Sabah 's story is only one of many tragic stories to be found in '' Night Draws Near , '' a book that gives a harrowing portrait of life in postwar Iraq and the fallout that the American war has had on ordinary Iraqi civilians , from a 14-year-old girl coping with the bombing of Baghdad to a 62-year-old academic and former Baath Party member to the reporter 's own '' fixer '' and government minder , Nasir Mehdawi , who would later became a colleague and friend .