MSNBC: Saddam novel goes on sale in Japan

[One Honest Guy]

Updated: 12:36 a.m. CT May 19, 2006

TOKYO - A novel supposedly finished by Saddam Hussein the day before the U.S. invasion was on sale Friday in Japanese bookstores, telling the story of a Euphrates River tribe that ousts an invading force 1,500 years ago.

The manuscript for the book, titled “Akuma No Dance” (“Devil’s Dance”) in Japan, was carried out of Iraq by Saddam’s eldest daughter, Raghad, when she fled to Jordan just before the U.S.-led invasion, according to Tokyo-based Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co.

Raghad has said previously her father finished the novel on March 18, 2003 — a day before the war began. Tokuma Shoten says it is the first publisher in the world to put out the novel, which is Saddam’s fourth.

Jordan last year banned publication of the novel, known there as “Get Out, Damned One,” due to political concerns.


Japanese journalist Itsuko Hirata holds a copy of a novel titled "Akuma No Dance" (Devil's Dance), said to be originally written by Saddam Hussein. She translated it from Arabic into Japanese, and has called the former Iraqi dictator an important witness to world history who shouldn't be sentenced to death.


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12871414/?GT1=8199