Saddam's Secrets Read online

  The only answer is that the police force is corrupt. Until recently they haven’t been able to hire men to serve who care about justice and protecting the people, mainly because these traits were never encouraged by the government under Saddam Hussein. So they hire anyone who’s physically fit and willing to wear the uniform. Some of these people may want to be policemen because they think the uniform will make them more powerful. But they don’t have the character for the job.

  I don’t mean to say that this is true for all of them, because we have many fine and capable police officers in Iraq today. But it’s true far too often, and you will find that many of these men are not really interested in law enforcement. They just want a good job and a nice uniform.

  The police in Iraq are being trained today by the British, and the military is being trained by the Americans. So far, the military is doing a better job of selecting and training new recruits. And I think it will all get better when the people begin to care about doing a good job. They will have to care for their country and its security, and they will have to learn that there are times when a public servant must be willing to stand and fight to protect his city and his nation. In Europe and America, the police have pride in their job. They don’t run from trouble, but that’s not always true in my country. At least, not yet. So this is something else that will have to change.

  Facing the Opposition

  The terrorists are committed to their cause. You can say they’ve been brainwashed, because the radical clerics have been filling their heads with hate for decades. Once they have agreed to carry out an assault, these young martyrs (called Shaheeds in Arabic) will do it or they will die. Sometimes they will come and attack a group of policemen with guns and grenades. At other times they will set off a car bomb by remote control. Or if that’s too difficult, they will just drive a car full of explosives through the side of a police station or public building and explode it. The most difficult crime to prevent is one in which the perpetrator is willing to die in that way. What can you do to stop a suicide bomber? Even if you stop him before he gets to his target, he will set off the bomb and somebody will die. This is another reason why the police are afraid.

  The Americans and the British are working on ways to prevent these kinds of attacks, to spot terrorists and their equipment before they can enter an area and detonate a bomb. But they don’t have all the answers yet. Police dogs are very good at detecting terrorists. They can smell explosives, and they can sense when something is not right. The dogs can often tell at a distance if someone is wearing an explosive vest. Each day when I go to my office in Baghdad, I’m checked out by two police dogs before I go in. They know me because they see me every day, but they still check me out before I’m allowed to pass. So the dogs are doing a very good job.

  The problem we’re having now is to change the hearts and minds of the people, to make them love their country, to make them care about the safety of other people, and to make them stop killing other people simply because they’re different or because they may worship in a different way. How will we ever do this? Honestly, I don’t know the answer, but it’s something I think about and pray about every day.

  I spoke to a taxi driver in Baghdad not long ago who told me a very frightening story. He said that one day he stopped to pick up a nice-looking young man, and when the passenger sat down in the cab, the driver asked him, “Where to, sir?” The young man said, “Anywhere you like. I have some time to spare, so just drive around for a while and I’ll pay the fare.” This sounded like a good deal to the driver. He could just drive around the city with a passenger and he’d be well paid. What could be better than that?

  Finally, after a half hour or so, the passenger said, “Okay, that’s enough. Stop here.” He took money from his pocket and paid the fare, and then he said, “I’m sorry it didn’t happen today. You and I were supposed to have lunch today with Mohammed, the prophet.” With that, he pulled back the top of his shirt and the driver could see that he was wearing an explosive vest. If they had seen a group of police officers or an American patrol on the streets, he would have set off the bomb and killed them all. And his only disappointment was that they didn’t have lunch that day with Mohammed. You can just imagine how that driver must have felt.

  This is the mindset we’re confronting in parts of Iraq today, but I must say that things are getting better. Yes, there’s still an insurgency, and yes, there are still people willing to blow themselves up for religious and political causes. But freedom and democracy are very powerful incentives, and the people are beginning to discover that freedom is something worth living for too.

  Living with Freedom

  Imagine the surprise of people who find that they can speak openly against the president and the prime minister. They can write letters to the editor of the newspaper and say whatever they like. This is a wonderful thing, and this is what America has given the people of Iraq. They’re beginning to realize it now, and they like it very much.

  I believe this was also what happened in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the 1980s. The people of those countries were seeing people on television who were free to say and do whatever they liked. They saw American movies and listened to American music. They liked the blue jeans and stereos and rock music, and they wanted to have those things too. They thought that if this was what freedom and democracy could give them, then they wanted more of it. And once they made that discovery, it was only a matter of time until they were demanding to be free. After that, it was only a matter of time until the Berlin Wall came down.

  Something very interesting is happening in the Iraqi military. Our young soldiers are beginning to act like American soldiers. When an American military policeman puts his hand up to stop a car, he does it forcefully and with authority. There’s no doubt he means, “Stop now!” This is very different from the way Iraqi policemen were doing it before the war. But now the Iraqi MPs are beginning to act like American MPs. They’re wearing the aviator sunglasses and fatigue trousers that have been tailored to fit just like the GIs, and spit-shining their boots. Suddenly they’re looking and acting more like real soldiers, and it’s really fun for an old soldier to watch.

