Where were you on September 11, 2001? Almost everyone can recall where they were. Few can say they were in the land which many feel was responsible for this tragic day. Few could say they were in Baghdad. And few could say what Iraqi’s were feeling on this day that would forever change the course of World history.” Before the Iraq war it would seem impossible for an American to go to Baghdad. However in April of 2001 Larry Garrett, world known hypnotist was invited by the previous Iraqi Government to come to Baghdad to hypnotize a business man who had difficulty walking. His medical staff said there was nothing wrong with his leg and their patient felt he needed to be hypnotized to walk easier. After Larry arrived he found out who this important business man was and why he had difficulty walking. It was Uday Hussein. “Larry Garrett was so successful THAT he was invited a second time. This time he arrived in Baghdad on September 9th, 2001.” Imagine traveling to Baghdad, Iraq on September 9, 2001 and not realizing what is about to happen? “You are in a land that few Westerners could travel to.” Imagine that in the very moment the Twin Towers are falling to the ground you are sitting with one of the most feared people in the world watching this devastation on Iraqi TV. You are helpless and trapped in a land unsafe at any time. You are unable to call your loved ones at home and unable to speak of what you are really feeling to anyone. You are in a land of 18 million people and not one familiar face. Imagine being the only American in Iraq on September 11, 2001 and you can t go home! This riveting story will captivate you and keep you turning each page to find out what will be next. Over 50 photos will visually take you to a Baghdad which no longer exists.

WGN Radio Interview Part 1 of 2

WGN Radio Interview Part 2 of 2

 


Dennis Miller Radio Interview

Editorial Reviews

Review

Larry Garrett is a world-class consulting hypnotist, and in Healing the Enemy, he takes the reader along on a fascinating true adventure to Baghdad when Iraq was on the Most Dangerous Places in the World list. Can you imagine traveling halfway across the globe to find that your previously unamed hypnosis client is Uday Hussein reputedly one of the most violent and dangerous men alive? Previously I could not have imagined even being in Iraq, but with every page I read I felt as if I was present as the hypnosis odyssey unfolded. When 9/11 occurred Larry Garrett was in Baghdad . . . now through his words and thoughts you can be there too. Once I started reading I didn t want to put the book down. Dr. Dwight F. Damon, President National Guild of Hypnotists, Inc. –Dr. Dwight F. DamonI hardly know what to say about your writings, there is so much inside me when I am reading…I can hardly wait to pick it up , just before I retire…. I am not sure if its the energy that is so close to yours , for I feel all the presence of what you are writing and experiencing, as if I were there….scary sometimes, I can feel my heart beating…..and I am not usually one of fear…….. –Sandy CongemiThis is a sad day for me…. I finished reading Healing the Enemy. If your wondering why it is sad, don’t worry, I’ll tell you. Of the books I have read in the past, some are so boring you can’t wait until your done, some are so good, you read them with enjoyment, but then there are some books, and not enough of them, that you keep wishing that you won’t get to the end and that the story will just continue. Well your book is the latter. As you correctly said on the back cover, “This riveting story will captivate you and keep you turning each page to find out what will happen next.” I even read the page to Jennie about “living in the moment” which is very appropriate for her and myself. She said she is going to read it during summer vacation. I don’t know how I would have felt or answered you if you had asked my opinion of you going to Iraq. In some respects, I am glad that we were not in contact during the period you were deciding and the time you were there. Had I know your were there, it would have definitely laid heavy on my mind with worry. Want any suggestions where you can go next, so you can write another book? –Ron Kovel

I hardly know what to say about your writings, there is so much inside me when I am reading…I can hardly wait to pick it up , just before I retire…. I am not sure if its the energy that is so close to yours , for I feel all the presence of what you are writing and experiencing, as if I were there….scary sometimes, I can feel my heart beating…..and I am not usually one of fear…….. –Sandy Congemi

