Ala Bashir

Ala Bashir is an Iraqi plastic surgeon, sculptor, and painter. After gaining attention for his work treating soldiers during the Iraq-Iran War, Bashir became a medical counselor to Saddam Hussein. For more than 15 years, Bashir served the former dictator closely, a time period that is chronicled by the History Channel DVD "Saddam's Doctor: An Insider's Story."

Bashir, who was born in 1939 and now lives in the United Kingdom, is also the author of "The Insider: Trapped in Saddam's Brutal Regime." Publishers Weekly wrote of the book, "As Saddam Hussein's personal physician, Bashir had unique access to the dictator and his family for 20 turbulent years, and in this darkly comic memoir, he chronicles his time as Hussein's 'unwilling confidant,' taking the reader into presidential palaces, blood-spattered operating rooms and the streets of sanction-era Baghdad."

In June 2004, Bashir was quoted in an article on [http://Aljazeera.net Al Jazeera.net] speaking critically of the rewriting of history that was occurring in Iraq after the United States-led invasion. "I was reading an unbelievable amount of falsehood about Iraq, and thought it was my responsibility to tell what I know," Dr Bashir said. "I was reading and hearing information which seemed to come from people's imaginations and guesswork."

Quotes

"Cursed in earth and subdued by death, man found himself beset by time, and his instincts put to the test. Only then, he realized that with love he could survive, and that for a certain purpose he would toil. For those whom my love can not immune from death, are dedicated these paintings, in the hope they may express in drawing the reality of a resonant mind," Bashir (1985). [http://web.mac.com/lesleyroy/iWeb/The%20Gallery/Bio.html]

"Early on in my life I comprehended that death is the most tragic event in our life. Events of early Monday July 19, 1958 had convinced me that hate is the most destructive force in our life. As a painter I realized that what we see is just manifestation of unseen power. Since then reality started to take another form in my mind. Hence, I was aware of deception of our senses. Darkness is where we begin and where we end. We don’t usually see light traveling in darkness of space because we only can see it’s reflection on substance. The truth is far beyond what we can see. Therefore my art is an invitation to comprehend this fact," Bashir (2005). [http://web.mac.com/lesleyroy/iWeb/The%20Gallery/History/3F6ECFBE-B236-4E0D-A8FB-FA2054D368B1.html]

ee also

* List of Iraqi artists

External links

* [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/858CBBCD-B192-4AA9-A7FB-B7DF13CE9D4B.htm Al Jazeera: Saddam's doctor rebuts Iraq's story]
* [http://www.alabashir.com/ AlaBashir.com]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/034911935X/ "The Insider" at Amazon.com]
* [http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=74492&browseCategoryId=&location=&parentcatid=&subcatid= "Saddam's Doctor" DVD]