Out of Iraq: Escape from Saddam And Al-qaeda

by Mahmoud Albayati

Out of Iraq is the eloquent and moving story of Mahmoud Albayati, a worker in Saddam’s weapons program, dramatically escaping to the West. A story of passion and determination, deprivation and triumph, this memoir tells first-hand about fighting in the Iraq-Iran war and of surviving the bombing of Baghdad during the Kuwaiti conflict. We witness Saddam’s summary executions and feel the miasma of fear when schoolmates “disappeared” overnight. We drive down “the highway of death” and overlook the bloodbath Saudi Arabian refugee camps as the guards shoot rebelling refugees. We return to Baghdad in the immediate aftermath of the liberation, where Albayati foils an attempt by insurgents to kidnap Albayati did not come from a privileged background, but made his way to a high position through hard work and merit. This is not a middle-class memoir of life under Saddam, but the truth from someone existing in a large family in near-poverty. Now a US citizen, Albayati has provocative and fascinatingly unvarnished views of the UN, George Bush (senior), Al-Qaeda, and 9/11—and, most of all, what Iraq needs now. This is a fearlessly honest book from someone who has (literally) come through the wars. Albayati has the courage to speak for the millions of moderate Arab Muslims who have been cowed into silence by fundamentalists. This book will change your mind about the Middle East forever. Read it, believe it, live it.

162 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2006