Posted on 09/02/2002 3:37:12 PM PDT by knighthawk
LONDON (Reuters) - President Saddam Hussein makes wives spy on their husbands and sows religious hatred in a way that will be hard to mend even if he is overthrown, according to the commander who once directed Iraq's psychological warfare programme.
Major General Saad Obeidi said the United States, which is seeking Saddam's ouster, was facing an intelligent foe who made Iraqis mistrust each other and encouraged division between Shi'ites, who make up around 65 percent of the people, and the rest of the population, which includes Saddam's Sunni sect.
"Saddam has transformed a significant part of Iraq into a fanatic and suspicious society. The idea of honour changed. Trust and honesty means nothing anymore," Obeidi told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
"Using wives to spy on officers was easy," said Obeidi. "Security men would monitor the wife until she makes the occasional slip and betrays her husband. They would threaten to expose her unless she does simple things, like reporting on her husband's guests. Officers were executed this way."
The general, who studied psychology in Egypt, was discharged and imprisoned for a few months after the 1991 Gulf War for criticising the performance of the army. He defected in 1996.
"My prison term was a picnic compared to what others suffered," said Obeidi. "The prisons contained thousands and the inmates had to be tortured efficiently. Tying them from their genitals was usually effective.
"Saddam succeeded in impressing his strength upon society. He sits on a higher chair than the rest during meetings. His ministers cannot make a suggestion unless they are positive it is what he desires."
But Saddam's strength, Obeidi said, has been wasted.
"He could have built one of the most prosperous countries in the world," the general lamented. "Instead he saw greatness and immortality in waging war. He did not follow the great Arab leaders he admires. Saddam imitated Stalin and Hitler instead."
CONDITIONING
Although Saddam's infatuation with greatness was obvious, Obeidi said the United States could find the Iraqi president hard to defeat.
President George W. Bush said he was seeking to oust Saddam because he had an arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that threatened the United States. After the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities, Bush branded Iraq part of an "axis of evil" together with Iran and North Korea.
Any U.S. attack on Saddam, said Obeidi, must take into account Saddam's reaction to Washington's policy so far.
"Saddam is trying to condition the Iraqi people that the coming attack is targeting them as well as him; that the United States is trying to destroy Iraq's past and future as it tried to do in the Gulf War," said Obeidi.
In the 1991 Gulf War, a U.S.-led coalition ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait after they occupied the sheikhdom but reduced Iraq's infrastructure to rubble.
Saddam, who has rebuilt a significant part of the installations destroyed by coalition bombing, despite U.N. imposed sanctions on Iraq, has said the United States failed to return Iraq to "pre-civilisation" as its 1991 campaign intended.
Obeidi said the level of U.S. military superiority over Iraq had at least doubled since the Gulf War, but the United States would face more resistance and raise the level of support for Saddam if it attacked Iraq's infrastructure in the same way as the first time round.
"The United States says it is conducting a war against terrorism. It cannot terrorise the Iraqi people at the same time," said Obeidi.
The general said Washington should use psychological means to force Iraqi troops to leave Saddam or stay home, such as jamming state television and radio.
"This would be part of psychological terror to stun Saddam's most loyal troops," said Obeidi.
Obeidi, a member of a 15-man council representing officers in exile, said a more difficult challenge to ousting Saddam was to maintain security in Iraq if he was overthrown.
"Saddam will not kill himself and he will not give up. He will die fighting," Obeidi said.
he's a coward like binladen...he'll run and run
Screw Iraq. Let it break into small, distinct political enties that fit its religious and tribal makeup after we blow Saddam and the Republican Guards to Hell.
He's Americanizing the wives? ;-)
Fine. Let's catapult you into Iraq for a few years and you can see if it's really like our Operation TIPS.
Best news all day!!!!! I think we can make his wishes come true!!!
From your keyboard, to Hillary's ears!
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