AP ESSAY: Saddam made perfect villain

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4434847.html

AP ESSAY: Saddam made perfect villain


By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — When U.S. leaders decided it was time to despise Saddam Hussein, he made the perfect villain. He was cocky and cunning. He looked dangerous and deranged standing at rallies firing a gun into the air, conduct unbecoming a head of government.

He was Hitler Lite, or as the first President Bush put it, "Hitler revisited," lacking the endless armies, but close enough for U.S. purposes. He had a history of atrocities. His black mustache heightened the aura of villainy.

America's quarter-century fascination with the Iraqi leader ended Friday at the gallows.

His hanging closed the books on a man who dealt with and benefited from the United States, then defied it, then ran like a rabbit into a hole in the ground, reduced to an army of one.

Saddam's capture Dec. 13, 2003, was a rare day of triumph for the United States after the Iraq invasion. In contrast, his execution brought worries that violence would spike beyond its usual chaotic level.

Saddam was vilified by the U.S. government probably more than any dictator since Adolf Hitler.

And this is a country with a long and still-active tradition of personalizing its enemy, making conflicts less about competing interests than about specific madmen and loose cannons _ Manuel Noriega, Slobodan Milosevic, Moammar Gadhafi, Fidel Castro, the wanted-dead-or-alive Osama bin Laden.

While others cry "death to America," America assembles a rogues gallery.

More at link

AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid contributed to this report.

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[WiseButAngrySara]

1. KNR and thanks for posting! ....n/t

[originalpckelly]

2. Saddam was not so bad, and we had to deal with him...

until he went out of his place, so then he was completely and totally evil.

[moondust]

3. Did he commit genocide?

There are genocides going on in the world and the U.S.--great savior of oppressed peoples--sits by and watches.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. There is no way in hell that Bush and his evil compatriots invaded

Iraq for the good of mankind. They never do. That is why people have slowly but surely moved against him. There is an ulterior motive, either power and/or money, behind every single action. I say impeach the bastard.

[Karenina]

4. K&R

[DarkTirade]

6. That's why they chose to use him

in the South Park movie as the villain. They even made fun of it... for instance when the ghost of their dead friend Kenny came back to warn them that Satan and Saddam Hussein were coming to take over the world, the three other kids gasped and said, "Saddam Hussein!"
Completely ignoring that Satan was coming too... what scared them was Saddam. :)

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

7. Dear Laura PackYourBags,

Please be aware that DU copyright rules require that excerpts of copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs.

best,
wakemeupwhenitsover
DU Moderator