INSIDE THE MIND OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

By M H Ahsan - Editor, Dhamaka News - This Week's Guest Commentary

The ultimate fate of Saddam Hussein, the world's most notorious control freak, may ultimately be decided by U.S. President George W. Bush, the son of an old foe.

Both men's biographies and narratives are the stuff of mythology, but the conflict between these two men -- and their countries -- is seen by many experts as almost tribal, on some levels.

While much has been written about the fact that Bush is picking up a battle left over from his father's presidency in the early 1990s, there's not a lot of solid information on what's motivating Hussein to stick to his hard line in this current standoff.

Military leaders and political opponents have probed Hussein's psyche since his rise to power. Analysts are now trying to predict how he might react if Iraq is attacked by looking for clues in his past.

Escape from village life

Saddam Hussein's beginnings can be traced to the small village of al-Awja. In his early years, in keeping with tribal customs, three dark-blue dots were tattooed on his wrist. These dots, still visible today, are a reflection of his humble origins.

Some analysts say Hussein built his regime according the tribal mindset of his village where power is achieved and maintained through force.

The Iraqi president was born in 1937 in the small village of al-Awja just outside Takrit. Hussein's own father either died or abandoned the family. His stepfather repeatedly beat him, and forced the young boy to work on the small family farm.

There were no close bonds, no one he could count on, and no one he could trust. Spurned on by a desire to become literate, Hussein ran away when he was 10 to live with his uncle Khayrallah Tulfah.

His uncle, a firebrand who spent five years in jail for his nationalistic leanings, introduced Hussein to a new world. The young man was soon steeped in Arab history and his uncle's tales. Chosen heroes were drawn from the far past: Saladin (famous for having recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century) and Nebuchadnezzar (considered the most powerful of all the Babylonian kings, whose army made a similar conquest of Jerusalem in B.C. 598).

Hussein gravitated into politics as a teen and joined the socialist Baath party at 19. Three years later, he participated in the 1959 assassination attempt against Iraqi Prime Minister Abudul Karim Kassim. Even though he was shot during the botched assassination, Hussein was not deterred.

In 1968, Hussein was part of the revolt that brought the Baath party to power under General Ahmed Hassan Bakr. He assumed the post of vice president and built a network of secret police to root out and murder dozens of government officials suspected of disloyalty. Eleven years later in 1979, Hussein moved into the top spot when he toppled Bakr.

A brutal life in politics

When his country was at war with Iran in the 1980s, he asked his cabinet ministers to give their advice. His Harvard-trained minister of health suggested that Hussein should temporarily step aside until peace was restored. Hussein reportedly thanked him and then ordered his arrest.

When his wife begged for his return, her husband's body was chopped into small pieces and delivered to her in a canvas bag. That was in 1982 and few inside his inner circle have challenged him since.

Hussein's war with Iran lasted eight years and ended in a stalemate. He hasn't restricted his large-scale attacks to neighboring countries. In the early 80s, he crushed a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq by using chemical weapons.

"Here is a person who, for the sake of his own grasp for power and ambition, has been willing to execute hundreds, thousands of his own citizens," US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said following the Gulf War.

Friends and family feared him

A former mistress told ABC that Hussein placed his own son in the cross hairs of his wrath. Parisoula Lampsos said he tried to have his son Udai Hussein assassinated when he feared he might remove him from power.

Udai, who is the oldest of Hussein 's five children, survived the 1996 attempt on his life but sustained serious injuries. Like his father he is known for his brutality.

Udai first made headlines when he beat one of Hussein's aides to death at a party being held in honor of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president. At the time, Hussein pressed murder charges against his 24-year-old son but later dismissed the death as accidental.

The narcissistic borders of Hussein's world are legendary. A 600-page hand-lettered copy of the Koran on display in a Baghdad museum was written with Hussein's blood, which was donated a pint at a time. He plastered the streets with massive portraits of himself when he ousted Bakr.

The six-week Gulf War left his country in ruins. Sewage systems and telephone lines were out, electrical grids were down, and Hussein found himself in an underground bunker. He emerged from the ruins convince he had won the war.

When his old foe, the senior George Bush, lost the 1992 presidential election, Hussein stood on the palace balcony and fired his gun in celebration.

Lampsos told ABC that Hussein liked to smoke Cuban cigars and watch tapes of his enemies being tortured, sometimes wearing a cowboy hat to the viewings. She said it was his "happiest" time.

Hussein usually begins his days by swimming laps. At six foot two, he remains an imposing figure although he now walks with a limp. Dye keeps his hair jet black and his former lover says he enhanced their sexual encounters with Viagra. In recent years, he has replaced his military uniforms with well-cut suits.

Like Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he has spent most of his political life sleeping in a different location each night. He drinks warm milk with honey, eats plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and prefers fish to meat. But details of his living habits have failed to crack the code that dictates his thought process.

Thinking like the enemy

Former US Ambassador Robert Oakley told CNN it would be a huge mistake to underestimate Saddam. In reference to a three-week US war exercise that he participated in over the summer, Oakley said that the complexities of Saddam's psyche make it difficult to anticipate his next move.

"Exactly what's he [Saddam Hussein] going to do? How he's going to do it? How strong will the allegiances be of those who will follow him or defect from him? These are things that are subjective. They're very, very hard to judge but they're going to be very, very important in the outcome," he said.

Dr. Jerrold M. Post presented a psychological profile to the House Armed Services Committee when the US was on the brink of going to war with Iraq in 1990.

The psychiatrist said that while Hussein was extreme, he rejected the opinion that he was a "madman." He also dismissed the idea that Saddam was unpredictable, saying his behavior had proven to be consistent over time.

"When he pursues a course of action, he pursues it fully, and if he meets initial resistance, he will struggle all the harder, convinced of the correctness of his judgments.

"But if circumstances demonstrated that he miscalculated, he is capable of reversing his course. In these circumstances he does not acknowledge he has erred, but rather views himself as adapting flexibly to a dynamic situation," Post said.

Since the early 90s, US policy has favored a coup to remove Hussein from power but numerous attempts have failed. As for what Hussein would do if he was backed against a wall, Post believes he would seek an escape route at any cost.

"Saddam will not go down to the last flaming bunker if he has a way out, but he can be extremely dangerous and will stop at nothing if he is backed into a corner.

"If he believes his very survival as a world class political actor is threatened, Saddam will respond with unrestrained aggression, using whatever weapons and resources are at his disposal, in what would surely be a tragic and bloody final act," he said.

About this week's Guest Commentary's Author

Contributing Author - M H Ahsan

Prominent Journalist, Commentator, Writer and Editor in Chief for www.Dhamaka News.net & www.HyderabadNewz.com. He has written many books on different topics, produced and directed many television documentaries and news-based programs of global appeal. Aged 39, Indian national, with a good record and reputation.

M H Ahsan
Email: editor@dhamakanews.net
Website: Dhamaka News

Axcess Business News Comment: ThamakaNews is an Axcess Business News Partner Site. This guest commentary is Mr. Ahsan's perspective of a global concern. He lives in his native India where he publishes Dhamaka News. We are very honored to have such a talented journalist join our Partner Site Program and contribute his work. On an added note - we will be putting up a special section on News from India where we will be featuring news from that part of the world, courtesy of Thamaka News! Kind of a "home away from home" for the thousands of Indian's now living here in North America, and certainly an insightful and interesting section for everyone! Enjoy!

Eric Stevenson
Editor
Axcess Business News

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