>>I don't want to freight this question with any baggage about correct
>>politics or anything like that; it's an honest query: why is it that
>>the ruler of Iraq is referred to in common parlance, even in the press,
>>as "Saddam" when it would be SOP to call a high-profile individual by
>>their last name in most any other situation? I seem to recall that this
>>moniker was bequeathed as a derogatory by Bush the Elder and minions in
>>some weak attempt to slur him simultaneously in English and Arabic.
>>Anyone that can shed a bit of light on this?
>>
>>Jason
>>
I think this is just a cultural difference. As far a I understand it, for Iraqis, the first name is the family name, and the last the given. To call Saddam Hussein, 'Hussein', would in that culture, be a familiar form of address, like calling George Bush, George.
-- Jim heartfield