Blog: Don't Cry For Me Mesopotamia

"Excerpts from the posting, which has generated 482 comments from readers, is worth a full read. It begins: Don't cry for me Mesopotamia: no tears for Saddam. Yet again, the Bush administration looks stupid exactly when it thinks it is being smart, or when it thinks it is being strategic in its actions. Saddam Husayn was not your typical tyrant: he was not even a consistent ideologue.

He was a pagan and atheist in the 1970s: you can see that in the commissioned biographies from that time (Iskandar, Matar, etc), before discovering piety after his defeat in 1991--see my article in the Muslim World journal in which I compared Nasser after 67 defeat with Saddam after 91 defeat, and how they both discovered religion and Jabriyyah in their political thought. But what was always consistent about him: was his deep jealousy of Nasser, and his deep eagerness to emulate Nasser (this is similar to the deep jealousy that characterizes Walid Jumblat's attitude to Hasan Nasrallah)."
IraqiSlogger

I've never been a big fan of Angry Arab blog, too much snark, not enough content. But today might be different.