Latif Yahia

From the Publisher : Latif Yahia now lives in Ireland with his Irish wife and children, they are raising Latif's niece and nephew who lost their mother in "Shock and Awe" during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. This was a deciding factor in Latif's decision to donate the proceeds of "The Black Hole" to the children's Hospital where his children were born in Ireland. Book Description : The Black Hole has been banned USA and in IRELAND is the next chapter in the extraordinary and chilling life story of author Latif Yahia. Having escaped the brutal Iraqi regime through Northern Iraq with the help of the CIA in 1992, Latif touched down in Austria. Having family in the pristine and picturesque city of Vienna, Latif is somewhat reassured that his life will be calmer now without Uday Saddam Hussein and his hedonistically violent lifestyle. Alongside Latif is Nusa, a hired girl, a plaything and ego boost for her Baghdadi clientele, although she has never been mentioned in Latif's past works the reasons for her concealment become apparent as the story unfolds. Unfortunately life was never to become the idyll that Latif desired, his knowledge or perceived knowledge of the inner Iraqi regime was to become his saviour and his tormentor. This, left him chained and unable to move forward, as much as he wished to forget, his handlers wanted to know more. Latif became almost a prized item in the world of International Intelligence with nearly all of the world's Intelligence agencies vying for his allegiance, his pleas for neutrality and normality unheard. Ultimately Latif was to pay the price for his uncooperative stance; ten and a half months were spent in a covert Austrian/CIA prison cell in solitary confinement, until by chance his freedom was assured by a visiting judge. One would think that after such events Latif's life may take a quieter turn, this was not to be the case, the game of cat and mouse that played out across the breadth of Europe was interspersed by the tragic death of Latif's beloved father, several assassination attempts and the murder of his first real love a Saudi Arabian Princess Latif Yahia's previous books have sold over one million copies worldwide in twenty languages. From the Author : Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has supported me with my previous works and especially with "The Black Hole". This book has possibly been the hardest for me to write so far, my other works were written to save my life by bringing me into the world media's focus, whereas this book was written to throw the spotlight on the Western Democratic Regimes. When I first touted my idea for writing this book to friends and family they were cautiously supportive, they knew that what I was proposing to write was accurate but were only too aware of the possible consequences, Guantanamo being the most notorious. My other works "I was Saddam's Son" and "The Devil's Double" were widely used during 2003 as a further justification of the West's intentions towards Iraq. It has never been understood in the West how I can be anti-Saddam and his regime and not support "the war on Iraq", I agree that Saddam (who as we all know was the son of America) needed to go, but believe that the Iraqi people should have been the ones to depose him and no matter how well intentioned the Americans were, I do not believe that they have done Iraq any favours, in fact, I believe the opposite to be true. As you will read, if you choose to buy "The Black Hole" I was offered to become a part of The Iraqi Opposition, a position should I have chosen to pursue it, would undoubtedly have given me a position in the Interim Government in Iraq, but as I learned then and it became blindingly clear once this opposition government took hold in Iraq, is that it was never about the Iraqi people, the stark fact of the matter was that many of these "ministers" were completely unknown to the Iraqi Public, no matter how many supporters they claimed to have when they were in negotiations with the Pentagon or the CIA. This book however, does not focus firmly on Iraq, although the threat from the Iraqi regime was a constant in my life during the days, months and years after my flight. This book expresses my shock and disbelief at the treatment that I received from supposedly democratic European countries, it points out the differences but more so the similarities between the governments of the mid-East and the West, thankfully, there are still a few countries that are strong enough to hold their will and not be swayed by the "coalition of the billing". To these countries, most notably Germany I give my sincerest thanks. As you are aware "The Black Hole" is the continuation of my life story from "The Devil's Double" although I do have other works in the pipeline, so to speak, that are not related to my life story, "The Black Hole" is not the last chapter, I am in the process of writing my last instalment, I am hopeful that it will have a happy ending, although by now I should be prepared if it does not. It does not have a title as yet but chronicles my time in Ireland the land of a thousand welcomes, I did indeed find Ireland welcoming but soon after it became a nightmare. I hope to be able to look back and describe my time in Ireland as a black comedy. I do love the Irish and their warmth, but I find their ties with America suffocating and most open minded Irish will tell you that for all intents and purposes that Ireland is the 51st state. Maybe herein lies the reason that after nine years in Ireland I have been refused citizenship. Is there any country out there that would welcome me with open arms? I do not need or want special treatment; I just want to lead a quiet and happy life with my family. I have never thought of myself as a victim, I have always fought for what I believed to be right and if that meant fighting against Saddam Hussein then that's what I did until the day he was toppled. But it also stands to reason that if I was willing to fight Saddam Hussein for my rights, then I would fight anyone else who threatened me. My sincerest thanks, Latif Yahia.

My Books!

Trailer of my forthcoming documentary Film.