This is a sad day for me…. I finished reading Healing the Enemy. If your wondering why it is sad, don’t worry, I’ll tell you. Of the books I have read in the past, some are so boring you can’t wait until your done, some are so good, you read them with enjoyment, but then there are some books, and not enough of them, that you keep wishing that you won’t get to the end and that the story will just continue. Well your book is the latter. As you correctly said on the back cover, “This riveting story will captivate you and keep you turning each page to find out what will happen next.” I even read the page to Jennie about “living in the moment” which is very appropriate for her and myself. She said she is going to read it during summer vacation. I don’t know how I would have felt or answered you if you had asked my opinion of you going to Iraq. In some respects, I am glad that we were not in contact during the period you were deciding and the time you were there. Had I know your were there, it would have definitely laid heavy on my mind with worry. Want any suggestions where you can go next, so you can write another book? –Ron Kovel

About the Author

Larry Garrett is a Certified Consulting Hypnotist with the National Guild of Hypnotists and has been in practice since 1970, operating the largest and most sophisticated hypnosis center in Chicago. He has received worldwide recognition for his outstanding contributions in hypnosis, including the 1991 Metzinger Award (which has only been presented six times) for contributions to the field of hypnosis. He was named Hypnotist of the Month and featured on the cover of the September 1991 issue of Journal of Hypnotism. Larry also has received the highest of awards from the National Guild of Hypnotists including, The Rexford L. North Award and the President s Award, also prestigious awards of which only a few have been issued in 51 years. For 26 years, Larry was an instructor of hypnosis at Morton College and Wright College, offering the first hypnosis class in Illinois at a community college. He is a consultant and instructor to many doctors, dentists, psychologists, lawyers and other professionals in the art of hypnosis for their respective fields. Regularly, Larry facilitates courses and workshops at many community organizations and private groups. He has lectured, taught and demonstrated hypnosis at over four hundred colleges, universities and high schools in over thirty states. He has trained many Chicago area police departments using hypnosis to aid in recall and investigative work. A few of the many corporations that Larry has worked extensively at for smoking cessation and stress management programs are: Baxter, R.R. Donnelley, ADP, General Motors, Kodak, World Book and Borden Foods. His publicity has included appearances on over three hundred radio and TV talk shows and many featured articles have been written about his work in hypnosis. In 1976, Larry wrote a featured column on hypnosis. A first for a Chicago newspaper. Larry began using electronic methods of hypnosis in 1974 and incorporated these techniques, utilizing the most modern equipment, to aid in the success of his clients. He has hypnotized an estimated sixty thousand individuals, including many celebrities, professionals, and public officials who fly in from various parts of the world to be hypnotized by Larry Garrett. Larry is the only American hypnotist to be invited by the Iraqi Government to Baghdad to hypnotize a government official. Larry was born in Chicago Illinois. Even as a child he was well aware that he was curious of how the mind worked. Once he found what hypnosis had to offer, he had developed a love and longing to understand the workings of the human mind. There is little that Larry has challenges with when it comes to using hypnosis on his clients. To sit down and spend an hour talking with Larry will generate an intuitiveness that is Larry s trademark. He has had a background in Amateur Radio, crafts, remodeling and rehabbing and began one of the most successful community block clubs in northwest part of Chicago. For the past 14 years, he has chaired this community group, writes and publishes a monthly newsletter with a circulation of 4000 to be distributed throughout the community. He has been cited, and commended by Mayor Daley, many aldermen and even has marched in anti gang marches with Governor Blagovich. He is respected by his community and peers for being honest and of great integrity. Larry Garrett writes a column in the National Guild Hypnosis Journal for the past 18 years. He has written over 175 articles as well as many periodicals related to hypnosis and other topics of the mind. Larry has the philosophy that if it is difficult, then he will make it easy. He has been trained to operate his own consciousness in a positive way letting nothing hold him back. There is little that he sets out to do that he doesn t have the ability to accomplish.

  


Reader Reviews from Amazon.com

5.0 out of 5 stars A very gripping and intense book, February 19, 2009
By
Albert Buschauer (Al from Illinois)

