On HARDtalk last night was Latif Yahia, former body double of Uday Hussein (Saddam Hussein's son). As well as detailing his life experiences at the vanguard of Saddam's regime, he has argued that democracy is alien to Iraqis and that they need a robust dictator like Saddam, who modernized the country, to lead them. It's an intriguing observation by a man who was tortured by the regime and even lost his father because of it, especially in the face of Western governments who have failed dismally in their attempts to democratize the Middle East (with violent, dictatorial, belligerent methods, of course ).

BBC iPlayer - HARDtalk: Latif Yahia, Uday Hussein's former body double

I know Latif personally and he is a good friend of mine and other family members'. I translated a Cypriot newspaper article about him from Greek to English when he was living in Cyprus and being unfairly hounded by the Government. His books are well worth reading (The Devil's Double details his life from his abduction and torture to eventually fleeing Iraq; The Black Hole describes his life as an asylum seeker in Europe, continually attempting to escape CIA agents who've threatened him with his life to work with them). I'm chuffed on a personal level that he's got this exposure on the BBC but his remarks and views, not to mention extraordinary experiences, are fascinating.