Event: Guest Speaker: Former Saddam Hussein insider Khidhir Hamza will speak about “The Iraqi Threat.”
Date: April 3, 2003 (Thursday)
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Hansen Student Center, 300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington
Admission: Free and open to the public
Background: Khidhir Hamza is the author of Saddam’s Bomb Maker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda, which focuses on his role as the designer of Hussein’s atomic bomb. In his book, Hamza describes the building of a nuclear weapon from scratch, and gives an up-close and personal account of Hussein and his inner circle. Hamza also describes life in and around Hussein’s regime both before and after Desert Storm.
Hamza, who knew Hussein and lived in the presidential compound in Baghdad for several years, defected to the United States in 1994. His escape over the mountains, took him through Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, and Hungary, where he was able to contact the American Embassy. The CIA arranged for his family’s escape the following year.
Interviewed by the New York Times, Hamza also has appeared on 60 Minutes II, NBC Nightly News, Frontline, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Khidhir Hamza was educated at MIT and Florida State University before being forced to return to Iraq. He now lives in Virginia.
Read Hamza's Q and A from USA Today.
Following his speech, which is sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan’s Student Senate, Hamza will be available to answer questions.
Contact: For additional information, call Student Senate’s Issues and Programming Commissioner Lea Panek at 309/556-3189.
