Saddam Hussein, since his capture by U.S. troops,
has lingered in jail as his war-crimes trial gets
under way. In an effort to give a more nuanced and
detailed portrayal of Saddam, I traveled to Baghdad:
What can I say about Saddam Hussein that hasn't
already been said about Adolf Hitler? Well,
according to Saddam, he has a much larger and more
profound moustache. But most importantly, Saddam
didn't take his own life when he learned U.S. troops
were closing in on him. Instead, he courageously
remained in a spider hole and waited patiently for
their arrival.
I had the opportunity to spend a little time with
the newly deposed dictator, and I asked him how he
felt when he was taken out of power by the U.S.
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Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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"I was depressed for a while - when they first
started bombing Baghdad," he said. "But then, as I
watched the entire world protest the invasion, I
realized that a foreign power overthrowing my
government really isn't worth losing my life over."
Although his place as the Middle East's resident
"bad boy" has been co-opted by the president of Iran
- the fact that frustrates Saddam the most - he
remains confident that his impact on the world won't
be forgotten.
"The United States has been trying to clean up its
racial problems for over 200 years," he said. "After
all, I figured out the solution!"
Saddam went on to explain that President Bush
doesn't know a Kurd or a Sunni from his backside and
that he enjoys watching the news come out of Iraq
every day. Saddam was surprisingly animated about
the Iraq situation, and I clearly remember him going
into fits of laughter as he watched a video of
former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
denying rumors of an Iraqi civil war.
I was curious how he managed to keep his spirits up
as he was locked in prison and prosecuted for crimes
against humanity. He said the answer was simple:
"Hey, it took the greatest military force in the
history of the world to take me down, and they had
to do it twice. Not bad for a shepherd boy from Al-Atwa
with a pocketful of dreams!"
I also had the opportunity to go to court with him
for the day the prosecution presented the recording
of Saddam ordering his elite republican guard to
kill every settler - man, woman and child - in the
town of Al-Kharim. Saddam shouted that the court
proceeding was a wholly biased and unjust affair and
stormed out of the courtroom, delaying the trial
another day.
"Just keeping the prosecution on their toes," he
explained.
Saddam is confident he'll be released well before
his trial ends and allowed to once again govern
Iraq. In his words, he is "counting down the days"
until he is reinstated as president of Iraq. "I'm
the only one who knows how to keep order over there.
Let's face it: The United States is begging for an
exit strategy and letting me take the reins would be
the easiest way."
In fact, this is the only issue Saddam and I
couldn't find any common ground on. I insisted the
United States would never reinstate him, but he
wouldn't budge. He argued: "What, you're telling me
the CIA can train me, give me weapons and money to
fight Iran for years, but they can't throw a coup my
way? Oh wait ... no one in the CIA speaks Arabic or
knows what the hell they're doing!"
My time with Saddam ended abruptly with after this,
as he went into a fit of epic, side-splitting
laughter for the rest of the day.
Emory Wheel.com
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