Mar 12 2006
From The Duh! Files
The NY Times has just discovered that brutal, homicidal dictators have a lot to fear from the people they oppress:
The episode was just one of many incidents, described in a classified United States military report, other documents and in interviews, that demonstrate how Mr. Hussein was so preoccupied about the threat from within his country that he crippled his military in fighting the threat from without.
Only one of his defenses — the Saddam Fedayeen — proved potent against the invaders. They later joined the insurgency still roiling Iraq, but that was largely by default, not design.
Ever vigilant about coups and fearful of revolt, Mr. Hussein was deeply distrustful of his own commanders and soldiers, the documents show.
Duh! Well, it only took a few decades for the NY Times to solve that mystery.
Well, Saddam had all kinds of internal intelligence organizations and he killed perhaps 300,000 people in Iraq. I think that suggests that lots of Iraqis didn’t like him.