The Fortified Castle ( Arabic: القلعة الحصينة Al-Qala-ah Al-Hasinah) is Saddam Hussein's third of four novels. The book involves political metaphor. It is 713 pages and was published in 2001. ^[1] It is another allegorical work. It concerns the delayed wedding of the Iraqi hero, who fought in the war against Iran, to a Kurdish girl.

There are three characters: the two brothers Sabah and Mahmud, from rural area from the west bank of the Tigris River from a farming family coming, and a young woman Shatrin from Suleimaniya. They all go into the same university in Baghdad.

Sabah is a war hero from the days of the Battle of New Qadisiyya ( Iran–Iraq War), during which he was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner of war in Iran, from which he finally manage to escape with a few friends.

Shatrin from Suleimaniya is the representative for the Kurds.

The power of the "fortified castle" (a reference to Iraq) lies in its unity; despite proposals to divide the property, the hero's mother refuses. She also states that it cannot be purchased with money: "Only those who give it their blood and defend it are its rightful owners." ^[2]

• Saddam Hussein's novels

• summary in German