This book tells the unique story of a self-made man--a man who grew up in the depths of poverty, a man who was able to overcome it and later on became a physician for President Saddam Hussein and his family.
He practiced medicine in Iraq, England, and the United States and returned to Iraq after a long absence driven by his love for his homeland and its people, especially the poor and destitute. His reward, after some time, was detaining centers and prisons. He witnessed the parades of torture and heard the prisoners' outcries in the hallways where human lives had no value. He specialized in pulmonary diseases in England, worked there before traveling to the United States for postgraduate studies, and worked in various New York hospitals where he was valued and appreciated.
Once again, his heart longed for his homeland. He went against the advice of his family and friends and was determined to return to Iraq again--determined to quench his thirst with the water of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and to inhale the fragrance of the palm trees. He returned and worked in the Baghdad hospitals and his private practice until he was suddenly taken away again to a remote, unknown detainment center where he was accused of participating in a plot to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein in 1991. After many excruciating events, a miracle occurred, and he was released after the security forces subjected him to his fair share of torture. After all this, he left his homeland in Iraq and returned to living in exile where the highly educated are revered as they should be.
Dr. Shakir Al-Janabi addresses in this book many events that took place in Iraq since the 1940s and until the first decade of the twenty-first century. He discusses the country's political and military issues by virtue of his employment for years as an army doctor and his many high-level acquaintances in the fields of the military, politics, and science. He addresses his predicaments with these issues with honesty and literary boldness.
The whole book impresses the reader and deserves to be read more than once. It is enjoyable to read and has an interesting storytelling style. It is rich with events and pitfalls that draw the reader from the first pages of the book until the end.
The book is qualified to become a movie with international fame.
--Yousif Mansoor Alkatib
University Professor