Saddam's Bombmaker: The Daring Escape of the Man Who Built Iraq's Secret Weapon

(Paperback)

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A political and scientific expose written by the defector once responsible for Iraq's clandestine weapons programme. He claims that Iraq already has biological weapons and is capable of completing a nuclear weapon within months if international sanctions are lifted. In 1994, after 20 years in Iraq's energy and weapons programme, Hamza escaped to warn the CIA of Saddam's nuclear progress - only to be turned away at first. Western corporations and governments facilitated Iraq's nuclear programme by putting profits ahead of security and averting their eyes as Saddam obtained his necessary nuclear technology. If threatened, he has sworn to create a Doomsday scenario in the Middle East. Current sources within Iraq confirm that the author's information is up to date. As a former resident of the presidential palace, Hamza also paints a picture of Saddam's women, secret bank accounts, his fear of germs, and his torture and execution of close aids.

Reviews

Barbara Crossette The New York Times Book Review Gripping and unsettling...the rare account of the life of the privileged in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
William E. Odom The Washington Post Written in an easy journalistic style...not only stranger but frequently bloodier than fiction.
John Dinges author of Assassination on Embassy Row A true spy adventure that rivals The Great Escape. The story of one man's terrible secret, his conscience, and his drive to avert what would have been one of the century's epic crimes.
Publishers Weekly, starred review Hamza indicts Iraq under Saddam, painting a detailed and convincing portrait of what it's like to live in a country under a violent dictator. Of the broadest interest to a wide spectrum of readers concerned about the fate of the world in the nuclear age.

Author Bio

Khidhir Hamza, a graduate M.I.T and Florida State University, is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Science and International Security and a consultant for the US Department of Energy. In 1971, he was forced by Saddam Hussein to head Iraq's nuclear weapons programme.