Regards, Ivan
Who has no degree in psychology
Posted on 11/15/2002 2:58:16 PM PST by MadIvan
As the beat of the war drum gets ever louder and conflict with Iraq looks increasingly likely, all eyes are turning to Saddam Hussein, trying to figure out what he will do next.
By turns the despotic Iraqi leader has been depicted as a valiant knight defending his people against the infidel or a murderous mad man, ready to kill anyone who stands in his way.
One man who knows more about Saddam's psychological make-up than most is Dr Jerrold Post, a former psychiatrist for America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who has spent years trying to get inside his head.
Now US Government officials are calling on Dr Post to guide them in their decisions as they engage Iraq in a high-rolling game of cat and mouse, which could be the difference between war or peace.
Abandonment and abuse
As is often the case in psychological diagnosis, Dr Post thinks that the seeds of Saddam's present character and choice of actions lie in his traumatic childhood, as he explained to the BBC.
The Iraqi president was born into a peasant family in a village near Takrit, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north-west of Baghdad, in April 1937.
His father died during his infancy and his mother handed the boy over to her brother Khayrallah for care until she again married - this time to a man who reputedly abused Saddam.
Great. So we can get Saddam a guest spot on Oprah? - Ivan
This mix of abandonment and abuse took its toll and created in Saddam what Dr Post says is referred to in psychological terms as "his wounded self".
Damage done
But even as a boy, Saddam was not the kind to take things lying down, as Dr Post explained:
"In Saddam's case at the age of eight, he fled his parent's home, who refused to give him an education, and went back to uncle Khayrallah, who filled him with these dreams of glory."
This cultivation of grandiose fantasy turned him into a "a malignant narcissist," Dr Post says.
The "malignant narcissist" part I agree with - Ivan
Dr Post says the young Saddam's need to fend for himself was visually depicted in later years through his underground bunker uncovered after the Gulf War.
"He was under this grand palace with inlaid woods, marble, wonderful carpets, gold accoutrements in the toilet," Dr Post explained.
"And under this was this massive bunker with reinforced concrete steel that would withstand all but a direct nuclear blast - communications equipment, weapons, an escape hatch for a helicopter."
Dr Post, who has had access to top secret intelligence on the Iraqi leader, explained this bizarre juxtaposition goes straight to the heart of Saddam's character:
"This is his psychology - this grandiose facade and under it a psychological siege state ready to be attacked, ready to lash out."
Dangerous when cornered
How this "wounded self" will react to a military attack is now the question on everyone's mind.
Dr Post's view does not bode well:
"I think if pushed into a corner, there are several things that are absolutely predictable. He will attempt to use weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological weapons -against US ground forces and allies in the region."
"Secondly, he will attempt to use chemical, biological weapons against Israel," Dr Post added.
"Thirdly, he may possibly even set Iraqi oilfields afire, as he did with Kuwait - if I can't have them, nobody will".
But Dr Post says that this does not mean that war is an inevitability as there are so many variables to take into account.
"One of the variables indeed will be the US role, the degree to which his own (Saddam's) generals stick by him or flee from him, the behaviour of the other allies. So it's a very complex environment," Dr Post says.
Regards, Ivan
Who has no degree in psychology
I believe they are both cowards and that Saddam has already arranged his own exit from Iraq if it all goes South. Running to exile leaving others to fight and die is what this slug has in mind.
Clinton would have been Saddam Hussein were it not for the Constitution.
The other fact not mentioned, is this man is very, very bright and quite contactful. He probably "pockets" those around him and inspires confidence when none is deserved. He surely is dangerous, but he is not suicidal. He will look for a way to survive and fight another day since he believes his destiny is to lead an internationally present, Arab state.
His father died during his infancy and his mother handed the boy over to her brother Khayrallah for care until she again married - this time to a man who reputedly abused Saddam.
Great. So we can get Saddam a guest spot on Oprah? - Ivan
This mix of abandonment and abuse took its toll and created in Saddam what Dr Post says is referred to in psychological terms as "his wounded self".
It is obvious that all of the mentally ill left wingers, which is everyone in a left wing leadership position really feel for poor old Saddam. He has been abused and battered like all them. So he became mentally ill like all them did. So they are all mentally ill brothers and sisters who just want to give peace a chance!
;^ )
Becki
I think some people are "bad seeds"; they are born evil and go through life leaving a trail of destruction and suffering and death, like Saddam.
"Ah, Felipe, Fidel es veddy, veddy bad man, es muy malo, muy malo."
See? Wasn't that easy? No CIA. No PhD. No MD.
So, Dr. Phil says the way out of this tragic waste of a human life is. . . .
A bullet.
Wham bam, thank you, Saddam.
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