Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda (Hardcover)

~ Khidhir Hamza (Author), Jeff Stein (Collaborator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"I am lucky to be alive," writes Khidhir Hamza on the opening page of this memoir, which reads like a thriller. Hamza describes how he helped Saddam Hussein design a nuclear bomb over the course of 22 years. He has an amazing story to relate, and with the help of collaborator Jeff Stein, he tells it remarkably well. It begins with his cloak-and-dagger escape from Baghdad in 1994, then goes back in time to describe the education he received earlier in the United States. Hamza returned to his native Iraq, and Saddam seduced him into accepting the comfortable life of an atomic scientist trying to build a bomb for a megalomaniac. Hamza presents a terrifying, almost psychotic portrait of Hussein himself: the dictator--a man with "yellow, lifeless eyes"--has a paranoid fear of germs and a taste for Johnnie Walker Blue Label. He's prone to drunken rages and relies on sedatives to keep control of himself: "His personality grew more erratic with the ups and downs of the drugs, the liquor, and the pressures of command." Hamza recounts a story told by one of Saddam's doctors, in which the strongman was found "stomping about his palace bedroom in a blood-splotched shirt" near the body of a woman whose throat was slit.

Hamza was eventually kept under house arrest, and even threatened with torture. His escape was an astonishing feat, and the message he brought to the West is vital: "I have no doubt that Iraq is pursuing the nuclear option." The Gulf War slowed development, but failed to shut it down. The coalition that knocked Saddam out of Kuwait has fallen apart, and United Nations inspectors no longer try to keep him in check. Hamza urges policymakers to confront Saddam, and suggests that the CIA redouble its efforts to help topnotch scientists flee from their virtual captivity. If rogue nations experience a brain drain, he says, their capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction will suffer. Saddam's Bombmaker is hard to put down and essential reading for anybody interested in national security. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

"Behind every closed door in Baghdad is a scientist or an official who would like to leave," writes Hamza, the former head of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's nuclear program, who defected in 1994Dand was initially dismissed by the CIA as an alarmist; to this day, he remains the only member of Saddam's inner circle to escape and survive. Early in his career, Hamza believed the bomb would serve only as "diplomatic leverage" and would never be completed, much less used. However, as Saddam gained greater control, the nuclear program became his obsession and he appointed Hamza as his right-hand man. Hamza's keen sense of pacing (balancing personal memoir with political history) and his clear and vivid writing serve to indict Iraq under Saddam, painting a detailed and convincing portrait of what it's like to live in a country under a violent dictator where there is no viable opposition or independent judiciary. In the West, Saddam became synonymous with terror only after his invasion of Kuwait, but for Iraqis that terror began far earlier. Hamza recalls colleagues who were tortured and killed, and doctors weeping as they told him of being forced to watch the killings of Shiites, whom Saddam feared politically, or the gassing of Kurds, designed both to eliminate this minority and to test biological weapons. Agent, Gail Ross. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (November 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684873869
• ISBN-13: 978-0684873862
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,345 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from publishers weekly, October 19, 2000

By	Anthony "Anton" (Seattle, Wa USA) - See all my reviews

from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, October 16, 2000*:

"[The authors] keen sense of pacing (balancing personal memoir with political history) and clear and vivid writing serve to indict Iraq under Saddam, painting a detailed and convincing portrait of what it's like to live in a country under a violent dictator where there is no viable opposition or independent judiciary. . .

Hamza recalls colleagues who were tortured and killed, and doctors weeping as they told him of being forced to watch the killings of Shiites, who Saddam feared politically, or the gassing of Kurds, designed both to eliminate this minority and to test biological weapons. . .

Forecast: Hamza was featured in an article in the New York Times Magazine on Oct. 2 and this book will get widely reviewed. Hamza's urgent message about how close Saddam is to completing a nuclear weapon makes the book not only newsworthy but of the broadest interest to a wide spectrum of readers concerned about the fate of the world in the nuclear age

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, December 31, 2002

By A Customer

Before going into my own thoughts on this book, I would like to respond to an earlier reviewer who found this an obviously fictional account because:

"Basically, in atomic research you need lots of industrial equipment, like the South African and Israeli governments bought or developed(from other advanced nations). Iraq has nothing close to this."

To this I say: North Korea, Pakistan, India (and coming soon, Iran) -- and ??? In this I do not mean to disparage the countries named, but they clearly do not fall within that reviewers idea of a highly developed industrialized "Big 5" nation. What Iraq was not able to develop on its own, it WAS able to buy.

And that last is really one of the main themes of this book. The ability of Iraq to buy, and the willingness of others to sell, everything that Iraq needs -- for a price. This brought to mind Bernard Lewis's accounts in "Islam and the West" in which the West was more than willing to sell modern arms to Islamic states in the distant past. But I digress.

Dr. Hamzah portrays/is portrayed as a man caught up in a combination of greed, ego, and fear. He was finally able to extricate himself and his family (and his accounts of his difficulties dealing with the CIA do not bode well for the future). His description of how easily he was ensnared in this gilded cage, one step at a time, is truly a cautionary tale.

At the same time, his detailed description of how a rogue state can go about obtaining the necessary ingredients for a nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction) weapon is dismaying to say the least. But at least it takes a LOT of money.

The one element that did not ring true (for me)was Dr. Hamza's description of his poker playing. He clearly knows very little about poker, and writing of his exploits as someone who does (even marginally) gave me pause. But it is more along the lines of grandiosity than outright fabrication. And that is perhaps the best way to approach this book. Accept that Dr. Hamza (for various reasons) puffs himself up a bit -- but that is also what made him more susceptible to Saddam's enticements

Well worth reading if you want to understand how Iraq could get a weapons program going, and maintain it in secrecy despite attempts to uncover it. Also a worthwhile study of how a man can slowly slip into a bad situation through greed, and hubris.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and slightly disturbing read..., October 11, 2001

By A Customer

This autobiography offers a fascinating look into the repressive autocratic life in Iraq. He describes life in and around Saddam's regime both before and after desert storm. The author describes how equipment, materials, information and brain power were acquired through out the world despite facade-like Western government position on nuclear non-proliferation. After reading Dr. Hamza's book, I'm under the impression that any country with money and desire could acquire resources needed to construct a bomb, given the restrictions that were in place during the 80's.

I found Hamza's writing on the underground world of spying and assassination interestingly different from the now more dated (and fictional) Ian Flemming. I especially enjoyed the idea of false patents placed by Israeli intelligence on uranium enrichment by magnets which effectively wasted billions of Iraqi dollars and many fruitless years. His personal experience portrayal of a bureaucratic uninformed CIA was enlightening. The description on development of a bomb is done well with the perfect amount of detail for the average educated lay reader.

Leftover question I had about the aftermath of desert storm are revealed, such as what happened to the opposition and how they were crushed by lack of support and understanding. The author mentions the likely origins of "desert storm syndrome" illness that soldiers came back with.

A review wouldn't be complete without some negativity. The book does seem a bit self centered around the author. Given this is an autobiography, this should be expected to a degree. The author's importance within Saddam's regime seems a little puffed up, but this doesn't affect the story.

Regardless, I found it a very interesting read. I would hope that this would be required reading for those involved in nuclear non-proliferation. It is valuable first hand experience from the covert side, which one rarely has an opportunity to hear from.