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Get out of here, curse you!
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese readers looking for a slightly different tale can now curl up with "Get Out of Here, Curse You" -- a novel by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and titled "Devil's Dance" in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation on Friday.

Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman.

The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein's daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata. "The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war -- totally," Hirata told Reuters before the book's release.

"He (Saddam) knew he was heading into a war he couldn't win, so I think with this book he was trying to make his position clear and send a message to the Iraqi people."
Since the Iraqi people hadn't quite figured out what kind of man Saddam was from the two million he killed.
Among the chapters are those titled "The Foreigner Who Sold the Tribes," "Retaliatory Tactics" and "The Burning of the Twin Towers," although Hirata said this did not specifically refer to the World Trade Centre buildings attacked on September 11, 2001.
Posted by: Chinter Flarong9283 2006-05-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=152748