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To: piasa
Saddam was not in power in 1973.
133 posted on 03/29/2004 11:05:10 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
Saddam was not in power in 1973.

Quite true and good point to remember... but the source is PBS, after all.

Saddam was in control of the intelligence apparatus at that time and had managed to get managerial control over Iraqi oil, and though not the official head of state as PBS implied, he certainly had Iraq by the short hairs. He didn't become 'absolute' ruler until 1979 when al Bakr resigned and Hussein wasted half his own cabinet officials and a bunch of his potential Baathist rivals.

145 posted on 03/30/2004 12:06:27 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
Up until 1979 Hussein was for all practical purposes approaching shadow government status; he was vice Prez when al Bakr resigned. But before that in 1975 Saddam Hussein was making deals directly with the USSR and France.
146 posted on 03/30/2004 12:13:12 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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