Brighter Than the Baghdad Sun tells the story of how Saddam Hussein ordered his scientists to develop a nuclear bomb that would make him the most powerful Arab ruler of modern times and force the West to think twice about going to war against him. A handpicked team of Iraq's best scientists assembled the bom at secret locations that Western intelligence agencies did not even know existed. Saddam's family were the only ones he trusted to run a worldwide network of covert businesses to buy the components of the bomb. They in turn embezzled millions and plotted against each other in a series of blood feuds. When they crossed him, Saddam had them murdered. He betrayed his wife with his many affairs and arrested his own children. The authors reveal that, even now, Saddam remains a nuclear threat. United Nations inspectors failed to discover all his secrets and he still has the scientists, the blueprints and the hidden components. If he succeeds, the world will never be the same again.

Shyam Bhatia was Middle East correspondent for the OBSERVER for ten years, then its Diplomatic Editor. Daniel McGrory is a staff writer with THE TIMES and formerly chief foreign correspondent of the DAILY EXPRESS.