He is assigned to work as an assistant to Under-Secretary-General Costa "Pasha" Passaris, the head of the Oil-for-Food Programme, operated since 1995 to help the citizens of Iraq without allowing the oil sales to boost Saddam Hussein and his regime.

On his first visit to Baghdad, local UN chief diplomat Christina Dupre makes it clear to Pasha that she is disturbed by the corruption in the programme, and plans to publish a report voicing her concerns.

As more of the people around him are killed, including Nashim and Dupre, and as the corruption continues even after the programme was de jure terminated in 2003, following the Coalition Invasion of Iraq, a dejected Michael gathers evidence and takes it to The Wall Street Journal.

[13] Jessica Kiang of the Variety Magazine criticized the "romantic subplot, complete with heavy-breathing sex scene, and some of the more cloak-and-dagger-y intrigue show", which she saw as "Hollywood-izing a complicated and tragic real-world situation".

[14] Michael Rechtshaffen of Los Angeles Times said that "despite delivering few actual thrills, the fact-based Backstabbing for Beginners qualifies as an intelligent, well-crafted political thriller".