No one knows more about Iraq?s nuclear weapons program than Mahdi Obeidi, the man who headed its successful uranium enrichment effort. In the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War, Obeidi voluntarily turned himself into American intelligence. Among the revelations reported by CNN at the time: In the early 1990s, under orders to hide the core of the program from U.N. weapons inspectors, Obeidi had buried in his backyard the capacity to build uranium-enriching gas centrifuges.

Now, at last, Obeidi tells all, taking us inside Saddam?s regime and revealing the truth about its quest for nuclear weapons. He explains how he traveled abroad incognito though the United States and Europe in the 1980s and gained covert assistance for the Iraqi nuclear effort from scientists and manufacturers. He tells how he was forced to orchestrate Saddam?s cat-and-mouse game with U.N. weapons inspectors in the early 1990s. And he captures what life was like in Saddam?s inner circle?the intimidation, the paranoia, the impossible deadlines. Most significantly, Obeidi discloses that Iraq never reconstituted its nuclear weapons program after the first Gulf War; the critical elements?including the centrifuge?remained buried in his garden until he voluntarily turned them over to U.S. forces last year.

Written with the pace and drama of a spy thriller, this eye-opening book shows how easy it was for a rogue regime to acquire nuclear technology?and helps answer still-lingering questions about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Mahdi Obeidi oversaw Iraq?s top-secret centrifuge program and later became director-general of Iraq?s Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization under Saddam Hussein. In late 2003, Obeidi was granted asylum by the U.S., where he now lives. Kurt Pitzer (New York, NY) met Obeidi in Baghdad and helped him turn his secrets over to the U.S.