Drawing on a network of sources, contacts, and first-hand testimonies, Con Coughlin takes us to the centre of Saddam s complex and bewildering regime. In 1979 Saddam took power and immediately set about controlling every aspect of Iraqi life. The Kurds and Shiites have been subjected to horrendous genocidal attacks, thousands of political prisoners taken, many tortured for Hussein s own gratification. Even his own two son-in-laws were murdered on Saddam s direct orders. More than this Coughlin t