Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Readers
- Dramatis Personae
- Map of Iraq
- Introduction
- One The United States
- Two The “Zionist Entity”
- Three The Arab World
- Four Qadisiyyah Saddam (The Iran-Iraq War)
- Five The Mother of All Battles
- Six Special Munitions
- Seven The Embargo and the Special Commission
- Eight Hussein Kamil
- Epilogue
- Appendix: Timeline
- References
- Index
- References
Three - The Arab World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Readers
- Dramatis Personae
- Map of Iraq
- Introduction
- One The United States
- Two The “Zionist Entity”
- Three The Arab World
- Four Qadisiyyah Saddam (The Iran-Iraq War)
- Five The Mother of All Battles
- Six Special Munitions
- Seven The Embargo and the Special Commission
- Eight Hussein Kamil
- Epilogue
- Appendix: Timeline
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
There is no escape from the responsibility of leadership. It is not our choice to accept it or not. It is, rather, imposed on us…Iraq can make this nation rise and can be its center post of its big abode. There are smaller posts, but it must always be Iraq that feels the responsibility, and feels it is the central support post of the Arab nation. If Iraq falls, then the entire Arab nation will fall.
– Saddam Hussein, circa 1980–1981Saddam struggled to find a balance between the secular and religious aspects of political rule. In theory, Baʾathism was nonreligious and Iraq a secular state. During the 1970s, there were virtually no references to religion in the regime's public language. In fact, the regime emphasized language and symbols recalling the glories of pre-Islamic Mesopotamia. During this period, the state increasingly banned Shiʾa religious observances, which led to Shiʾa rioting in Najaf and Karbala in 1977. In his capacity as vice president, Saddam responded to this unrest by telling state officials that they should not use religious terms to have a “momentary encounter” (i.e., a temporary accommodation) with religious groups. Years later, he expressed continuing distrust of individuals who used religion as a political tool: “By God, I do not like them, I do not like those who work politics under the guise of religion. My trust in them is not good.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Saddam TapesThe Inner Workings of a Tyrant's Regime, 1978–2001, pp. 84 - 125Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011