A tragic novel of loveless marriage, rape and death is causing a stir in Iraq and at the CIA. Could its unnamed author be the Butcher of Baghdad?
The 160-page paperback, Zabibah wal Malik (Zabibah and the King), has -- apparently -- become every Iraqi's favorite read. All the public libraries stock copies and, if newspaper reports are to be believed, it's the talk of the intelligentsia.
Despite its rambling, overblown prose and its gaudy, pre-Raphaelite influenced illustrations, the Iraqi media have hailed it as an "innovation in the history of novels" and given it rave reviews. Indeed, nobody in Iraq appears to have whispered so much as a word of criticism against it.
Couple that with a little-noticed remark by Saddam Hussein early last year that he intended to write a novel, and you have the makings of a tale more intriguing than the book's own story line.
The cover gives no clue to the writer's identity, saying cryptically that it is "a novel by its author." A note inside explains that the author "did not wish to put his name on it out of humility, like the sons of Iraq who sacrifice their lives and their valuables and never talk about their great deeds."
After finding a copy in a London bookshop, the CIA spent three months analysing its text. "Saddam's style, sentence structure and expressions are clearly present in the novel," the New York Times reports.
With an opening paragraph that reads: "What is more wondrous and delightful than heroines and the level of great deeds, and even miracles in Iraq!" we can be reasonably certain that the author was not Shakespeare.
But the CIA doubts that Saddam wrote the entire book. More likely, he supervised its creation by one or more professional writers.
The excitement at the CIA is that Zabibah wal Malik, even if ghostwritten by people trying to please Saddam, may offer a rare insight into the Iraqi leader's deepest thoughts.
The story is heavily allegorical and the beautiful heroine, Zabibah, is seen by the US agency as representing the Iraqi people.
The mighty king is you-know-who and Zabibah, cruelly treated by her husband, falls in love with him.
In a series of long but chaste encounters, the king pours out his heart to Zabibah and -- interestingly for the spooks in Langley -- reveals his feelings of insecurity. One night, returning from the palace, Zabibah is dragged off to the forest and raped. She and her estranged husband are killed on Jan. 17 -- the anniversary of Desert Storm.
The king establishes a parliament, only to find that all its members are disreputable characters. As the parliamentarians squabble, a messenger announces that the king has died. This brings the novel to a puzzling conclusion. After a funeral befitting Saddam, the MPs declare: "Long live Zabibah! Long live the people! Long live the army!" But nobody mentions a new king.
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