如果不是一碗塔博勒沙拉(在中东地区很受欢迎的一种捣碎的小麦沙拉)，帕里索拉-兰普索斯今天的生活可能会完全不同。

　　1968年夏天的一个晚上，兰普索斯的邻居吉娜极力劝说兰普索斯过去陪她，，她的丈夫当时正在主持晚宴。当时16岁的兰普索斯穿上了她的粉红女装，头上别了一个相对应的粉红色发圈，脚上穿着一双银色的鞋子。她当时还抹了她最喜欢的“我会回来”香水，戴着金手镯和脚镯。她抱着一碗塔博勒沙拉翻过了两家之间的栅栏。

　　一名穿着蓝色丝绸西装和白色衬衣的男子自我介绍称他叫萨达姆，他当时31岁，是阿拉伯复兴社会党内的一位很有影响力的人物。兰普索斯称，她当时不知道萨达姆是谁，但她被萨达姆的英俊相貌所吸引。她最近在接受采访时称：“他有一双深深的金色的眼睛，我被他吸引了，他是一个真正的男人。”

　　兰普索斯称，在吉娜和哈鲁特位于巴格达的起居室里开始了她持续三十年的与萨达姆的恋情，这种恋情复杂，令人感到害怕，但也非常有激情。她和萨达姆的恋情时断时续。她称，萨达姆称她为“夏克拉”———阿拉伯语中“金发碧眼”的意思。

　　57岁的兰普索斯在她的新书《我与萨达姆的生活》详细描述了她与萨达姆的关系和影子下的秘密生活。她的批评者称，她的说法是异想天开。代笔者莱娜-卡特利纳-斯万博格用瑞典语写作了这本书，到目前为止，这本书已在10个国家上市。

　　Saddam Hussein's alleged mistress tells all in new book 

　　If it wasn't for a bowl of tabbouleh, the popular Middle Eastern cracked wheat salad, Parisoula Lampsos' life might have been much different today。

　　On a summer night in 1968, Lampsos' neighbor, Gina, had nagged her to come over and keep her company while her husband hosted a dinner party。

　　Then-16-year-old Lampsos put on her pink dress with a matching pink band in her hair and silver-colored shoes. She smelled of her favorite perfume, Je Reviens, and her golden anklets and bracelets dangled as she jumped over a fence separating the two families' houses with a bowl of tabbouleh in her hands。

　　A man wearing a blue silk suit and a blindingly white shirt introduced himself as Saddam. He was then a 31-year-old influential figure in the Arab nationalist Baath Party。

　　Lampsos says now that that she did not know who Saddam Hussein was at the time but that she was smitten by his good looks。

　　"He had these deep golden eyes. I was attracted. He was a real man. " she told Babylon & Beyond in a recent interview。

　　There, in Gina and Harout Khayyat's living room in Baghdad, while Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" blared out from the record player, began what Lampsos claims was her three-decade-long complicated and fearful, but also passionate, on-off romantic relationship with the former Iraqi dictator。

　　She said Hussein called her shaqra, or "the blond."

　　In her new book, "Mitt Liv med Saddam," or "My Life with Saddam." Lampsos, 57, who now goes by the first name Maria, describes in detail her purported relationship with Hussein and a life in the shadows. The book, regarded by her critics as wild fantasy, was written in Swedish by ghostwriter Lena Katarina Swanberg and has been sold in 10 countries so far。

　　Babylon & Beyond spoke with Lampsos, or Saddam Hussein's "mistress" as she has been dubbed by media outlets, in the small town on the Swedish countryside where she has been living with hidden identity for several years, until recently。

　　So what was it like being Saddam Hussein's mistress?

　　Lampsos wrinkled her nose at the term. She said she feels it's an ill-fitting description of her relationship with Hussein, who was executed in 2006. No, she said, she was different than the horde of other mistresses Hussein supposedly had. She was better. She was a classy girl who spoke Arabic, Greek, English and French and came from a good family. She liked her privacy, pursued jobs and was always herself。

　　"He saw me as different. I like simplicity. I don't want money. I'm happy the way I am. I never changed the way I am for anyone," she said, noting her family background and the positions she once held on the Iraqi Olympic Committee。

　　If one is to believe Lampsos, Hussein must have liked those attributes and qualities. In the end, she was the "mistress" he allegedly kept the longest。

　　But Lampsos' book leaves questions unanswered, and her story takes such dramatic twists and turns that  the most explosive Hollywood spy thriller pales in comparison. So it perhaps comes as no surprise that there are those who believe Lampsos dreamed up the whole story, and they portray her as an opportunist and fortune-hunter looking to make a buck. Why would someone such as Lampsos, who lived with a hidden identity and in fear of repercussions, use a close-up photo of herself as the book cover, critics ask。

　　In the interview, Lampsos dismissed such criticism, raising her voice in irritation. Rolling her eyes, she talked of news reports that she says described her life with Hussein as taken out of "One Thousand and One Nights." She was, however, unable to provide pictures of her and Hussein together or any other memorabilia, such as letters or notes. But some news reports say pictures of Lampsos were found when U.S. troops raided Hussein's "love shack" in 2003.