  Most noticeable, of course, are the crowds of teenage and pre-teen boys who are hanging around with the soldiers on the street. The GIs are very friendly; they give the kids candy and soda and chewing gum. Sometimes they send the boys down to the shop to buy something for them, and they always give them a nice tip when they get back. So you’ll see these twelve- and thirteen-year-old kids counting out their dollars, and they’re so proud to have money of their own. Anywhere you see two or three Americans on patrol, standing guard or just relaxing around their armored vehicles, you’ll usually find a dozen or more Iraqi boys talking to them—and in surprisingly good English.

  The boys are learning English so fast, but, unfortunately, they’re also learning the dirty words as well. I’ve told the American generals, “We’re very glad for the boys to be learning English from the soldiers, but please tell the guys not to be teaching them the bad words!” Of course, that’s the way it always has been around soldiers. But these youngsters are learning the value of their own life. They’re learning to like and respect people who are different from them. And, best of all, they’re learning that no religious or political ideology is worth blowing yourself up for.

  Most of these young people are attracted to the Western lifestyle. We have television and radio stations now that are run by the Voice of America, so they see these things all the time and it’s having an influence on what they think and believe. It will take time for the transition to take place fully, but it’s obviously coming. And even a culture like ours, which has so little experience of freedom and democracy, can be changed for the better.

  It’s shocking to me how quickly our people have gotten satellite TV into their homes. You see the dishes everywhere in Iraq now. And for the first time in their lives, these people can sit in their own living rooms wi
th a remote control and go from channel to channel and see how the rest of the world is living. News, sports, dramas, comedies, you name it—some good and some not so good. And, by and large, they’re not watching the Al Iraqiya Television Network or Al Jazeera. There are some people who are more anti-Western, of course, and they watch those channels, but they’re in the minority these days.

  In general the people are on the right track, and now it’s time for them to choose which way they will go. This was what happened to me when I first came to America as a young aviator in 1964. I discovered that America is first in everything. They are first in military might, first in science, technology, art and culture, and all those things. They are also first in drugs, violence, and sex. So the real test of character is knowing what to choose and what to avoid.

  A young boy in America today can choose to join a gang, sell drugs, commit all kinds of crimes, and then get caught and end up in jail for the rest of his life. Or he can work hard, study hard, learn a profession, have a nice family, and be a millionaire one day if he tries hard enough. Every boy and girl in America can make such choices. Until recently, boys and girls in Iraq have not been able to choose such things, but now they can. So these options are beginning to be available to our people, too, and I would have to say that’s a miracle.

  The Things That Matter

  There are a lot of good things that the Iraqi people can learn from the Americans, but there are also bad things we should avoid. I want our people to make wise choices, but I also want them to hold on to their own culture and to respect our unique history and traditions. For example, we have a deep respect for our mothers and fathers in Iraq. We should keep that. I’m sorry to say that this is not always true in America—not like it used to be, anyway—so our young people have to recognize that this is a wonderful Iraqi tradition and we should keep it.

  We have a tradition of respecting the feelings of others. My brother is a smoker, but he never smokes when I’m around, because he knows I don’t like it. Also, we’re more conservative about matters concerning women and girls, especially their clothing. Not very many women in Iraq wear the veil anymore—we’re already more Western in that way than many countries in the Middle East. But why should a young woman walk around with half her body exposed, as teenagers in America do? Any teenage boy would be glad to see a girl dressed that way, but our culture is not prepared for it. Modesty is a good thing, and I hope we never lose it.

  Another important tradition is that we respect our neighbors and relatives. I love my neighbors, and I would do anything for them, even die for them if it came to that. In Iraq, we’re very close to the people who live near us, just as we’re very close to our relatives. If a member of our family gets sick, fifty people will come to visit. And we do things to help them—take care of their children, look after their property while they’re away from home, or whatever is needed. That’s just how we are, and we don’t want to lose that either.

  We want to learn more about technology. We want to improve our skills, our military, our police, our civil servants, and all the professions. We want to improve in many areas, but we don’t want to lose the traditions and values that are unique to our culture. Both in Iraq and America, people need to have the moral judgment to make good choices. Some of the choices that people can make today will destroy them, and we would be foolish indeed if we let freedom of choice become the Trojan horse that will one day destroy us.

  Whether we like it or not, we have more freedom in Iraq than we know how to use properly at the moment. With satellite television in millions of homes, the people are seeing things they never imagined they could see on TV. From Europe and America we have programs that are vulgar and coarse. How do you stop that? You can’t get rid of it, so you have to learn how to deal with it.

  Even if you try to get rid of the vulgar images, some people will always find a way to look at those things because they’re tantalizing, and because they’ve been forbidden in the past. So with freedom, we also need to have character and good, moral judgment, and these things can be taught in the home and encouraged in the schools. That will be another challenge we’ll have to face in the days and years ahead.

