RICHARD Downes was a familiar face to Irish households in early 2003, deservedly winning plaudits for his balanced, unfussy and intelligent reports from war-torn Baghdad during the US invasion of Iraq. It's fitting, therefore, that he is the first Irish journalist to write a book on modern-day Iraq.

Downes has taken on a daunting task. The breakdown of society in Iraq and the mind-blowing death toll has left even the most interested observers numb. The sheer scale of the casualties is impossible to absorb and, sadly, three years after Saddam's overthrow, a certain weariness has set in about the plight of Iraq. Many people have simply switched off. When Downes was based in Baghdad for the BBC in the late 1990s, he recalls that among some editors there was a weariness in hearing "more bad news" . . . seven years on, despite all that has happened, a book on the country runs the risk of the same reaction. It is to Downes' enormous credit that he succeeds in bringing a fresh perspective to a story that has dominated the headlines for so long.

Clive James has been arguing passionately, and with obvious merit, that the most important voices to be listened to in the conflict or not those of the (predominantly anti-war) media, but the people of Iraq. And Downes lives up to that. Rather than self-important musings on 'Iraq as I see it', the reader gets to see the country through the lives and words of some of its citizens . . . an eclectic and fascinating group of people that Downes encountered in this wonderfully diverse country.

Through the author, we meet Dr Mohammed Darweesh, the erudite, middle-class Sunni Muslim with a fascination for James Joyce and Samuel Beckett; David George, a young Assyrian Christian who could trace his family roots in the region back into antiquity; Abu Aseel, a Shia Muslim who had his finger on the pulse when it came to information about the Shia; and Hajji Abu-Sami, a clan chief of the Ma'adan or Marsh Arabs, who had lived in the Marshes in the south of Iraq and whose traditional way of life was virtually obliterated by Saddam. Their incredible, and at times horrific, stories give us an insight to both the Iraq of the past and present.

Perhaps the stand-out quote in the book comes from David George's uncle, Dr Donny George, director of the Iraq Museum. "The Saddam years, " he said, "were a nightmare.

Now these are the American years. Different nightmare."

The new nightmare is epitomised not only by multiple deaths, the daily and random violence we hear about, but by the breakdown in the warmth and old-fashioned manners traditionally shown by Iraqi people. Downes recounts how during a walk through Baghdad well before the US invasion, people would nod and salute and occasionally come up, bow and say 'welcome', acknowledging a foreigner. In contrast, in September 2003, six months after the overthrow of Saddam, a taxi driver who pulled up alongside Downes' vehicle in traffic responded to a smile and a nod with a look of "real hatred in his eyes" before spitting on the road. Downes' guide was deeply embarrassed and explained that with little electricity, water and jobs, Baghdadis were becoming "more and more angry".

One of the big strengths of this compelling book is Downes' qualities as a writer. His retelling of his hair-raising and hugely dangerous exit from Iraq as the Americans approached Baghdad has the pace of a thriller. And the colour he brings to his descriptions of everything from his room in the capital's Palestine Hotel to the border crossing between Jordan and Iraq helps bring the reader on the journey with him. Downes is simply a very good story teller.

He is also mercifully devoid of what Diarmuid Doyle of this newspaper likes to refer to as 'show me your mickey journalism' . . . something that is not always absent in war correspondents. Downes, refreshingly, isn't afraid to be human and admit that at times in Iraq he is afraid and that he is reluctant to go because of the dangers. He can also be extremely selfcritical, at one point admonishing himself for his clumsiness in his dealings with David George. "Once again in Iraq, I had jumped in boots first and trampled over an individual's sensibilities. I showed myself as lacking the requisite subtlety to understand such a complex culture." However, this book demonstrates clearly that Downes does have a knowledge of, and a real feel for, the complexities of Iraq and has the ability to make them accessible to the reader.

Any gripes with this work are purely on the margin . . . a description of the Cooley Mountains where one of his colleagues is from as "the Irish badlands" is an eyebrow raiser (Bandit Country it ain't) and the account of the drunk American who, at a party hosted by Downes in New York post 9/11, ranted about "taking the f**ker [Saddam] out" is of dubious relevance. But that is just nit-picking.

The title of the book is In Search of Iraq. Suffice to say that it can be found in its 262 pages.

Shane Coleman, political correspondent of the 'Sunday Tribune', is the author of 'Foot In Mouth: Famous Irish Political Gaffes'