Brighter than the Baghdad Sun [Hardcover]

Shyam Bhatia (Author), Daniel McGrory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000

After talking to Iraqi defectors who spoke at the risk of their lives, respected journalists present evidence that Saddam Hussein won't rest until Iraq becomes a nuclear threat to the West--a threat, they argue, that has been aided by the Clinton Administration's dismantling of U.N. weapons inspections.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shyam Bhatia was Middle East correspondent for the OBSERVER for ten years, then its Diplomatic Editor. Daniel McGrory is a staff writer with THE TIMES and formerly chief foreign correspondent of the DAILY EXPRESS. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895262517
• ISBN-13: 978-0895262516
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,342,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but where is the backup?, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Brighter than the Baghdad Sun (Hardcover)

This is a good book, filled with all manner of allegations involving the Iraqi nuclear program and the infamous "beach ball" device. I only have one problem with it: 90% of it is hearsay. The authors assert that their sources cannot be named - which would be normal in this situation due to reprisal threats - but the authors provide no documentation or footnotes that detail the numerous accusations and re-created dialogues. They make some serious charges against the Clinton Administration, and I suspect they are largely correct; but if one is going to level these kinds of indictments it is necessary to back it up with something other than Saddam's imagined rants. Recommended but keep that grain of salt handy.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connecting the dots., May 15, 2002

By 

Bob Chamberlin "Bob" (Live Oak, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brighter than the Baghdad Sun (Hardcover)

I recommend this book as an adjunct to Robert Baer's See No Evil. This book was written in 1999, well before Baer's book. A careful reader will realize that Baer is mentioned but not by name. There is no great political insight contained in this work but for anyone who has been following the UNSCOM fiasco and the general mishandling of Saddam Hussein and his nuclear program, this will connect the dots. Hussein is a thug with absolutely no compunction about killing anyone anytime to pursue his madman's dreams. This book been criticized as being too anecdotal but I believe that is because of the nature of the information. There is no doubt that sources are being protected. If this book doesn't scare you just a little you are either one tough customer or brain dead.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unfinished business in Iraq, April 6, 2001

By 

Chuck DeVore "Chuck DeVore" (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brighter than the Baghdad Sun (Hardcover)

"Brighter than the Baghdad Sun" chronicles Saddam Hussein's 25-year effort to build an atomic bomb, as well as his successful efforts to develop chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

The book also covers in gruesome detail how the Iraqi regime smashes all internal resistance using torture, imprisonment, and assassination. (Although, one sometimes wonders what their sources were for supposed conversations with the Iraqi leadership -- given that most everyone who betrays Saddam ends up dead soon after.)

The drawn out confrontation with the UN weapons inspection teams is detailed as well. That these teams operated for as long as they did is amazing when one sees how the Iraqis were always one step ahead of them (due to a Russian team member who briefed his nation's diplomats, who in turn told Baghdad). In the end, the UN teams left Iraq and Iraq managed to keep some of its nuclear weapons equipment intact.

By the end of this book the reader is convinced that Saddam Hussein will stop at nothing to develop nuclear weapons.

The book falls short of five stars because some of the conversations used to enliven the book are not adequately footnoted (the authors want to protect privacy and lives -- they could have at least characterized the source of the information). There is also some redundancy.