British-born journalist Roberts collects here his interview with the Iraqi leader while covering the 1990 Arab Summit and accounts his experience as one of the few journalists to witness the devastation of civilians during the Gulf War from Baghdad itself, and his return for the International Babylon Festival in 1995. He draws on interviews with the US ambassador to argue that the Bush administration knew that the Iraqis were going to invade Kuwait and knew what Americans stood to gain by it. His style is often reminiscent of Hunter Thompson. Some of the material has been published in Saturday Night (May 1991) and Harper's (1996); the volume was first published by Stoddart Publishing in Canada in 1997. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.