In Late for Tea at the Deer Palace, journalist Tamara Chalabi, daughter of controversial Iraqi leader Ah-med Chalabi, revisits her family's history in a vibrant, troubled Iraq.
Sixty years ago your family was one of Iraq's richest and most politically prominent. What made you want to tell their story?
I wanted to tell the story of their Iraq—a rich, multi-faceted country that was very different from the one we see today. I had access to many sources of my family's history as well as first-hand accounts, which made for a far more authentic nar-rative than choosing another story about Iraq. It was also my way of discovering my heritage—my own story in this new yet old home.
At the book's center is your grandmother Bibi, who smoked cigarettes, loved nightlife and had very definite ideas about who she would marry. Was there room in traditional Iraqi society for an independent-minded woman like her?
There were women who were probably even more independent-minded. "Traditional" Iraqi society was more restrictive to women, but didn't persecute those who wished to play a role, especially if they came from a comfortable socio-economic milieu. Had Bibi been born a generation later she would have had greater access to education and probably played a bigger role. I recently found out about a very interesting Iraqi woman of the 18th century, who bought a slave in the market because she found him attractive. She then freed him and eventually married him and made him governor of the city. That's pretty independent-minded!
The Chalabis fled Iraq after the 1958 revolution when members of the family were arrested and almost killed. Why were they targeted?
They belonged to the government that was deposed in the ‘58 revolution. They represented a world that the army officers who led the revolution abhorred and resented, primarily because of class and money.
You criticize American occupation policies in Iraq. What did the United States do wrong?
Occupation! The United States told the Iraqi people it was coming to liberate them from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. What they ended up doing was occupying Iraq and imposing a new colonial order—ineffective and counterpro-ductive—which added another layer of complications and obstacles to the great challenges Iraq faced.
In your book, your family's life in pre-revolutionary Iraq seems like a portrait of prosperity, progress and normalcy. Can Iraq achieve that in the future?
Iraq has a huge potential, not just because of its oil reserves, but because of its land, culture, history and people. I don't think there is any reason it could not achieve that, the same as any other nation struggling out of decades of terror and neglect. The question is one of time.
You visit Iraq often these days. Do you feel at home there?
I now have my own memories and my own connections to the place. I feel more at home every time I visit.
