Japanese readers looking for a slightly different tale can now curl up with “Get Out of Here, Curse You” — a novel by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq and titled “Devil’s Dance” in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation Friday.Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman.
The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata.
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