The Insider: Trapped in Saddam's Brutal Regime

By Ala Bashir

Book Overview

Saddam Hussein's chief personal physician describes his experiences operating on Uday Hussein after a 1993 assassination attempt, his assistance to thousands of wounded soldiers, and his witness to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 034911935X
• ISBN13: 9780349119359
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Length: 327 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 1.0" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Saddam; just part of the brutal history of Iraq

Ala Bashir presents a quite fascinating and thought provoking diary of critical events in the history of Iraq dating from the first world war until 2003 culminating in the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein. As surgeon, artist and scholar Bashir had access to many members of the ruling elite and presents insights in to their feuds, foibles, atrocities and corruption. Here are unique insights in to the personality of Saddam and his family with Saddam presented as a complex personality ruling through a tribal Tikriti clan, initially dominating the nation but ultimately losing control of his appointees. Bashir writes as a neutral observer whose main concern was for his patients, with clear regret for loss of life, however caused. As Plastic Surgeon his department treated 22,000 injured from the disastrous Iraq Iran War and later observed the deprivations of the civilian population from the sanctions and collapse of infrastructure after the First Gulf War. Many cruelties of Saddam's regime are exposed, and yet Saddam had some sense of right and wrong punishing by imprisonment his son Uday for killing Saddam's valet. But he later relented, realising his son was insane. Many more killings in Iraq were motivated by 'family honour', and Bashir has identified a brutal streak in the current Iraqi personality and expressed his fear that the country is a long way from democracy. This book is a must-read for all interested in the Iraq war and it is a tragedy of history that it was not available before 2003.

Truthful, Educational and Extraordinary

This could be the first book written, which describes in great informative detail, events in the modern history of Iraq. It is written from a unbiased witness who is simply displaying with an honest and unobjective view, the misuse of power and obvious consequences of hate and revenge. It will become the book which all turn to as an acurate recording of historic facts.