Direct from Latif Yahia Author of The Devil's Double: the Fake books you shouldn't buy

Since I wrote my first book in 1992, originally in Arabic and then translated to German. I have been trying to remove and stop certain publishers, especially American publishers namely Arcade publishing ( a bankrupt part of Time Warner) and now Skyhorse Publishing who bought the bankrupt Arcade publishing, from selling books that they attribute to me but that I have never given consent or authorisation to be published.

If you want to buy my books, then please go to www.arcanummediagroup.com or if you wish to buy the Kindle versions go to Amazon.

Geography of a Woman

Between 18 and 22 a woman is like Africa... half discovered, half wild, naturally beautiful with fertile deltas.
Between 23 and 30 a woman is like America... well developed and open to trade, especially for high financed investors.
Between 31 and 45 a woman is like India... very hot, relaxed and convinced of her own beauty.
Between 46 and 55 a woman is like France... gently aging but sensual with an appreciation for the finer things.
Between 56 and 60 she is like Yugoslavia... lost the war, haunted by past mistakes and in need of massive reconstruction.
From 61 on, a woman is like Afghanistan... everyone knows where it is, but no one wants to go there.

Geography of a man

Between 15 and 60 a man is like Ireland... ruled by a DICK.

This House hates Human Rights (Cambridge Union)

Debate:

the Title of the debate was (This House hates Human Rights) The debate took place in Cambridge Union Society, in UK 25/Nov/2010.

PROPOSITION:

1-Andy Hayman : was the highest ranking officer responsible for counter-terrorism in the UK whilst at London's Metropolitan Police, and was directly responsible for the investigation into the 7 July London bombings.

2-Peter Hitchens : writes for The Mail on Sunday. A former resident correspondent in Moscow and Washington, he appears frequently on radio and television, debating typically left-wing opponents on a variety of topics.

3-Charles Drummond : is a history PhD student at Trinity College. A graduate of Harvard University, Drummond was a liaison to national security fellows at the Kennedy School of Government and an intern at the American Bar Association, where he worked on issues of human rights law.

OPPOSITION:

1-Philip Murray : is currently studying for a PhD in public law at Corpus Christi College, where he also teaches constitutional law. His research covers a broad range of constitutional issues, including human rights law.

2-Isabella Sanky :

3-Dr. Latif Yahia : PhD International Law an Iraqi-born author, blogger and former military officer in the Iran-Iraq War. Dr Yahia was also forcibly recruited to be the body double of Saddam Hussein's elder son Uday Hussein.

Part 1 Andy Hayman.

Part 2 Philip Murray.

Part 3 Charles Drummond.

Part 4 Isabella Sanky.

Part 5 Peter Hitchens.

Part 6 Dr. Latif Yahia.

Dominic Cooper on Playing
Saddam's Hussein's Son Uday.

BY Bryan Alexander

Every actor has that role which would seemingly be impossible to understand. For British actor Dominic Cooper that would be playing Saddam Hussein's sadistic son Uday.

Cooper portrayed the eldest son of the Iraqi leader for the upcoming film "The Devil's Double" and admits to PopcornBiz that he prepared for the part "with difficulty."

"The man was a monster, a psychopath," he says, speaking at the press day of his new film "Tamara Drewe."

"It was terrifying."

Looking into the damage the Iraqi heir-apparent caused in his own country was incredibly difficult. Uday and his younger brother Qusay had a reign of terror that went unchecked in their country.

"He was above the law," says Cooper. "There was nothing stopping him. He killed and raped and maimed."

"He was the most hideous man I have ever done any research on."

Yet somehow, Cooper had to find a way to identify with this character. At one point, he resorted to taking advice from the film's director, Lee Tamahori, about how this would be possible.

"I want to bring a certain amount of myself to the characters. Most actors do," says Cooper. "You want to make a connection to a certain part in you."

This was difficult with Uday Hussein.

"I needed help identifying with someone I ultimately hated," he adds. " And I had to understand the concept of why he was the man he was."

To make matters worse. Cooper had to play two characters. Both Uday and his sympathetic body double around whom the story is told.

"And there's a lot of pressure to get it right because he affected so many people's lives so horrendously," Cooper says.

