Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is writing a novel in which he casts himself as the hero and US President George W Bush as a villain, a report said in London.

Hussein has been allowed to write the novel as 'his interrogators hope it will provide clues to his mindset - and how to handle the situation in Iraq today', the Sunday Express reported.

Saddam calls his hero Salim, 'a pure virtuous Arab, tall and handsome with a straight nose and full moustache'. The novel's other villains are British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.