Jordan Bars Publication of Hussein’s Novel

AMMAN, Jordan —  It seems even fallen dictators have trouble getting their novels published.

Jordan has barred publication of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s fourth novel, titled “Get Out, Damned One,” because of political concerns, a senior Jordanian official said Sunday.

“I just assessed whether this would be in Jordan’s national interest, and I thought it was not because the whole issue bears political ramifications which do not serve Jordan at all,” Ahmad Qudah, head of the Press and Publications Department, told Associated Press.

Jordan enjoys cordial relations with the elected government in Iraq, holding training sessions for Iraqi police cadets, army and anti-terrorism units to help in postwar reconstruction.

The novel tells the story of a man named Ezekiel who plots to overthrow a town’s sheik but is defeated by the sheik’s daughter and an Arab warrior. Ezekiel is apparently meant to symbolize the Jews.

Qudah said his department “did not tackle the content of the novel.”

Hussein’s eldest daughter, Raghad, told AP she expected the novel to be published in the coming week. She said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003 -- as the U.S.-led war on Iraq was about to begin -- and expressed a wish to publish the book under his name.

The three other novels he wrote were simply signed, “Its author.”

Hussein has been held at a U.S. complex near Baghdad’s airport since his December 2003 capture near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad. He faces charges before a special war crimes tribunal and if convicted faces the death penalty.