In the end, he found his Uday, and he promises a chilling film.

"It's a harrowing story," says Cooper. "But ultimately it's a gangster film set in a lawless environment."

Murders exchange Medals for Peace.

By: Latif Yahia

Having heard the news on the 13^th of September that Tony Blair was receiving the Liberty Medal for his “Critical role in advancing peace in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and his steadfast commitment to conflict resolution” I sat back in my chair and wondered whether I had fallen into a parallel universe.

Actually, to be very honest it is not the first time that I have visited this parallel universe. I visit it every time a world leader/politician who while in office, used force against another sovereign state and once out of office decided to ‘work for peace’ and was given medals or awards for it!

Now of course Tony Blair did do some good and nice things while he was in office, but for me it will always be overshadowed by his decision to follow Bush into Iraq. There are a lot of things that I could say about the decisions taken, but I think that the hardest part for me to accept Blair’s reasons for going in, was his strong belief that Saddam was a threat and he needed to be removed for ‘stability’ in the region. Saddam never threatened the UK and indeed it was proven then and is repeatedly proven to this day that even if he did have the desire, he certainly did not have the capability.

I don’t think that anyone would or could say that Iraq or the middle east is a more stable region now either, in fact the opposite is true, Iran now rules Iraq. This is shown by the fact that Noori Al-Maliki (Iranian backed Shia) refuses doggedly to hand over the reigns of power to his successor Aiyad Alawi (backed by US and UK), whom I might add was DEMOCRATICALLY elected, something that was also purportedly a very important reason for deposing Saddam.

Mr. Blair now gives motivational speeches on tolerance between faiths, works towards improving governance in Africa and Brokers peace talks between Israel and Palestine. Noble causes indeed, but would it not have been better for Mr. Blair to lead by example while in office?

Since Tony Blair left not only Downing street but government he has made many changes, he converted to Catholicism, he is donating the proceeds from his book sales to the British Legion, he formed the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and has become a Peace Ambassador, is he fulfilling lifelong dreams or trying to atone for many of the decisions he made in the past ten years?

What I also found amusing and ironic was that Bill Clinton presented this award to Tony, now for those of you that don’t know, Mr. Clinton had a daily bombing campaign, yes, each day or every other day, from 1993 until he/Monica finished his time in office he would drop bombs on Iraq and he also imposed the ‘no fly zone’. Some might also say that Bill paved the way for Bush’s invasion when he had the ‘Iraqi Freedom’ law passed in Congress in 1998. But now Bill also works for Peace.

So here we have Bill who used to just bomb Iraq giving the Liberty Medal to Tony who went one better and actually invaded it! It makes you wonder what award they have ready for George W. Bush? A Nobel Peace Prize? Maybe not, seemingly seven of the recipients of the Liberty Medal have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, Tony may have that one in the bag too.

Politics is a dirty sticky business, those who want the power do what it takes, whatever that happens to be at the time, but when their time is over, see the error of their ways and spend the rest of their lives trying to make amends and give their friends jobs helping them to make amends. Why don’t we find a way to stop this cycle? Why is it that leaders have to do it this way? Can they not just ‘do good’ for their people from the start? Or is it that what is good and right is not what is profitable or powerful? Are they really our leaders or is someone else pulling the strings?

Hist freshers deal with terrorism

By: Darren Mooney & Daniel Costigan

The College Historical Society held its annual R’n’L debate on the controversial topic of political violence or terrorism on Wednesday April 4th. Organised exclusively by the Records and Libraries sub-committee, the debate was a roaring success.

This Junior Freshman-run debate was quite an interesting departure from the normal discussions that take place in the chamber during the year.

The vibrant and varied discussion of political violence during the debate was a fantastic reflection on the R’n’L. ’I’ve never seen anything like it,’ commented Hist Auditor James O’Brien. ’The energy and enthusiasm shown by the first-years is just amazing.’

The motion ’ ’One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ meant that the speakers didn’t address the House in the usual adversarial manner.

