He has an unsophisticated astuteness for the nuances of terror and psychological warfare and he employs that knowledge to the fullest. A pseudo-fundamentalist Moslem with a serious antisocial personality disorder by any definition, Saddam Hussein is also intelligent, credible, cognitive of the axioms in the ‘science’ of mass manipulation, and has an impassioned desire to control the moment. He seems to know very little about the West, and too little of the value that western cultures place on human life. But he is certain of the West’s vulnerabilities.
He is practically unable to distinguish right from wrong within the set of values established by most civilizations of the world. He too, as did Hitler, has an uncanny ability to identify weaknesses in his prey and work the hell out of any vulnerability he may discover.
Although not so utterly disordered as was Adolph Hitler, and it is a very serious disorder in any measure, Saddam Hussein (also spelled "Husayn") is given to dramatic, gruesome action. Don’t let anyone fool you. He is a vile yet savvy aggressor with infinite ambition. No, he is not the only villain on earth, nor is he likely the worst, but he is now the most powerful. He has threatened the globe with pervasive, naked aggression. He has wrecked the lives of millions.
Saddam Hussein is inclined toward radical action more so than he is prone to sit back and issue threats. He does not need any large measure of assurance that his actions will yield what he seeks to achieve, he is satisfied merely in their doing, happy that he is in control of the moment. Beyond that, little matters to him. He will indiscriminately hurt, and that hurt will be directed at anyone as it suits his purposes. Even little children.
Fear and hurt are his chief operatives. Imagine your horror if the youngsters in your family came home from classes telling of their school’s air-raid drill during which they were taught how to wear a gas mask. Think about your revulsion when civil emergency authorities out of necessity must teach mothers how to treat oozing blisters on their babies’ flesh. Saddam has threatened to destroy half of Israel with "dual chemicals". Worse, with the passage of time, the threat may expand to include agents of biological origin with the help of another scoundrel, Muammar Gadhafi.
He is a coldblooded murderer. He has indiscriminately gassed and killed more than 50,000 Iranian soldiers and citizens. Not even as an act of war, in March 1988, the Kurdish families of the Iraqi town of Halabjaby, by Hussein’s order, were condemned to the same painful and undignified death as were the gassed Iranians. His thirst for gore braces his grip on power. He imprisons, tortures and kills his political opponents.
He is a manipulative tyrant. That the Arab countries of the Middle East are no more than desert tribes with a flag, there is little doubt for him. His masterful manipulation of the fundamentalists, the Palestinians and the extremists has sent shock waves through the region and set his Arab state adversaries into a frenzy of fear. Of the possibility that Sadam Hussen has connections to ben Laden, there is little doubt.
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Micheal J. O'Brien