  In my church, we’re proud of the job we’re doing to teach modesty and moral judgment to our children. We’re the smallest denomination among the Christian churches in Iraq—the Chaldeans and Eastern Orthodox churches are much larger—but we have the largest Sunday school, with more than 430 young people attending class each week. We have twelve church buses, which the American churches helped us to lease, and it seems the young people are always going somewhere. It’s fun for them, and these kids come from many different backgrounds. Some are Chaldeans, some are Orthodox, some are Ancient Church of the East or other denominations. But they’re all welcome, and they learn to show respect for others.

  It’s beautiful to see. They sing all the songs. They memorize verses. They know Jesus, and they have a wonderful time doing things together. Sometimes the leaders of the other churches complain that we’re stealing their children, but we’re not doing that. We don’t ask them to join our church or change denominations, and I’ve received many letters from parents who’ve written to thank us for teaching their children in such a wholesome way.

  One father wrote to me recently. He said, “Sir, my family and I are Chaldeans, and we love our church. But I’m very happy that my son is coming to your Sunday school. He’s learning so many things and having a wonderful time. So thank you for what you’re doing.” This is the kind of response we get, but we’re not the only ones who should be doing it. All the churches and mosques should be reaching out to the children. We should all be doing it—teaching our children the things that matter. We have so much to worry about already.

  CHAPTER 2

  SADDAM’S RISE TO POWER

  Saddam Hussein was making a name for himself as a tough guy long before he began his calculated journey from poverty to the seat of power. He had been working his way up, primarily as a thug, ever since he was a boy in the village of Al Oja. He wasn’t a very good student and his family background was very rough. His father, whoever that may have been, died while his mother was pregnant with Saddam, and the boy was raised as an orphan. He started school later than the other kids, so he was always the biggest and oldest in his class. Eventually he was just turned loose on the streets of Tikrit where he gained a reputation as a bully and a gangster.

  The city of Tikrit is still known as a rough part of the country, and the people from that district are tough as nails. They’re good fighters, and as far back as the Ottoman Empire, the city produced some of the fiercest warriors in our part of the world. At one time I served as commander of the base at Tikrit, and even then I heard stories about Saddam and his family. He was a gangster, a punk, and people who lived in the area would go out of their way to avoid him.

  Saddam’s uncle, Khairullah Tilfah, was also known as a violent and dangerous man, and he looked after Saddam until the boy was grown. Saddam grew up with his cousin, Adnan Khairallah, who would eventually serve under Saddam as minister of defense. Saddam was considered to be a clever and daring young man, but he was also universally feared. He had an unpredictable temper, and he thought nothing of torturing or killing someone if they stood in his way. We knew then that, one way or the other, Saddam would leave his mark on the world.

  Such a man could be a valuable tool for ruthless people like the leaders of the Baath Socialist Party who were always plotting acts of revenge or mayhem. They brought Saddam in as an enforcer while he was still in his teens, and that’s how he was picked to lead the attack on President Abdel-Karim Qassem in 1959. Saddam was supposed to be a student in the secondary school when he was asked to carry out the assassination. He hadn’t graduated, and it’s not likely he ever would have since his attendance and grades were so bad. But he had other, more useful talents.

  When Saddam and his gang of thugs opened fire on the prime minister’s car on Al Rashid Street, in the cent
er of downtown Baghdad, they sprayed the vehicle with bullets, firing hundreds of rounds with automatic weapons. To make sure Qassem was killed, Saddam ran up to the car and blasted away with a machine gun, inside and out. But by some miracle the president was not killed. He was wounded, but he survived the attack and remained in power for three more years.

  Qassem’s bodyguards and the police had fired back, and several members of the security detail were killed. But they managed to stop the assassination, and as the attackers were running away, Saddam was struck in the leg by a single bullet. The attackers ran away to a prearranged hideout. But Saddam needed to find a doctor quickly, to remove the bullet from his leg. They were fugitives now on the run, so they couldn’t just go to the hospital, and they couldn’t find a doctor who would do the job. So finally Saddam took a knife and cut the bullet out himself.

  As soon as he could walk, Saddam escaped across the border into Syria, where he stayed out of sight for the next four years. Despite the attempted coup in 1959, Qassem managed to hold onto power until February 8, 1963, when he was finally overthrown by the Baathis with Abdel-Salaam Aref and Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. Al-Bakr had been a brigadier general in the army, but he was general secretary of the Baath Party, and Saddam Hussein was one of his closest allies. Both men came from the same city, the same tribe, and the same family in Tikrit. Al-Bakr believed he could depend on Saddam because he had a reputation for being courageous and ruthless. But he had no idea just how ruthless Saddam really was.

  Unreasonable Demands

  Unreasonable and dangerous demands were common in those days. On March 8, 1963, I had another early morning surprise when I was awakened by soldiers pounding on my door. I couldn’t imagine what it was, but I heard men yelling at me, “Sir, you must come with us. The base commander wants to see you now!”