WITH COVER endorsements from hard left academic Noam Chomsky and former cabinet minister Clare Short, one positive thing you can say about this book is that it wears its agenda very clearly on its sleeve.
But author Phil Rees, a BBC documentary maker with an admirable track record in meeting with militant/terrorist groups all over the world, doesn't seem to realise it himself.
We're serenaded, early on, with the cliche that "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Then Phil tells us the stories of his grand tour of every AK47'd, acronymed revolutionary clan he can convince to break bread with him.
As each one unfolds, across Vietnam, Algeria, Columbia, Spain, and the Palestinian territories, we're given a brief history of the area, an account of Phil's adventures into the danger zone, an attack on whatever America's been doing in the region, and an apologia for whatever acts of violence that particular balaclava-wearing, gun-toting people's front have been enacting.
Dining with Terrorists by Phil Rees is published by Macmillan priced £18.99.
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