A Summary Of Saddam Hussein Books


By Leslie Ball


Saddam Hussein served as the president of Iraq between July 16th 1979 and 9th April of 2003. He was executed by hanging on December 30th 2006 in Green Zone Bagdad. By the time of his death, he had written four novels and several poems. None of the Saddam Hussein books ever came in his real name. He used a pseudo name He Who Wrote It to publish all his works.

CIA recons that Zabibah and the King, released in 2000 was authored by Saddam with the assistance of ghost writers. The novel is set in medieval Iraq and features a commoner girl called Zabibah. She is caught in a love web between her and the king who is was a mighty ruler of old day Iraq.

Zabibah is married to a rapist and cruel husband. The setting is Tikrit somewhere in the 7th or 8th century. Saddam was interestingly born in Tikrit. A new edition of the book was released in 2004, having been edited by Lawrence Robert. There was a rumor that the movie where Sacha Baron Cohen starred was adapted from this story but it turned out not to be true.

The Fortified Castle is one of the best allegories of Iraq as a nation and state. It comes in 713 pages and was released to the market in 2001. The hero fought in the Iraq-Iran war and is planning to marry a Kurdish girl. His plans are facing hitches from all angles. The plot is made up of three main characters, a lady called Shatrin and two brothers, Mahmud and Sabah. The two come from the western bank of Tigris River while the lady comes from Suleimaniya.

The three characters in The Fortified Castle are attending the same University of Baghdad. Sabah is an accomplished hero in the Iraq-Iran war. He got wounded in the war and ends up as a war captive. He manages to escape and take a few of his friends into freedom.

The Fortified Castle is considered a clarion call to Iraqis to unite. The mother of the war hero is confronted by pressure to divide their wealth. She does not bow to the pressure, insisting that the property is impossible to buy using money. In her words, the property can only be claimed by those who fought and shed their blood for it. A third book entitled Men and the City never got the attention given to the other titles.

Begone Demons is loosely translated as Get Out You Damned. The book is said to have been completed a day before US invasion. It captures the theory of Zionist-Christian conspiracy to fight and oppress Muslims and Arabs. The story appears to be a reference to the destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11th. The naming of characters is suggestive of the Muslim-Christian tussle.

Toluma Shoten Publishing released a version of Begone Demons in 2006 in Tokyo Japan under the title Devils Dance. The Turkish translation was the work of Humam Khalil. When Raghad wanted to print and release a hundred thousand copies of the book in Jordan, the government declined. This means that the title never got to be translated or released in any other language.




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