James Robbins opines today in NR on the capture, trial and reckoning of Saddam Hussein. His last paragraph examines the psyche of a psycho, anticipating how a very careful madman will behave:
Of course, Saddam himself is another point of leverage. He holds many secrets of his dealings with the countries comprising the Axis of Weasels. They do not know how he will try to use this information to bargain with the United States, or what will emerge from his trial. It will be interesting to see which world leaders begin uncharacteristically talking about the righteousness of the death penalty, and allowing the Iraqis to take care of trying Saddam without the bother of international tribunals (which could muddy up the whole capital-punishment issue). I think the trial will be explosive. Saddam won't take the contrition route; he will use every angle, invoke every justification, appeal to every form of sentiment, and reveal every unpleasant secret he has to try to save his skin. If Saddam's personal history tells us anything, it is that he is a survivor. This is why he did not choose resistance or suicide when the 4th ID came calling. He thinks he has a chance to come out of this alive.
Saddam the survivor. I spent two phone conversations on Sunday talking about this.
Aflaqian socialism - Ba'athism - was never Saddam's calling, nor was his flirtation with Osama bin Laden's (or Abu Nidal's, or anyone's) brand of Islamofascism. Arabism, too, would have been discarded if it no longer suited the regional aspect of his quest for power. Least of all to the former dictator's interest is martyrdom for any of these ideologies. Saddam's greatest asset, his compass, is himself - it is a bond forged through the deprivation of a childhood in Tikrit, solidified in the unpredictable, dangerous and seductive path to worldly power.
He talks of gods of war; don't believe him, even on that point. Instead, remember the self-deifying, autobiographical novels at least commissioned, if not actually written, by Saddam. There is no Heaven, no Valhalla he looks forward to in death - otherwise the pistol picked up by the 4th Infantry Division wouldn't someday be found on the auction block, labeled "Never fired, dropped once." To Saddam, existence began with him, and it ends with his death. Surely, for all his philosophical ramblings he probably doesn't think much about figurative theories and guiding principles; his thoughts stay centered just on his preservation and gain.
He is the most genuine contemporary incarnation of a legendary conquerer; the most legendary of them all, of course, being the devil. Saddam's work, to consume and dominate all that he can, is for no higher authority than his own self. ("Stalinism" could be, then, a historical euphemism for the near-absolute narcissism that is pure evil.) All scales are set to the Saddam standard: truth is him, as is morality, conscience and vision - for everything is relative when you occupy the center of the universe and believe to have inherited it for your own command.
If Saddam could escape at any time from today until his almost inevitable execution, he would try; if he could physically change himself to avoid recognition, he would do it. Anything to return to the familiar style of compulsion. He's an Iraqi man, with a faint appreciation for memories, and the faces and fashions ingrained his childhood and youth; and he will most likely cling to those throughout his judgment. But to live forever - in whatever corner of the world - assuming whatever social and cultural role required to assemble another foundation for personal power, is the only wish he really wants to keep.
Hitler was a monster born from his own self-loathing, and self-deluded into believing that he was instructed by anything more than his own witless brutality. When his twisted dream fell apart, thank God, he killed himself. Saddam's goals, ultimately, are unattached to specifics, thus he is his own dream; only when he ends, does it end.
So, as Robbins says, Saddam will do everything he can to wriggle out of this alive. His performance may be embarrassing and self-destructive, it may be fiercely challenged at every turn by his victims, and it may offer us a look right into the face of evil. We can only hope that the outcome will put an end to Saddam and his dream.
There's a warning, here, in our experience with a captured Saddam Hussein: Now that we can truly see what he is, we must remember that he is not alone. The world is still partly controlled by men who are as dangerously evil as he is; some, like Osama bin Laden, believing themselves to be more than simply mass murderers from the benefit of kooky philosophy and mythology. Others, like Saddam, are driven simply by the desire to consume. But the point is this: they will all try to divide, kill and dominate. Despite inherent selfishness, they will collaborate with one another as they need to - as, looking at our immediate conflict, most state leaders in the Near East have done with terrorists and each other. Most importantly, an authoritarian culture allows other men of this type to rise easily to positions of power. Saddam (and Osama) are symptoms, not causes. It is exactly the breeding ground for all sorts of awful, homicidal movements that the free world has been warned about - often through sporadic terrorism - for years. As the world shrinks from technology's advance, the danger grows.
That culture must be overthrown. Securing the world and the future for all people begins here: if you know even a little about geopolitics, you'll recognize parts of the globe with just as much potential for worldwide horror as the Near East. That is why Iraq and Afghanistan move towards democracy, and why Saddam will be tried for his crimes. These are just the first steps in a challenge that will likely span the century, a challenge that can (and must) be met. We shouldn't find the Iraqi people's response to freedom after decades of misery - unsure, yet undeniably eager and hopeful - to be ironic. We should find it to be instructive.
