Saddam's Doctor Has a Book
by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 9/1/2003
Ala Bashir, personal physician to Saddam Hussein for 10 years until this spring, and former dean of the Department of Medicine at Baghdad University, is writing an account of his experiences in Saddam's inner circle with a Norwegian journalist for Norwegian publisher Cappelen, which will be offering translation rights later this month. Bashir rose to prominence as a military surgeon during the Iran-Iraq war, performing thousands of operations on injured troops, and came to Hussein's attention because of his work as an artist and sculptor. He was a witness to the closing years of the Iraqi dictator's regime, kept a regular journal of what he saw and took it with him when he left Iraq in July. He is now living amid strong security in the United Arab Emirates and working on a book, provisionally called Saddam's Confidante, with Lars Sigurd Sunnana, a noted Norwegian journalist who is Middle East correspondent for the NRK network. Cappelen will be publishing next spring, and rights director Eirin Hagen will be offering a synopsis and sample chapters soon (with photographs from Hussein's personal collection).
