Bush decides to topple Saddam

Seth Ackerman sia at nyc.rr.com
Wed Feb 13 16:04:49 PST 2002


Ian Murray wrote:


> Seth, could you expound on this a little more? How, if SH is a moderate,
has he managed to keep
> Wolfowitz-like cadres in the Ba'ath party from devouring him?

Well, he's a dictator. And he has an unparalleled secret police system. There is a party structure, and therefore some means to express different opinions within a very narrow spectrum, but it's not like Saddam comes up for reelection.

In some ways they're comparable to the younger generation of Palestinian Fatah cadres: They're more tactically radical, but still defer to their leader.

Dennis Halliday told me that most of the Ba'athists were initially opposed to accepting the UN oil-for-food program. They didn't want to accept outside help. These are people - unlike the older generation of Iraqis who were quite cosmopolitan - who have had almost no contact with the outside world.

Seth



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