This is a book you won’t want to put down. I read it after hearing the tail end of a radio interview of the author Larry Garrett. It is a fascinating story about one of the world’s most feared and hated people, Uday Hussein, eldest son of Saddam Hussein. This is Larry’s own account of what it was like curing him of his limp (caused by an assassination attempt) through hypnosis. As strange as this may sound, you were able to see a side of Uday which was likable and charming…even gentle perhaps. It was interesting to see how the author was so adept and careful in always saying the right things and knowing precisely when and when not to speak with and around his patient. That talent and good sense may have been a life saver. One inappropriate question could have proven to be deadly. I loved how the book portrayed the Iraqi people. They were respectful and friendly at all times to Larry, much to his surprise. Why wouldn’t they hate the American? The fact is revealed that the Iraqi people dislike our government, not our people. The book gives many examples of this throughout. As if the reading wasn’t intense enough, the story (all true) takes place just days before 9/11/01, and the author is stranded in Iraq. When the book ended I had an almost mournful feeling. I had begun a very close relationship with so many characters in the book. I had a newly found respect for the Iraqi people. I felt that Larry Garrett was an ambassador for good on behalf of the American people. The reason for feeling mournful is because I knew in that 2003 a trust was broken. Many of the books characters and many Iraqi civilians had perished, and life there and here would never be the same!

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful World-Expanding Page Turner, January 25, 2009
By
Nancy S. Paranka (Boulder, CO)
This book complicated my life during week in which I had a work deadline! I just wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. What an amazing and unique story. Larry Garrett has written a book that allows the reader to experience his trips to Iraq as though you were there with him, and my world view is widened and softened through having had the experience. Knowing what the Iraqi people have suffered in the years since this story ends added to the poignancy of the book as I was reading. This is a remarkable book filled with love and human connection across cultures.
5.0 out of 5 stars Compassion knows no boundaries., April 6, 2010
By
Joseph Roth (Chicago,IL)
Larry Garrett takes his reader to a place that very few have ever been before, and does it with love and compassion. In this book that chronicles his visit to Baghdad, Garrett allows us to see a side of a culture and a persona (Uday Hussein) through eyes that have been untainted by the media and popular opinion. This book will keep you up at night and away from your chores during the day as you will be on your toes throughout the journey. Be prepared to rethink much of what you have been told since the fateful day of 9-11-01 as you begin to learn about the one on one contact that Garrett had with Hussein both prior to and even during those pivotal days after the attacks on the World Trade Center. This is a book not to be missed.
5.0 out of 5 stars Tense, Heartfelt and Amazing, September 26, 2011
By
Nilda Carlo (Chicago, Illinois, US)
It’s the Spring of 2001 and, in the midst of increasingly tense relations between the governments of Iraq and the US, Larry Garrett, a recognized American hypnotist living in Chicago, gets a call from an intermediary requesting his professional services to be used to help a “wealthy businessman in Baghdad.” The “businessman” turns out to be the most feared of Sadaam Hussein’s sons: Uday. Garrett is compelled to respond to the call for help and is quickly propelled into a whirlwind of dire warnings from family, friends and authorities. But, he persists in following his principles and winds up in Baghdad early in September where he begins a course of kindly and very tactful healing sessions with his notorious client. In the days that follow, Garrett meets numerous Iraqis–some are of the military echelons but most are average working people. He encounters no animosity from these. On the contrary, he finds that the average Iraqi is most welcoming and gracious, eager to demonstrate respect and hospitality for Americans. Then, of course, 9-11 happens and the greatest surprise of all: Garrett is now the sole American in Baghdad and, at the point where he feels he is most isolated from his country, friends and family–and certainly in potential danger–all of his new acquaintances unstintingly extend sympathy and friendship.
From the start of this story, Larry Garrett personifies the Buddhist concepts of compassion and loving-kindness by electing to heal a man known for his epic cruelty as well as an enemy of the US. But, as events transpire, Garrett finds he himself is healed of the misconceptions of the Iraqi people he didn’t realize he had.
This is a wonderfully heartfelt account of uncommon human empathy that is written sincerely and with no frills. A worthwhile read.
5.0 out of 5 stars reading it once was not enough…, September 21, 2011
One reading of Larry Garrett’s account of his experiences in a Baghdad that no longer exists was not enough for me. I read it through the first time eager to take it all in. Then I felt compelled to read it again so I could savor my favorite moments as he described his time in exotic Iraq. I was impressed by the honesty of his emotions and the insight of the only American in Iraq during the shocking events of September 11th. There are powerful lessons to be found here about life through the eyes and heart of a world renown hypnotist, as an American on foreign soil, as a compassionate man and a dedicated healer. My wish and hope is that his words reach all those who might be open to another level of healing.