A special OPs flight surgeon's interview with Saddam Hussein on the night of his capture and the missions which led to their meeting.

Shant Kenderian's visit to Baghdad in 1980, at age seventeen, was supposed to be a short one -- just enough time to make peace with his estranged father before returning to his home in the United States. But then Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and sealed off Iraq's borders to every man of military age -- including Shant. Suddenly forced onto the front lines, his two-week visit turned into a nightmare that lasted for ten years. 1001 Nights in Iraq presents a human story that provides unique insight into a country and culture that we only get a hint of in the headlines. After surviving the horrors of the Iran-Iraq War, Shant was then forced to fight on the front lines of Desert Storm without being given the proper equipment, including a gun, but miraculously survived to be captured by the Americans and become a POW. He underwent starvation, heavy interrogations, and solitary confinement, but what broke him in the end was his love affair with a female American soldier. Yet throughout this whole ordeal, Shant never lost his respect for people, his faith in God, or his sense of humor.

From the only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, this riveting account illuminates ordinary people caught between the struggles of nations.

From the only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, here is a riveting account of ordinary people caught between the struggles of nations Like her country, Karima—a widow with eight children—was caught between America and Saddam. It was March 2003 in proud but battered Baghdad. As night drew near, she took her son to board a rickety bus to join Hussein's army. "God protect you," she said, handing him something she could not afford to give—the thirty-cent fare. The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid also went to war in Iraq although he was neither embedded with soldiers nor briefed by politicians. Because he is fluent in Arabic, Shadid—an Arab American born and raised in Oklahoma—was able to disappear into the divided, dangerous worlds of Iraq. Day by day, as the American dream of freedom clashed with Arab notions of justice, he pieced together the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the terrible dislocations and tragedies of war. Through the lives of men and women, Sunnis and Shiites, American sympathizers and outraged young jihadists newly transformed into martyrs, Shadid shows us the journey of defiant, hopeful, resilient Iraq. Moving from battle scenes to subdued streets enlivened only by the call to prayer, Shadid uses the experiences of his characters to illustrate how Saddam's downfall paved the way not only for democracy but also for an Islamic reawakening and jihad. Night Draws Near—as compelling as it is human—is an illuminating and poignant account from a repoter whose coverage has drawn international attention and acclaim.

Examines the life and rule of the leader of Iraq, from his childhood, through his rise to power, the Iran-Iraq War, the first Gulf War, to his end of power.

The Iraqi scientist who designed Baghdad's nuclear bomb tells how he did it in secret with the cynical help of U.S., French, German, and British suppliers and experts, and kept it hidden from U.N. inspectors after the Gulf War. Today, he says, Saddam Hussein is only months away from making a workable bomb and has every intention of using it. Don't tell me about the law. The law is anything I write on a scrap of paper." ­­Saddam Hussein In 1994, after twenty years developing Iraq's atomic weapon, Dr. Khidhir Hamza made a daring escape to warn the CIA of Saddam's nuclear ambitions...only to be ridiculed and turned away! After a harrowing journey across three continents with Iraqi agents on his trail, Hamza finally came in from the cold at the U.S. embassy in Hungary. Now he tells a frightening story that U.S. officials have finally come to believe: that Saddam is still feverishly at work on the bomb and, if pushed to the wall, will use it. Dr. Hamza also presents a startling, unprecedented portrait of Saddam himself ­­ his drunken rages, his women, his fear of germs, and his cold-blooded murder of underlings. A former resident of the presidential palace, Hamza is the only defector who has lived to write a firsthand, intimate portrait of the Iraqi inner circle, its spies and hit men, and their brutal chief. Saddam's Bombmaker is also a saga of one man's journey through the circles of hell. Educated at MIT and Florida State University, dedicated to a life of peaceful teaching in America, Dr. Hamza relates how the regime ordered him home, seduced him into a pampered life as an atomic energy official, and forced him to design a bomb. The price of refusal was torture. As the father of the Iraqi bomb, Dr. Hamza designed a device from scratch with the help of World War Two­era blueprints from America's Los Alamos labs, all the while planning an escape. Privately, he and his colleagues believed they could procrastinate long enough to outlive Saddam. But the dictator outmaneuvered them, whipping the scientists into a crash program to build a crude bomb that could be dropped on Israel. Had U.S. and Allied forces not quickly mobilized for Desert Storm, Dr. Hamza relates, Saddam may well have succeeded; except for sufficient uranium, the device was ready. It still is. Dr. Hamza's tale of his escape, his first bungled contact with CIA agents, and his flight abroad will keep readers turning pages toward a climax worthy of a well-crafted spy thriller. Along the way, he reveals: The West's "don't ask, just sell" attitude toward Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological programs as long as it was fighting Iran. How Iraq tested biological and chemical weapons on human subjects. How the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) tried to recruit Dr. Hamza to make a bomb. Baghdad's secret program to break into U.S. and other foreign computer systems. Saddam's Bombmaker is not only a shocking political and scientific exposé -- it is a riveting adventure tale.

The Historical Dictionary of Iraq begins with the earliest civilizations and covers the many periods that followed, ranging from the history of ancient Mesopotamia to the Abbasid Empire to present-day Iraq. Included are a historical overview; a country profile; a review of the economy, oil, fauna, and political institution; coverage of the Iran-Iraq War; and coverage of the Kuwait invasion and the second Gulf War and other conflicts. The major ethnic groups such as the Kurds, the Turkumans and the Assyrians, Islam and Muslim sects, Christianity and Christian sects, as well as other religious groups are profiled. Dictionary entries also highlight the main political, religious, and ideological parties, groups, and organizations; major historical personalities; languages; literature; and cultural elements. A broad range of topics, both ancient and modern, are dealt with throughout the introduction and the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography complements this extensive historical reference.