Escape from Saddam: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Journey to Freedom | 
 enlarge | Author: Lewis Alsamari
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.39
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 323249
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307394018
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.7044092
EAN: 9780307394019
ASIN: 0307394018
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New copy of Escape from Saddam. Buy with confidence. Please contact me with any questions.
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Product Description
At the age of seventeen, Lewis Alsamari was conscripted into Saddam Hussein’s army. The training was brutal, with discipline enforced by regular beatings, and desertion punishable by mutilation or imprisonment. Somehow Lewis made it through and, thanks in part to his fluent English, was soon offered a post in Iraqi military intelligence. The job would have made him powerful, comfortably wealthy . . . and a cog in Saddam Hussein’s massive machine of terror.
Unable to accept becoming a member of Saddam’s secret police, yet knowing that turning down this “honor” would be considered treasonous, Lewis made plans to flee Iraq. His escape was fraught with peril–he was shot, detained at borders, even pursued by hungry wolves across the desert–but the teenager made his way to Jordan, then Malaysia, and finally to England, where he was granted political asylum.
Lewis began building a life for himself, even falling in love and getting married. But he was haunted by thoughts of the loved ones he left behind in Iraq, his uncle’s words echoing in his ears: we are sending you to freedom so that one day you may rescue us from this place.
One day, shocking news arrived: because of his escape, Lewis’s family–including his mother and sister–had been interrogated, beaten, and thrown into prison. Frantic with guilt and worry, Lewis was forced to steal the thousands of dollars he needed to buy their release and smuggle them out of Iraq. Then, accompanied by his wife, he embarked on a desperate journey in hope of bringing his family to freedom.
Escape from Saddam is a powerful nonfiction thriller that, even as it plunges the reader into a netherworld of crooked border police, military checkpoints, counterfeiters, and smugglers, provides a fascinating window into a totalitarian regime. It is also a remarkably inspirational story of a resourceful young man who refused to accept his fate . . . and then risked everything he’d achieved to save his family.
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| Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for Americans April 9, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Regardless of your politics, if you've ever given any thought to what's going on in Iraq (and who hasn't?), this is a book you don't want to miss. It's a hair-raising page-turner, and a true story to boot. All of those who enjoy life in a democracy will come away with a new appreciation for how good we have it, and a deeper understanding of what conditions are like for people who live under brutal dictators. I have nothing but admiration for Alsamari. Get this book and recommend it to others!
(Hey, if they make this into a movie, I wonder if they'd offer Alsamari the lead role? Would he take it?)
Heartbreakingly sad, yet inspiring April 5, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As someone who travelled to Iraq during the dark days of "Saddam rule," my heart broke while reading this book, yet I was enormously inspired by Lewis AlSamari's courage, as well as the enormous strength displayed by his loyal uncle Saad, who might be one of the bravest men alive. I could not tear myself away from the book, despite the fact I had so much work waiting on me that I had to fight guilt while reading. The journey with Lewis through his dangerous life in Iraq, and his escape through the desert to Jordan, was so intense I felt my stomach coil in fear. I was drawn back to my own lonely journey along those very roads, back in 1998 when I traveled from Amman to Baghdad on that long and difficult 12-hour journey. I felt apprehension, yet I was in a motor vehicle! I can't imagine running through those lonely deserts, along, with wolves chasing me! After his escape, his single-minded determination to save his family, who were targeted by Iraqi security after his escape, was nothing short of breathtaking. This story "shows" rather than "tells" the horror of living in Saddam ruled Iraq, and the reader simply can't put the book down. It certainly makes one thankful to live without the fear of someone knocking on the door in the middle of the night to take you away to a hell hole prison. I so hope success for this young man, and safety for his family, and most particularly, for his Uncle Saad. My hat's off to them both! I hope that readers embrace this book because I do so want this story to become known world-wide.Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein;Love in a Torn Land: Joanna of Kurdistan: The True Story of a Freedom Fighter's Escape from Iraqi Vengeance
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