In New Novel, Kanan Makiya Reflects On What Went Wrong In Iraq

Kanan Makiya is a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at Brandeis University. He was born in Bahgdad and now lives in Cambridge. He became especially well-known in 2003 when he supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

He also wrote the 1989 bestselling book "Republic of Fear," which detailed the horrors committed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime.

His new book is a novel called "The Rope" — in it, Makiya details the failure of the "Iraqi elite" from the perspective of a Shiite militiaman after the removal of Hussein's regime.

Kanan Makiya, professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at Brandeis. His new book is "The Rope: A Novel."