Sheri Laizer

Best read without prejudice, Zabiba and the King is a philosophical and political fable rather than a 'novel'. The 'editor' of the English translation makes a number of pro-American assertions in footnotes and the introduction contains serious typos like 'collation' instead of Coalition. In my view, the figure of the King from ancient days at the dawn of Islam is not modelled on Saddam as author; Saddam is more likely to be the Chairman of the Council who appears towards the end of the tale, signalling a new era where women are heard and the corrupt emirs, merchants, landowners and those that plunder the wealth of the people are exposed, judged and rejected from the Council. Words of wisdom exist throughout the text, on the virtuous in human nature and its shadow; the raping outsider - America during the first Gulf War invasion and the popular resistance highlighted through the character of Zabiba, who loses her life after surviving the rape of the invaders (her husband to whom she was sold against her will). The Western reader needs to cease looking at Iraq through the eyes of Western interests and understand that the Iraqis are also entitled to patriotism and to seek to defend their country and its resources from foreign and local swindlers, well characterised throughout. For the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs and their families that lost their lives at the hands of the Ba'ath regime, Saddam will remain a guilty party, but their own people having to come to power since the forcible removal and destruction of the old order, have followed in the footsteps of the worst of the Ba'ath and built less for society and their own people. Corruption has characterised the post 2003 governments, pursuing the path of the tyrannical, greedy and carnal emirs depicted in this book.

Also see the more recent film starring Jodi Foster as Mohamedou's lawyer. The film brings the experience in the book fully to life, and is faithfully based on his book. The innocent were never treated as such and many face lasting nightmares from years of torture and US military methods. Highly recommended in exposing the truth from the propaganda

Oddly, given the highly newsworthy content, this book appears to have been transcribed from audio tapes: whoever typed it up does not know the subject, the Arabic words and names or the overall sense of paragraphs. The grammar is askew and sentences are broken in odd places as if a computer transcribed it phonetically. Fonts change, full stops are in the wrong place, even Iraq is rendered often as 'Iraqi" or even Iraqhe' Because of this a general reader could not readily make sense of it. Despite these serious flaws, lack of editorial oversight and proof reading the transcribed text went straight to the printers in this form and has been distributed by the reputable Barnes and Noble. The content is interesting and I proofed the entire text on the page to make sense of it and re-read it without the typee up obscuring the meaning. Was it over hasty or sabotaged? The book needs to be edited correctly and all these errors corrected and then it can be of greater benefit to the subject matter. Saddam Hussein was deliberately vilified - over-vilified by the US and UK to go after Iraq's oil. They have created misery for millions and Saddam Hussein was aware of it before being handed over to his longterm Shi'a fundamentalist enemies - another dire error of the US administration. Many are now aware of what they have done, hence the timing of this book I believe, in 2015.

Brilliant analysis evoking compassion for the Pahlavis and exposing the demonisation campaign by Khomeini and his aides. A worthwhile read with detail rarely given in biased accounts. New information shades light on the lesser abuses of the Pahlavi state and true human and economic costs of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Years of dedicated work and research in the field went into this incredible document and visual reference collection, revealing the history of an ancient people without a state to protect them - the long suffering Kurds, that can also be their own worst enemy in a complex sequence of betrayals.

One of the best accounts of Western corruption on Iraq and the devastating consequences of (mainly) Bush and Blair's lies and aggression that condemned the innocent people of that country and Iraq's heritage to decades of destruction and suffering. The vile truths are brilliantly exposed in an unsparing dance of vivid imagery. George Galloway was reviled as much as Saddam Hussein for standing up for the rights of the people of Iraq, sold out for the West's oil needs and regional power in the Middle East.

The book has become a historical gem with rare photographs of the late Iraqi leader, once a friend and good customer of the West, reviled in the cynical exercise of power. The West has been primarily motivated by its business interests in its dealings with Iraq and with Saddam Hussein. Published in 1981, it represents a turning point in Iraq's history when still under the direction of the Ba'ath Party's ideology. A worthwhile perspective, amidst the raft of biased Western policy influenced biographies written during the various devastating phases of attack on - and destruction of - Iraq. As an authorised biography, criticism is obviously lacking but some of the later lies about Saddam Hussein can clearly be seen as just that.