The debate quickly became an invitation for speakers to advance from the motion and tackle more broad and varied concepts. Ideas about the pejorative use of the word ’terrorist’, subjective Western value judgements and the need to come up with objective criteria by which to define a terrorist were discussed. The debate also challenged the audience to question the violent foundation of western democracies and further used varied and unique analogies comparing terrorism to beating someone to death in a night-club, or pondering if the photogenic nature of the victims is what makes us feel so disgusted at the concept. Is killing killing or is terrorism something beyond that’

The highlight of the night was former body double for Uday Hussein, Dr Latif Yahia, asserting that the so-called Democratic Nations didn’t have the principles they so strongly advocated. Dr Yahia alleged widespread corruption, hypocrisy and abuse within the West and challenged us to revise our views of ’terrorists’ as depicted through our news services. ’Two things make the Terrorist,’ he warned the audience: ’The politician ’ and the media.’ At the time of printing, Dr Yahia’s speech has been downloaded over 2500 times from the Hist’s website, www.thehist.com.

Students themselves grappled on whether it was possible to justify terrorism, or if they were simply ’psychopaths’ or ’impressionable idiots’. One student speaker assured the crowd that ’terrorism is not only justifiable, but it’s also effective’. Everyone had a different view and there were no two speeches alike on either side throughout the debate.

The debate was a melting pot of different ideas ’ with speakers disagreeing on what a terrorist was. There was even some discussion as to whether one of the guests, Deirdre Clancy, was a terrorist herself after her disabling of a military jet at Shannon in 2003. Or, as Village columnist Harry Browne suggested, was she a freedom fighter’

The massive variety in the guests and speeches make this debate the best R’n’L debate in a long time.

HARDtalk 2009 - the good, the bad and the bizarre

By Stephen Sackur
Presenter, BBC HARDtalk

The HARDtalk studio is dark. The two leather chairs on our simple set are empty. This year's interrogations are over and it's time to remember the good, the bad and the downright bizarre from HARDtalk 2009.

2009 saw the first walk-out in the middle of a HARDtalk interview

It was the year we took the show on the road as never before. From interviews recorded deep inside the Arctic Circle, to a New York Bank vault and a Congolese forest.

And it was the year of the unpredictable guest. From the media manipulator who stormed out of the studio before the interview was done, to the fashionista who confessed to wearing no knickers (I felt no need to demand further evidence).

Shivering guests

Of all the big stories in our HARDtalk year, perhaps the most frequently revisited was climate change, and what to do about it.

For two weeks in the summer I travelled round Greenland, mixing our usual challenging interviews with reportage from the field.

As the ice melts people living in the Arctic Circle will need fewer huskies Greenland's warmer future

So it was that I found myself quizzing Australia's environment minister Penny Wong and India's climate envoy Shyam Saran high above Baffin Bay with icebergs for a backdrop.

In my four years on HARDtalk I've seen the occasional guest give an involuntary shiver of trepidation - but never before have I quizzed guests shivering with cold.

The debate itself was heated, even if the guest themselves were not.

The failure of the rich nations and the developing world to strike a comprehensive and binding agreement in Copenhagen was foreshadowed in this and several other HARDtalk interviews with key players in the climate debate.

And amid the political arguments Greenland gave me some unexpected insights into the impacts of global warming.

I've been called a hard-bitten journalist more than once in my life - in western Greenland the description was all too accurate

Melting glaciers I'd expected, but what about the Greenlanders who are growing their own vegetables in the unprecedented summer warmth? And the clouds of voracious mosquitoes that can now be found deep inside the Arctic Circle?

I've been called a hard-bitten journalist more than once in my life - in western Greenland the description was all too accurate.

Hubris and greed

The struggling global economy was another staple on the HARDtalk menu throughout 2009.

Perhaps most memorable was my interview with Lawrence MacDonald, a former vice-president of the ill-fated Lehman's Brothers investment bank.

We wanted an evocative and moody location - and we found it in a subterranean bank vault with mighty steel doors underneath Wall Street itself.

Stephen's exchange with Noam Chomsky came in for some criticism

It used to house depositors' cash, now it is an exclusive gentleman's dining club for Wall Street's remaining gazillionaires.

