[GOPJ]

Here's another possibility -- what if Berg was in the home of an Iranian and expressed interest in the book -- said it was beautiful. The Iranian host would be obligated to give Berg the book. If you're in a middle easterners home and you say the carpet is beautiful, they'll roll it up and insist you take it with you.

Iranians and Iraqis aren't natural friends, so if there was an Iranian in Iraq who gave him the book, it was an odd situation.

I see the books as go-between messages or bonafides. You're trying to meet Al Queda, and contact A says "give this book to contact B, tell them Achmed the blind sent you." Then you pay him some $$$, or whatever is expected. Maybe there is no contact B, and you just got rooked out of your money.

[Travis McGee]

That's possible, interesting cultural observation on "gifting" in the ME.