Circle of Fear: My Life As an Israeli and Iraqi Spy [Hardcover]

Hussein Sumaida (Author), Carole Jerome (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Brassey's Inc; 1st Ed edition (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028810996
• ISBN-13: 978-0028810997
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,768,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars personal tale set amidst the backdrop of Saddam's Iraq, May 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Circle of Fear: My Life As an Israeli and Iraqi Spy (Hardcover)

The author tells a fascinating tale of life inside Iraq. Being the son of one of Saddam's closest advisors, he had access to much interesting information. Iraqis are taught to hate Israelis, but Hussein Sumaida never did buy into the hate. He would often sneak into his father's "banned books" stash and read books about Israeli heroes. He grew up wanting to defect to Israel and become a spy. The story he tells is fascinating, and well worth the read.

A reviewer said Hussein Sumaida is blinded by hatred of jews. I don't know what book that person read, but it wasn't this one. Hussein is very forthright about his liking of Jews and Israel, despite the propaganda the people of Iraq are subjected to. Overall a very exciting book.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Circle of Hate!, October 27, 2002

By 

Shahid F. Khalid "sfk101" (LOS Angeles area, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Circle of Fear: My Life As an Israeli and Iraqi Spy (Hardcover)

"Cirlce of Fear" is the story of a young author (Hussein Sumaida) whose father (a prominent figure in Saddam's regine) has abused Hussein since he was a child. To get even with his father, and his country (Iraq), he decides to work as a spy for Mossad in England. When the Iraqi secret service (Mukhabarat) catches up with him, the author switches sides and decides to work for Iraqi intelligence. By doing so he gets an inside look of the Iraqi regime and its brutalities. In this book Hussein exposes the inner workings of Saddam's regime, the torture of Iraqis, and the leacherous life-style of the government officials in great detail. Hussein hate of his father, and his country is carried over to his religion that he mis-quotes, derides and mis-interprets.

This book ranks among such espionage books as "By Way of Deception" and "The Other Side of Deception" both by Victor Ostrovsky -the Mossad agent who turned against the Israeli regime because of Mossad's atrocities and Israeli government policies in terrorizing the Palestinian population.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the most ridiculous books I've ever read, November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Circle of Fear: My Life As an Israeli and Iraqi Spy (Hardcover)

The book describes alleged intelligence connections of the author. Unfortunately, the author is blinded by hate, of both Israel and the "Zionist satan". As well, the author subscribes to a number of conspiracy theories that evoke the golden age of blood libels. Finally, the writing style is simply awful: the book may be a translation from another language. For example, consider the following passage:

"I thought to myself how awful and perverted the Zionists are; how disgraced their society and how corrupt their souls". Ugh.