The author is well aware of Saddam's toll. I have a register which lists 397 eliminated villages, Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. ... The work is called "The Register of Eliminated Villages." You flip the pages, beautifully scripted and done with a pencil. Then the writer of this book has covered it, folded it very neatly with a nice, great big book cover made of paper, with great big white flowers against a red background. It's a very decorative, pretty thing. ... You look at this person who has taken such immaculate care of this book, which records the destruction of 397 Kurdish villages. ... You look at the book and you know you're touching evil somehow. That link says the author is an aetheist. He talks as if he's an Arab, not a Kurd.
Yes, he appears to have written earlier books and articles portraying Saddam Hussein as a murderous butcher. I suspect that was during the clinton years, when Saddam was one of the official villains, and the press all fell in line.
My take on this guy is that he writes and gives speeches for bucks. So he says whatever the folks who control most of the publishing houses and media sources want to hear. This would also help him get bigger speaker fees.
This article clearly panders to the New York Times.