[cantfindagoodscreenname]

I went out on a limb yesterday and asked a dumb question on another thread ("What is an Arab?"). Since I didn't get raked over the coals, I'll ask another dumb question. What do the Iraquis think of Saddam Hussein? Is he as unpopular as the Taliban or does he have a big following in his own country? If (when?) we go in there, will the people be as happy to see us as the Afghan people were?

Thanks!

Candi

[AmishDude]

It's impossible to say how much support Saddam has. There are always pro-Saddam demonstrations in the country, but he runs an old-fashioned tinhorn dictatorship, so these are obviously staged.

As in most ME countries, there are severe ethnic divisions. The Kurds, for example, hate Saddam's guts.

The bottom line is: If the US topples a dictatorship without destroying the country, the people will be grateful and supportive. They respect strength and victory and will join whatever faction seems to be in power.

[Ditto]

Is he as unpopular as the Taliban or does he have a big following in his own country?

The only thing bigger in Iraq than hatred for Saddam is the justified fear people have of him. He is one brutal SOB and has not only killed anyone who ever crossed him, but has taken out their families and friends also. This guy is in the same class as Stalin as far as internal oppression.

[Restorer]

Is he as unpopular as the Taliban or does he have a big following in his own country?

Iraquis are split into three main groups: Sunni Kurds in the north (about 20%), Shit'ite Arabs mostly in the south (50%+), and Sunnis Arabs mostly in the center (the remaining 20-30%). The first two groups hate the third, which holds all the power. But without removing their fingers from the levers of power, the first two cannot overthrow the third.

Saddam has remained in power primarily by leading the dominant Sunni Arabs to believe that he is the only one that can keep them on top. Their future would be bleak if they ever lost dominance. In the Middle East, you don't just retire.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

If you live in Iraq, and you DON'T like him, you wouldn't dare admit that you don't like him. He has ways of making you like him, or else. These ways include cutting the tongues out of mouths that criticize him, or returning the bodies of those who make suggestions he doesn't like to their families cut into tiny pieces, wrapped nicely in a body bag. The devil incarnate, in other words. I've heard that one of his sons is even worse than he is. See if you can catch the A&E biography of Sadam. It was on earlier this week. He seems to enjoy inflicting horror on his country.

[Brian Allen]

Based upon my more than 50 visits to Iraq and inumerable conversations with my many Iraqi friends, [Most Iraqis are pretty decent people] I can confidently say that Soddom and his gang are Absolutely detested by all in Iraq except the relatively few, mostly Absolute morons, who comprise the brutal force that surrounds him and keeps him safe and in power -- and his [Very few surviving -- he has murdered most of them] fellow psychopathological-gangster smugglers and co-robbers of Iraq's Treasury.