Saddam Hussein spent the final weeks before the war writing a novel predicting that he would lead an underground resistance movement to victory over the Americans. He was not, as most of the world imagined, planning the defence of his nation. As the war began and Saddam went into hiding, 40,000 copies of Be Gone Demons! were rolling off the presses. Most were destroyed by bombing and looting. The historical epic reveals Saddam’s increasing detachment from the world and his inflated sense of self in a narrative that meanders through the history of Iraq from biblical times and is filled with paranoid invective against the Jews, who delight in inciting troubles between Muslim nations and encouraging the Romans (Americans) - to attack Iraq. The arch-villain is Ezekiel, an immortal Jew whose presence runs throughout time. He is a fat, evil, old man; Saddam probably had Ariel Sharon in mind. The Iran-Iraq war began when Ezekiel persuaded the Iraqis’ leader to invade his neighbour. The Iraqis, led by a doddering sheik, are soon defeated and Ezekiel seizes power. Enter Saddam as the resistance fighter Salim - "a pure, virtuous Arab" . . . "Salim is tall and handsome with a straight nose". A ghost writer journalist involved in producing the novels, Saad Hadi, said: "He lost touch with reality. He thought he was a god who could do anything, including writing novels." |