Said K. Aburish presents an authoritative and timely book that explains the man the Western world fears the most. Drawing on the author's knowledge of and contacts with the Arab world, especially in Iraq, Said Aburish gives us an accurate, compelling biography and psychological profile of the man the western world fears most. The author worked with Saddam Hussein in the 1970s and is therefore able to add dimension and personal experience to our understanding of this remarkable dictator. The book includes an account of Saddam's series of personal quests: for recognition after being orphaned and brought up by a destitute uncle; for control of his country; for leadership in the Arab world; for mastery in the technology of destruction.
This is the frightening story of how the man who, with the encouragement of Western governments, made his country the most advanced in the Arab world in the 1970s, and through personal ambition led it to disaster at the end of the 1980s, and now fights for its survival. Aburish's personal experience and exclusive inside sources make this an important, unique and necessary look at one of the most terrifying leaders in the world today.
Said K. Aburish presents an authoritative and timely book that explains the man the Western world fears the most. Drawing on the author's knowledge of and contacts with the Arab world, especially in Iraq, Said Aburish gives us an accurate, compelling biography and psychological profile of the man the western world fears most. The author worked with Saddam Hussein in the 1970s and is therefore able to add dimension and personal experience to our understanding of this remarkable dictator. The book includes an account of Saddam's series of personal quests: for recognition after being orphaned and brought up by a destitute uncle; for control of his country; for leadership in the Arab world; for mastery in the technology of destruction.
This is the frightening story of how the man who, with the encouragement of Western governments, made his country the most advanced in the Arab world in the 1970s, and through personal ambition led it to disaster at the end of the 1980s, and now fights for its survival. Aburish's personal experience and exclusive inside sources make this an important, unique and necessary look at one of the most terrifying leaders in the world today.
Said K. Aburish was born in the biblical village of Bethany near Jerusalem in 1935. He attended university in the United States and subsequently became a correspondent for Radio Free Europe and The Daily Mail, and a consultant to two Arab governments. Now a freelance journalist and author, his books include Children of Bethany, Cry Palestine, and Arafat: From Defender to Dictator.
There's a lot to be gleaned from this detailed, balanced biography of Saddam Husseinand there's a lot that's controversial as well. A journalist who has worked as a consultant to the Iraqi government, Aburish (Children of Bethany; Arafat: From Defender to Dictator) walks a tightrope, condemning the Iraqi dictator while simultaneously criticizing the Westfirst Britain and then the United Statesfor what he sees as its hypocritical policy in the Persian Gulf. He traces Saddam's life from a fatherless, impoverished childhood in the town of Tikrit through his rise up the ranks of the Iraqi army after Iraq gained its independence in 1958 and his eventual stranglehold on power. Aburish attributes Saddam's rise to his ability to appeal to ordinary Iraqis' desire to regain what they see as their great Mesopotamian past, although since the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Aburish believes Saddam has lost the legitimate support of his people. But the real grist of this biographywhich relies on Aburish's extensive contacts in the Arab worldcomes as the author addresses Iraq's role in international affairs during the past decades. He builds a credible case that Iraq relied on American technology to build its weapons program even before the Iran-Iraq warand that the American government knew about it. America's flip-flops during that war and its conflicting signals to Iraq in the months preceding Saddam's invasion of Kuwait are well known. Those interested in foreign policy will learn a great deal from Aburish's knowledge of clandestine contactsand his appropriately dramatic but not sensational narrativeeven if some are put off by his closing plea for an end to U.N. sanctions. 16 b&w photos. (May 1) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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