Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Saddam Hussein's Plastic Surgeon

Aired April 29, 2003 - 07:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: He is not on the Pentagon's list of most wanted Iraqis, but Dr. Ala Bashir played a unique role in Saddam Hussein's life. The plastic surgeon was part of the medical team responsible for Saddam's health.
In this week's "New Yorker," Jon Lee Anderson writes about the doctor's unusual close relationship with the dictator. Anderson came to know the doctor very well. He's in Amman, Jordan, just leaving Baghdad, and he is here to tell us more.

Thanks for being with us.

JON LEE ANDERSON, "THE NEW YORKER": It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks.

KAGAN: So, tell us a little bit more about this Dr. Bashir. He ran something or worked at the Saddam Center for Reconstructive Surgery. That almost sounds like a bad joke.

ANDERSON: Indeed. Well, he was the director of a hospital for many years in Baghdad. But this new name for it was something created for him by the dictator a number of years ago. In fact, just in the last few months, they were putting the finishing touches on a great, new, sort of trophy hospital called the Saddam Center, which he was about to move into when the war occurred.

He was originally -- he originally came to Saddam Hussein's attention as an artist. It turns out that Saddam actually appreciated some forms of art, and Dr. Ala Bashir, in addition to being Iraq's outstanding plastic surgeon, was also an accomplished artist, particularly of surrealist paintings. And the dictator collected a number of his pieces and commissioned a number of great monuments by him, which were unveiled in the last year or so. And in turn, had him join his presidential medical team, and he seemed to be -- was one of his favorite doctors. He...

KAGAN: Well, let's -- I'm sorry. Jon, let me just jump in here for a second...

ANDERSON: ... although he was a plastic surgeon...

KAGAN: I'm sorry. With the satellite delay, it's kind of hard.

ANDERSON: Sure.

KAGAN: And I don't mean to be rude. But because he was a plastic surgeon, of course, the natural curiosity is going to be: Did he or has he operated on Saddam Hussein to change his appearance?

ANDERSON: He says no. He says that the story about the doubles, Saddam's doubles are untrue. He did operate on him a number of times for skin blemishes, lesions, corns, things like that, and once when he was in a traffic accident, which was kept secret during the 1991 war, in which I gather he performed a certain amount of plastic surgery to hide the scars.

Only two months ago he saw the president, the dictator, Saddam Hussein, about a mole he had been hoping to remove from his face, and Saddam told him, "Let's wait until after the threatened war, because if you remove it now, they'll think I'm taking plastic surgery or I'm trying to disguise my appearance." He says no.

KAGAN: Where is the doctor today? And would he have any clues about the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, dead or alive?

ANDERSON: The doctor is in Baghdad keeping a low profile. He's not on the war criminals list.

He was summoned by the president, by Saddam Hussein, only 24 hours after the airport fell in Baghdad, and decided at the last minute not to go. He told the president's man, who came to take him with him urgently to see Saddam Hussein, who presumably was already on the run at that point in the capital which the Americans were about to seize, that he would follow him immediately afterwards. And, of course, he didn't. He escaped.

I hunted him down about a week later and found him having taken refuge at his sister's house, a sister unknown to the regime. He thought that if he had gone with Saddam Hussein at that moment, he would not have returned, and I think he's probably right.

KAGAN: That is...

ANDERSON: He suspects, however, that because of the place he was summoned to, that Saddam Hussein did appear in that mosque the day the Americans came in, and very likely went to one of his many safe houses in Baghdad, or else escaped to the north of Baghdad, where he has a number of tribal allies...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Very interesting, and the speculation will go on. You can read more about it in "The New Yorker." Jon Lee Anderson joining us from Amman, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired April 29, 2003 - 07:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: He is not on the Pentagon's list of most wanted Iraqis, but Dr. Ala Bashir played a unique role in Saddam Hussein's life. The plastic surgeon was part of the medical team responsible for Saddam's health.
In this week's "New Yorker," Jon Lee Anderson writes about the doctor's unusual close relationship with the dictator. Anderson came to know the doctor very well. He's in Amman, Jordan, just leaving Baghdad, and he is here to tell us more.

Thanks for being with us.

JON LEE ANDERSON, "THE NEW YORKER": It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks.

KAGAN: So, tell us a little bit more about this Dr. Bashir. He ran something or worked at the Saddam Center for Reconstructive Surgery. That almost sounds like a bad joke.

ANDERSON: Indeed. Well, he was the director of a hospital for many years in Baghdad. But this new name for it was something created for him by the dictator a number of years ago. In fact, just in the last few months, they were putting the finishing touches on a great, new, sort of trophy hospital called the Saddam Center, which he was about to move into when the war occurred.

He was originally -- he originally came to Saddam Hussein's attention as an artist. It turns out that Saddam actually appreciated some forms of art, and Dr. Ala Bashir, in addition to being Iraq's outstanding plastic surgeon, was also an accomplished artist, particularly of surrealist paintings. And the dictator collected a number of his pieces and commissioned a number of great monuments by him, which were unveiled in the last year or so. And in turn, had him join his presidential medical team, and he seemed to be -- was one of his favorite doctors. He...

KAGAN: Well, let's -- I'm sorry. Jon, let me just jump in here for a second...

ANDERSON: ... although he was a plastic surgeon...

KAGAN: I'm sorry. With the satellite delay, it's kind of hard.

ANDERSON: Sure.

KAGAN: And I don't mean to be rude. But because he was a plastic surgeon, of course, the natural curiosity is going to be: Did he or has he operated on Saddam Hussein to change his appearance?

ANDERSON: He says no. He says that the story about the doubles, Saddam's doubles are untrue. He did operate on him a number of times for skin blemishes, lesions, corns, things like that, and once when he was in a traffic accident, which was kept secret during the 1991 war, in which I gather he performed a certain amount of plastic surgery to hide the scars.

Only two months ago he saw the president, the dictator, Saddam Hussein, about a mole he had been hoping to remove from his face, and Saddam told him, "Let's wait until after the threatened war, because if you remove it now, they'll think I'm taking plastic surgery or I'm trying to disguise my appearance." He says no.

KAGAN: Where is the doctor today? And would he have any clues about the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, dead or alive?

ANDERSON: The doctor is in Baghdad keeping a low profile. He's not on the war criminals list.

He was summoned by the president, by Saddam Hussein, only 24 hours after the airport fell in Baghdad, and decided at the last minute not to go. He told the president's man, who came to take him with him urgently to see Saddam Hussein, who presumably was already on the run at that point in the capital which the Americans were about to seize, that he would follow him immediately afterwards. And, of course, he didn't. He escaped.

I hunted him down about a week later and found him having taken refuge at his sister's house, a sister unknown to the regime. He thought that if he had gone with Saddam Hussein at that moment, he would not have returned, and I think he's probably right.

KAGAN: That is...

ANDERSON: He suspects, however, that because of the place he was summoned to, that Saddam Hussein did appear in that mosque the day the Americans came in, and very likely went to one of his many safe houses in Baghdad, or else escaped to the north of Baghdad, where he has a number of tribal allies...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Very interesting, and the speculation will go on. You can read more about it in "The New Yorker." Jon Lee Anderson joining us from Amman, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.