The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear MasterMind

"This is the man who will deliver the enriched uranium," Hussein Kemal said to his father-in-law Saddam, nodding at Mahdi Obeidi. "He has already made great strides." "In less than 3 years," Dr. Obeidi writes in this book, "our staff of only 200 talented men and women had progressed from almost total ignorance of centrifuge technology to the successful enrichment of uranium and to the verge of large-scale production." How he accomplished this feat (beginning in 1988) is he story of "A Bomb in my Garden"; so entitled because of his hiding of a test centrifuge---the single most dangerous piece of nuclear technology--- & detailed blueprints on its manufacture for over 12 years (buried in his backyard) while UN inspectors searched Iraq for just such proof that Saddam was a lot closer to acquiring a nuclear device than he was willing to conceed (an ability, moreover, he could reconstitute fairly rapidly when desired). Dr. Obeidi explains herein how centrifuges draw the heavier isotope uranium-238 from the lighter uranium-235 "in much the same way that water is drawn out of laundry in the spin cycle of a washing machine." In this way natural uranium---which contains less than 1% uranium-235---can be accumulated & progressively enriched until it reaches lethal quality (at over 90% purity). Centrifuges, however, need to rotate at over 50,000 revolutions per minute to facilitate this process; an engineering miracle in of itself. Only certain materials can bear the stress of such force and have to be manufactured to such precise tolerances that Dr. Obeidi sent dozens of his engineers & researchers to train undercover in the world's best institutes & high-tech companies once he was able to procure the requisite classified plans for such; as he (simultaneously) "put together a strategy for acquiring parts, materials, and know-how on the international black market." This he did in total secrecy, under direct command of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. "It is difficult to describe," he writes, "the sense of total fear we lived under" trying to meet arbitrarily imposed deadlines from above---the penalty being prison and/or execution for failure. It's an amazing story; and the details of meetings and events of interest are fascinating: details of meetings with Qusay Hussein & Saddam Hussein, being threatened by Saddam's son-in-law, watching Colin Powell address the UN on satellite televison, dodging American bombs during the invasion, wooing German & Swiss industrialists and scientists to provide classified materials & so on. Once he even had to tear down half of his development facility---walls, floor, etc. and remove tons of topsoil surrounding it before UN inspectors---having surprised him by taking samples---would be expected to return once those samples (as he expected) tested positive for radiation. If you are interested in the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's dastardly doings---or need to be convinced of such, this is the book for you. Even

This useful book, presenting the case straight from the horse's mouth, has been seized on by supporters and opponents of the Iraq war. Both parties are correct. Obeidi does indeed confirm that Saddam had no nukes. But he also confirms that Saddam certainly wanted them, played endless games with the inspectors in a bid to hang on to whatever he could, and would clearly have restarted the program the instant sanctions were lifted. Obeidi also confirms something else, to my mind much more important: Sanctions had completely failed to weaken Saddam's power in Iraq, but had rather consolidated it, since he used the restrictions as leverage over potentially rebellious parts of the country. This last problem, for many people (including me) was the real *casus belli*. Bush was a fool for harping on WMD - I suppose he thought it was more flashy, but he helped precipitate what is (to my mind) an utterly irrelevant debate. And this book helps to show that it was irrelevant. No one could read Obeidi's book and come away thinking that Saddam's Iraq was a cooperative, harmless place that the international community should have restored to full operative power - whether or not he had a nuke at the ready. Nicely written, too. The reviewer here who complains that the book dwells boringly on the details of how Obeidi managed to get an illicit nuclear program going completely misses the point: this was *exactly* what Obeidi was trying to explain, so governments can try to prevent it. He wasn't trying to write a cheesy thriller (though I did think that he conveyed, very well, the stultifying sense of fear endured by most Iraqis.) Anyone with any interest in this war should stop reading those tiresome half-informed op ed pieces in the press, and read this.

This well-written and compelling personal account is written by a Iraqi scientist involved in Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program. It is a story of one person's survival in the bizarre world that Hussein created during his two decade rule of Iraq. Mahdi Obeidi gives his perspective of only one facet of the various weapons of mass destruction which Hussein was procuring. It was fascinating to learn that he received an American college education (Colorado School of Mines) before his eventual involvement with the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commision at its birth. Once Hussein comes to power, his accidental career choice (he never grew up dreaming of nuclear physics) became a near deadly career choice. The antidotes of creating and then hiding a covert nuclear program is the heart of the book -- one is back in the world of spycraft and not the world of nuclear fusion. After the fall of Baghdad, Mr. Obeidi cooperated with the American military intellience in handing over the existing documents hidden in his garden (hence the title of the book) -- his co-author acted as a intermediary for both sides in the handing over of the documents. As a reward, Mr. Obeidi and his family were allowed to live in the United States.

This book was by far the most interesting and factual account of Saddam's regime that anybody is likely to find. Dr. Obiedi gave an extremely detailed story of how the nuclear weapons program in Iraq started and how it progressed. He even explained to basics of nuclear science (in lamens terms) so you, the reader, can fully understand the implications of Saddam's actions (and how incredibly close he came to possessing weapons of mass destruction). He did very well in expressing his almost constant fear that he, his family and his friends could be killed or jailed at any time for almost anything (including something as simple as missing a deadline for paperwork..) How his superiors absolutely refused to listen to reason and would make up ludicrous deadlines for him in completing his science (a great example of this is Dr. Obeidi's boss Hussain Kamal said he wanted to start a nuclear weapons program and to have nuclear capabilities in 45 days.. from scratch) He also does well to describe why Saddam was so delusional to believe that he could not only stop the US coalition but possibly even beat them back. He had absolutely no idea what the capabilities of his country were. For years even his closest advisors would tell him exactly what he wanted to hear.. which was rarely the truth. (and it seemed to me like he liked it that way) Gripping tale that give us outsiders and inside look from a first hand account. short read but worth the money.

This is an extremely interesting and timely book that makes the case that Saddam was both dillusional and determined to build the bomb. The author describes Saddam's intent to wait out the U.N. and then reconstitute his program, and he clearly states that Iraq would have been able to shave months if not years off the delivery of a nuclear bomb. Saddam, like Hitler in the 20s and early 30s, was clearly a grave and gathering threat who would threaten the world with WMD. This story actually cooberates the Administrations claim that Iraq could have reconstituted its program in months, and with the acquisition of a small amount of enriched uranium or plutonium, threatened the world. Finally, the author makes clear that Saddam had the intent to build a bomb, and certainly the money to acquire fissile material from the corrupt oil for food program. Waiting, as Kerry now suggests he would have done, until the threat was imminent, would be too late. Thank you for an excellent book.