The last adventure Rory Stewart wrote about was his walk across Afghanistan. This time, in Iraq, his aim is more ambitious. He is working for the Foreign Office, as representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in the southern province of Maysan.

‘My mission’, he writes, ‘was to create “a democratic Iraq at peace with itself and with its neighbours” or in the jargon popular in Baghdad, “a multi-ethnic, decentralised, prosperous state, based on human rights, a just constitution, a vibrant civil society and the rule of law”.’ He acknowledges that this seems a little overambitious.

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