Posted on 10/07/2004 10:06:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) avoided telephones, had a special laboratory test his food and went on a palace-building binge, all in a bid to shore up his personal security, a new U.S. report said on Wednesday.
The comprehensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq (news - web sites) portrayed the deposed Iraqi leader as a typical dictator who ruled by fear, but who became increasingly paranoid and isolated in the years before his 2003 capture.
"By Saddam's own account, he had only used a telephone twice since 1990, for fear of being located for a U.S. attack," said the report by Charles Duelfer, the CIA (news - web sites) special adviser who led a hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that failed to find any stockpiles.
Saddam went on an "extravaganza" of palace- and mosque-building in the late 1990s, even though "much of the economy was at the point of collapse," the report found.
"He stated that by building many palaces, the U.S. would be unable to ascertain his whereabouts and thus target him.
Saddam was often inaccessible even to his own senior aides, and one of them told interviewers, "Sometimes it would take three days to get in touch with Saddam."
However, one of his aides noted the Iraqi government got information for strategic operations planning from the Internet as well as from its military attaches at various embassies.
"Another source is the Internet -- it has everything," the former director of the Directorate General of Military Intelligence was quoted as saying. "For example, the attache in Qatar reports that the coalition (as it prepares for war) has 15,000 to 18,000 (troops) arriving. We could see it on the Internet as well -- it was all there."
Although he surrounded himself with family and high-ranking officials, Saddam claimed he regularly met with the Iraqi people, especially women, as he found them to be the best source of information.
One retired defense scientist said Saddam was "like a computer" in processing information. The report said this meant that if Saddam received reliable information he would make good decisions, but if the inputs were flawed, the resulting policies would suffer.
Saddam had a selective fondness for certain examples of Western culture, according to the report, which said Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" was one of the Iraqi dictator's favorite books.
I seem to recall a ZOT or two that smelled of camel...
Remember the troll named "Despot 91" ?
And he was a nail biter.
He was probably a regular at DU.
"Although he surrounded himself with family and high-ranking officials, Saddam claimed he regularly met with the Iraqi people, especially women, as he found them to be the best source of information."
I guess some things are the same the world over.
He probably got ZOTTED!
This is the FR thread on Uday's blog from Saddam's old website:
Uday's Editorial on Resolution 1441
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/860029/posts
I made the HTML page a PDF for download here:
http://goexcelglobal.com/NJ_DefenseForce/Uday.pdf
Frequently. Still does from time to time. But usually found on DU...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.