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Inside the mind of Saddam Hussein (CIA PSYCHIATRIST ANALYSIS)
BBC News ^ | November 15, 2002 | BBC News

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: blair; bush; iraq; saddam; shrinks; uk; us
It's amazing people spend years studying a subject where common sense will suffice. Saddam Hussein is dangerous, evil, and insane and should be killed immediately before he harms anyone else.

Regards, Ivan

Who has no degree in psychology


1 posted on 11/15/2002 2:58:16 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: BigWaveBetty; widgysoft; Da_Shrimp; BlueAngel; JeanS; schmelvin; MJY1288; terilyn; Ryle; ...
Bump!
2 posted on 11/15/2002 2:58:48 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
I'm with you Ivan. It is and has been obvious that he is a dangerous evil narcissistic nut. He reminds me of Clinton without the total control Saddam has. Clinton is a coward, Saddam will go down in flames if he must. He also believes his own PR which is good. He will react irrationally always.
3 posted on 11/15/2002 3:33:14 PM PST by wingnuts'nbolts
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To: MadIvan
I heard, per his advisor, that Saddam is heavily into the cocaine and heroin. Speeball Hussein is the Tony Montana of the middle east. "say hello to the bad guy"
4 posted on 11/15/2002 3:36:15 PM PST by jd777
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To: MadIvan
Interesting. We must then take him out before he believes he has no other options. Bush's use of the UN may actually be a great ploy to let Saddam think he has an out.
5 posted on 11/15/2002 3:37:31 PM PST by VRWC_minion
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To: wingnuts'nbolts
Clinton is a coward, Saddam will go down in flames if he must.

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.

6 posted on 11/15/2002 3:43:14 PM PST by toddst
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To: wingnuts'nbolts
Your comparison to him and Clinton is exactly my thought. Much of their behavior is the same...weasel words, blaming others, lying, abuse of enemies, etc.

Clinton would have been Saddam Hussein were it not for the Constitution.

7 posted on 11/15/2002 4:04:54 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: MadIvan
I took a couple of psychology classes in College. What I learned was that most of the students were there to figure out what was wrong with them.
8 posted on 11/15/2002 4:28:00 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: MadIvan
Either this is a phoney article or the Doctor has decided to be less than open in his conclusions. IMHO, the salient fact of Saddam's life is he was born and raised in Takrit. This is the same village Saladin came from. This man has a grandiose identification with Saladin and his whole being cries out for a war of conquest similar to that of Saladins.

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.

9 posted on 11/15/2002 5:39:10 PM PST by shrinkermd
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To: MadIvan
Now we know why all of the mentally ill left wingers in America, the UK and in Euroscum land defend Saddam as one of their own. Saddam is damaged goods like they are:

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!

10 posted on 11/15/2002 5:55:51 PM PST by Grampa Dave
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To: MadIvan
I love a man with common sense.

;^ )

Becki

11 posted on 11/15/2002 6:17:38 PM PST by Becki
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To: MadIvan
I agree.

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.

12 posted on 11/15/2002 6:48:57 PM PST by DBtoo
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To: jd777
Into cocaine and heroin, huh? Too bad he wasn't a pothead, then we wouldn't be in this mess....LOL
13 posted on 11/15/2002 6:58:25 PM PST by Morrigan
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To: MadIvan
My Spanish teacher in 1960 had just come to the U.S. from the University of Havana.

"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.

14 posted on 11/15/2002 7:11:06 PM PST by PhilDragoo
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To: MadIvan
What difference does it make as to why Saddam is the way he is? I don't give a rats rear end what his uncle did to him or why or what effect it had on the little beast. Saddam is an evil man who needs to go and find out the 72 virgins don't exist!!!
15 posted on 11/15/2002 7:13:27 PM PST by blastdad51
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To: Miss Marple
The clinton-Hussein equation is very apt. And while the "malignant narcissism" dynamic has been commonly applied ever since Desert Storm, this guy is wrong to predict with certainty that Hussein will pull a Gotterdammerung.

Like Clinton, he is a physical and moral coward and is much more likely to scuttle to safety in some godforsaken moslem backwater, even as clinton hid behind his foolish footsoldiers...unlike Hitler, he will not go down in an orgy of destruction.
16 posted on 11/15/2002 7:21:59 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: MadIvan

Yep, Ivan. You hit the nail squarely on the head as you normally do. These so called experts in the psychiatric trade frequently know less and mis-diagnose more than people with an ounce of common sense. But, they have a "degree" so, therefore, are the ones who are listened to.
17 posted on 11/15/2002 7:29:07 PM PST by Rightone
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