Mr MacDonald told me the compelling story of a company overwhelmed by hubris and greed. And what is this contrite banker doing now? Running a boutique investment fund for high-worth investors, of course.

Wall Street may be chastened, but it is unclear what has really changed. After a highly charged and (I hope) entertaining exchange with Steve Forbes, the millionaire publisher and defender of liberal economics, I was presented with a small gift.

It was a silk tie embossed with Mr Forbes' favourite self-description: "The Capitalist Tool."

Empty chair

By way of extreme contrast my HARDtalk year also took me to eastern Congo - perhaps the most war ravaged region on the planet over recent years.

The most upsetting interviews of the assignment were with two teenage girls - children still - who courageously chose to tell me how they were systematically raped by Congolese gunmen.

They spoke out, they said, in order that the world would know what is still happening in their country.

Sometimes in HARDtalk we push guests closer to their limits than perhaps we realise

The UN has its biggest peacekeeping force stationed in DR Congo, but there is precious little peace to keep.

And the UN has found itself on the same side as some highly questionable characters - including the warlord "Bosco" Ntaganda, who is wanted for war crimes, but now serves as a commander in the Congolese government's armed forces.

We believed we had arranged an exclusive HARDtalk interview with General Bosco in his headquarters. We set up the cameras, prepared the microphones and waited.

And waited. Bosco never showed up. It was the first time HARDtalk aired an interview with an empty chair.

PR guru Max Clifford walked out when the questioning turned to Jade Goody

That was not the only spot of guest trouble we had in 2009. For the first time in my HARDtalk career I experienced a walk-out in the middle of an interview.

The guest in question was Max Clifford, Britain's foremost celebrity publicist and agent. One of his highest profile clients last year was Jade Goody, a woman made famous for her appearances on reality television.

Goody was diagnosed with terminal cancer and spent her last weeks in a blaze of Clifford-controlled publicity which earned her children a great deal of money.

When I asked Max Clifford about his involvement with Ms Goody he was clearly unhappy. When I asked a follow-up question he stormed off the set.

As we had only recorded one-third of a full HARDtalk interview this was a programme that could never be aired.

Needless to say it led to a major inquest in the HARDtalk office. Did I cross a line? Was I gratuitously offensive? I really do not think so, but it was a reminder that sometimes in HARDtalk we push guests closer to their limits than perhaps we realise.

Memorable image

HARDtalk sees encounters with presidents and prime ministers every year, but it is often the more unexpected interviews which prompt the biggest viewer response. And this year was no exception.

Vivienne Westwood described collecting a royal honour... wearing no knickers!

My exchange with Noam Chomsky about the Obama presidency and American foreign policy drew much comment - much of it highly critical of my "aggressive and arrogant" questioning of the 81-year-old professor.

Another huge response greeted the interview with Latif Yahia, the Iraqi man co-opted to be Uday Hussein's body double in the darkest days of the Saddam dictatorship.

How could such an experience leave Yahia defending Saddam and wishing his rule had never ended? Classic HARDtalk territory…

And finally I'll leave you with an image which has stayed with me since I interviewed the wonderfully idiosyncratic British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood last year.

She confessed to me that when she went to Buckingham Palace to receive an honour from the Queen she had neglected to put on any knickers.

She only remembered when she was surrounded by photographers when the ceremony was over. "I couldn't understand why they were taking their pictures from such a low angle," she told me.

And then she remembered. And now so will I.

Uday Hussein was 'worse than a psychopath'

Latif Yahia interview with HARDtalk is scheduled to broadcast on BBC ,

Latif Yahia interview with HARDtalk is scheduled to broadcast on BBC ,
The full interview with Latif Yahia will be broadcast on HARDtalk on Wednesday 2nd December 2009.
BBC News Channel: 0430 and 2330 GMT.
BBC World News: 0430, 0930, 1430, 1830, 2130 and 2330 GMT.

Latif Yahia was ordered to become the body double for Saddam Hussein's notoriously brutal son Uday. He played that role for four years, before fleeing with the help, he says, of the CIA. His story is about to be turned into a big budget movie, but what will the world make of a man who now insists Iraq needs a leader like Saddam Hussein? Yahia talks to Stephen Sackur.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8388903.stm