Saddam Hussein had a fascination with the Sumerians. Specifically their stories of the Annunaki "weapons". GHWB did too. (Think Rods from the Gods)
The tower of Babel and the definition of the Hebrew word "shem" is what got him dumped in the Forbidden Archaeology/Conspiacy/False Science category. Sitchin claimed it to be a "flying vehicle" but Jews and Catholics translate it as the word "name" which never made sense to me and "vehicle" always did.
I always thought that Sitchin was spot on in his translation however his interpretation was slightly off. There were a lot of people that didn't want his research to make it past mythology. The Annunaki were the "astronauts" that accompanied Ea and Enki to earth when they first looked for gold to save Nibiru from destruction. In my opinion (as a Sumerian research expert) they were looking for the gold because it was a drug. THEY WERE LOOKING FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. Gold is a hyper conductor for the brain…
The story of Tiamet and the Creation Story of our solar system is fascinating and makes perfect sense when applied to modern astronomy (the "Bracelet of the Gods" becoming the asteroid belt from the remains of Tiamet is perfectly logical and is something that I don't think many scientists study enough). 2cents