Saddam: Not off base with Iran

Saddam Hussein at his trial for genocide in December 2006 in Baghdad (Nikola Solic-Pool/Getty)

The Saddam interview tapes are finally being released three years after his death.  What I would give to curl up with a bag of popcorn and listen to every second of those tapes.  I am truly fascinated by the minds of people who commit such atrocious crimes and often justify their actions.  It sounds odd I know, but haven’t you ever wondered what goes on inside the head of Saddam Hussein?  Especially, when we watched his entire political career unfold.  Let’s not forget that handshake between Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in 1983.  At that time it served the US to be a friend of Saddam.  Little did the world know (or did we) that more than two decades later those two men would be at war.  But, what is so striking to me is the revelation that Saddam feared Iran more than the U.S.:

The former leader appears to view Iran as the biggest threat to Iraq, which was why he says he kept UN inspectors out in the late 1990s, even though he had already got rid of all his weapons of mass destruction

via BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saddam interview tapes released.

He goes on to say, by the time he did let the UN inspectors in, it was too late, the U.S. had already made up its mind.  So to this, one may say…”Saddam…buddy…bad judgment call.”  But, maybe not?  Through the US occupation in Iraq, the Iranian government has come under fire for alleged involvement in providing weapons and manpower to Shia Iraqi insurgents.  Iraq, if vulnerable is a mecca (no pun intended) for Iran.  A majority of the country is Shia, like Iran, and ultimately Iran likely believes it is justified in defending Iraq from the “tyranny” of the West (oh, and Iraq has a ton of oil).

Either way, Saddam’s mortal mistake was not realizing how Iraq’s assets were attractive to both Iran and the US.  Now, as the US pulls out troops we will have to wait and see it Saddam’s true fears are realized.   Iran may very well prove to be a major threat to a new “democratic and free” Iraq.