Review: The Spymaster of Baghdad by Margaret Coker
Review by Fraser Newman
After the US invasion in 2003, Iraq had to rebuild its security and intelligence agencies. By the time ISIS emerged a decade later, that system was still taking shape, and as US forces withdrew and stepped back from direct operations, the burden of tracking threats shifted onto Iraqi services.
Margaret Coker’s The Spymaster of Baghdad centres on the Iraqi-run Falcon Intelligence Cell and its leader, Abu Ali al-Basri, as they work to identify and disrupt ISIS operations. In parallel, the book follows figures such as Harith al-Sudani and Abrar al-Kubaisi, shows how they were drawn into opposing sides of the conflict. It traces their lives through pre-war Baghdad, showing how family, environment, and the 2003 invasion shaped later decisions and events.
Coker centres Iraqi voices and gives real weight to their internal politics and history. You come away with a clearer sense of how events unfolded and why. Western intelligence agencies stay on the periphery of the narrative, which is refreshing for the genre. While a Western journalist, Coker has managed to get behind the scenes and build a detailed account of a difficult and sensitive subject. The research that has gone into this is immense.
The book is strongest when it narrows in on individuals and families, particularly the lives of Harith and Abrar. Their stories move in opposite directions, shaped by the same events. Harith grows up in Sadr City, from a poor Shia family shaped by repression under Saddam and the shifts that followed his fall. He is driven by a need to prove himself, especially to his father. Abrar’s path begins in a very different place. She is from an affluent Sunni family and studies chemistry at university. As post-war Iraq descends into chaos, her family loses its position, and she turns increasingly to online forums in search of belonging.
Some of the most effective sections are best left unspoiled. They follow operations built on infiltration and deception, where what is presented publicly is not always what has actually happened. Groups operate in a fog of war, with partial information and shifting narratives, and clarity often comes much later, if at all. This was maybe the most interesting piece. I remember following some of these news stories at the time, and now realise how much was really going on (or not) beneath the surface.
My main reservation sits with how Abu Ali al-Basri is portrayed. The book is sharp and unsparing when it comes to individuals like Harith and Abrar, showing them as contradictory and flawed. Al-Basri, by contrast, is handled with less scrutiny. He comes across in a more controlled, almost one-dimensional way. His decisions are questioned at points, including from his own perspective, but those challenges rarely come from an external or competing account. This imbalance raises questions about how much critical distance the book maintains from its core sources.
I put this off when it was first recommended to me, and that was a mistake. The strength of the book is in how it reframes the fight against ISIS through Iraqi eyes. It is at its best when it stays close to individuals and the consequences of their decisions. It does not always approach those perspectives evenly, but it still offers a clearer, more grounded account than most books on this conflict.
