Saddam's New Novel is Called Get Out, You Damned

Posted on July 20, 2004

According to The Scotsman the first excerpt of Saddam Hussein's new novel, Get Out, You Damned, appeared in Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arab newspaper. The paper said it would publish the entire novel over the next several days. The manuscript was sent to the newspaper by Saddam's former physician, who carried the manuscript with him during his flight from Iraq.

Apparently Saddam fancies himself to be a brilliant novelist (he wrote and published several florid romance novels when he was still in power, as you'll recall.) Iraqi writer and book critic Abdel Amir said Saddam "was completely out of touch with actual reality and novel writing gave him the chance to live in delusions."

Apparently, Saddam was so obsessed with his writing that he left the running of the country to his two sons, Uday and Qusay. Not surprisingly, no western publisher has shown an interest in the book.

Update: Saddam's novel has been banned by Jordan officials.