Revealing "Saddam's Secrets"

Saddam's Secrets: How An Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein
By Georges Sada (with Jim Nelson), Integrity Publishing

Reviewed by Peter Ryan

It would be fair to say that every book published about Iraq since 2003 is judged by one central criteria: is the author attempting to criticize or justify the U.S.-led invasion? A reader, generally, either believes that the war was an absolute mistake or an absolute necessity. An occupation or a liberation. An assault on human rights or a humane intervention. Either way, they mostly want to see their views confirmed rather than challenged. And both sides are generating millions for the publishing industry. Even epic histories like Robert Fisk's Great War for Civilization (which is primarily about events prior to the second Gulf war) rush to make their feelings on the invasion known-pro or con-in the first chapter. The publishers know full well that this is the "acid test" which will determine whether or not a casual browser at Borders decides that yet another book about the Middle East is worth its 20 to 30 dollar cover price.

Georges Sada's new book Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein follows this pattern perfectly. In the first chapter, he announces his position: "The decision to remove Saddam was the right thing to do. It was done at the right time and, I believe, in the right way." At this sentence, half the audience is hooked. The other half slams the cover shut.

[Pictured, Right: Georges Sada]

But, speaking as someone who went to the streets to protest the U.S.-led invasion, I urge any reader, regardless of their political background, not to abandon Georges' book so hastily. As the memoir of a former Iraqi general who dared to tell the truth to Saddam Hussein, Saddam's Secrets offers an inspiring account of a man who was able to "speak truth to power" and live to tell about it.

Saddam's Secrets is being marketed as the "book that proves Saddam secretly moved his WMDs to Syria" before the war. This is not a new accusation. It is an idea that has been suggested by U.S. weapons inspectors and Israeli intelligence sources. Sada's book offers no overwhelming new proof of the Iraq-Syria WMD connection (he was not a firsthand witness to the transport of weapons but he is friends with an Iraqi who claims to have participated in the transfer). So many might wonder: why all the hype?

But there is a better reason to read this book. Georges spent his life in the Iraqi military. But it becomes increasingly clear, chapter after chapter, that Georges is, and always has been, a man in pursuit of peace. The fact that his path-of-peace led him through the Iraqi air force, Saddam's inner circle and, most recently, as spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Illaywi, only makes his story that much more remarkable.