a real sense of camaraderie about it, along with his friends who join him on his mission.
An exciting and well written true story, there are some edge of the seat moments as situations take a turn for the worse.
Funny in parts, it's got a real sense of camaraderie about it, along with his friends who join him on his mission.
July 28, 2018
As good as the first one. An easy read about a very hard subject.
January 24, 2011
This is thrill a minute, fast compulsive reading that tells the story of Ash Ashcroft and three army chums who go back to Baghdad without pay in order to save their former translator and his family from a Death List. With secret help from American Special forces, they acquire vehicles and weapons and drive across Iraq pursued by the Mahdi Army, Iraqi cops, suicide bombers and assorted terrorists. Anyone who has read Making A Killing, Ashcrofts memoir of his 18 months training a guard force to protect Iraq's water supply, will adore Escape From Baghdad.
August 31, 2014
Another 'good read'.
March 2, 2016
Ghost written tripe. The most exciting thing that happened in the 10 chapters I read was when the Iraqi translator was given a tea set.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews