COMPETING SIEGES

Press, 9 August 1980, Page 17

COMPETING SIEGES

Siege: Six Days at thelranian Embassy. By reporters -of the “Observer," London, Sun paperback, 1980. 140 pp. $4.95.

Siege! By reporters of the "Sunday Times," London. Hamlyn paperbacks, 1980. 131 pp. $4.95.

These two accounts by London’s foremost Sunday newspapers of'the Iranian Eihbassy take-ovet by Arab gunmen last May were -produced in. a race against each other; both appeared within a fortnight of the events they describe. ' ■

The “Sunday - Times’*. book, which seems, oh a cursory ; look around Christchurch bookshops, to be more widely available here, won. by a day or two, but it shows the marks of the haste with which it was .produced. It has . no index, its coverage of the complex political background is superficial, its prose is sloppy. The “Observer” book is altogether better and worth taking the time to find. Its account .of the<Jranian-Iraqi background is written by Patrick Seale, one of the best, correspondents in the field, it has an excellent index, a list of the. principal .characters, and chronology of events, and a good selection of photographs.. John le Carre, the. spy .novelist, has

contributed a thoughtful introduction on the implications of the use of the Special Air Service for the first time in a civilian action on British, soil. . It is the: S.A.C.’s role- in the affair that, from the "Observer” account, is the most disturbing.: That they were used at al! was, it appears, the consequence of a misunderstanding of the nature of the gunman, a failure of communication, and some avoidable mistakes. The “Observer” book reports an t interview with a senior policeman who played an important role in- the siege and who believes it could have been ended peacefully. f When the S.A.S. did go into action they did so ruthlessly. Both books (relying on the same witnesses) say that two of the gunmen were shot and killed after they had discarded. their weapons. The only gunman to survive did so because he mingled with the hostages, was perhaps protected.: by them, and sb was not identified until he was in the hands of the police. Perhaps more of this episode -will become known- when he goes onlrtjrial later this year. . ’ Meanwhile, the story is not ended: a group in Bagdad, from where the embassy gunmen apparently started, has demanded the release of ,thr survivor and has threatened to avengi the killing of his companions.