Iraq's Leader

Saddam Hussein is a man who rules by fear and lives in constant fear himself. From food-tasters to look-alikes, Saddam uses many tactics to try to avert the dangers posed by his many opponents.



Saddam Facts

Saddam or Hussein? When the media call the Iraqi president by his first name on second reference, it is not an effort to demean him.

Most Arab scholars say it is not belittling to refer to Saddam Hussein as Saddam for several reasons. First, Saddam is his given name, whereas Hussein is his father's given name. (His full name, by the way, is Saddam Hussein al Majd al Takriti.) Second, Saddam is how most English-language newspapers in the Arab world refer to him and how Iraqis refer to him when they're not calling him Mr. President.

Saddam is like Madonna. That's his name.

How do you say it? Saddam is pronounced sah-DAHM. If you mispronounce it SAD-um, as former President Bush deliberately did 12 years ago, you convert the meaning of the name in Arabic from 'one who confronts' to 'barefoot beggar.' Or so say the experts.

Tribal power: The nature of Saddam's regime is rooted in the nature of Iraq. In the aftermath of World War I, the British jammed Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and non-Arab Kurds, along with a cluster of other ethnic and sectarian groups, into a contrived state called Iraq.

In the 1970s, the Baath party government, of which Saddam was vice president, used its oil riches to woo every Iraqi to the authority of Baghdad. The party achieved a level of success as most tribal groups benefited from government largess that provided health care, education and housing.

The Persian Gulf War confronted Saddam with defeat and simultaneous rebellions by the Arab Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the north. Saddam jettisoned more than eight decades of effort by kings, military dictators, the Baath party and himself to nurture an Iraqi nation. He held on to political power by reviving the most basic element of Iraqi identity -- tribalism.

Sheiks were summoned to Baghdad to pledge their allegiance to Saddam. The tribal leaders won money, access to his offices, seats in parliament and guns in return.

Sources: International staff, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Associated Press, Newsweek, 'The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein'

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