The Foreign Service Journal, April 2003

A P R I L 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 67 A Bloody Consistency Saddam: King of Terror Con Coughlin, Harper Collins, 2002, $26.95, hardcover, 350 pages. R EVIEWED BY D AVID C ASAVIS The best biographies usually come out decades after the death of their subjects, but while many who knew them still live to tell the tale. Saddam: King of Terror by Con Coughlin is an exception to this practical rule. In spite of personal danger, he uses in-depth research and a wealth of Iraqi and other sources to show us how consis- tently bloody Saddam’s career has been. The book gets off to a strong start with a vivid account of Saddam’s early life, which was undeniably miserable. So it is perhaps understandable that some of his classmates recall his slip- ping a snake into a religious teacher’s robe during an embrace as just a boy- ish prank. And even his viciousness as a young street tough, copiously docu- mented by Coughlin, could perhaps be explained away as the legacy of Saddam’s being cruelly belittled and bullied as a child. In any case, he never forgot such slights to himself and his family, and exacted revenge on his tormentors many years later. When a senior mili- tary officer confided to his mistress that he had once slept with Saddam’s moth- er, the conversation was taped by Iraqi secret police and a transcript handed to Saddam. The officer, his mistress and his son were soon executed. But Coughlin makes clear that Saddam was not just a thug. Looking at the book’s many photos, the astute reader will notice that in the early ones, the young Saddam is slavishly attentive to far more important Baath Party members, and makes no effort to be the center of attention. Yet Saddam’s relationship with for- mer Iraqi president Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, his mentor and kinsman, and the most important influence on his life and career, shows that loyalty is a one-way street for him. While it was long assumed that Bakr died after a long struggle with disease, Coughlin presents compelling evidence that Saddam had him murdered after he heard talk advocating Bakr’s return to power. The book also sheds light on the failed 1959 assassination attempt on General Quassem that launched Saddam’s political career. Coughlin cites the attending doctor’s statement that Saddam not only ruined the oper- ation by firing too early, but was only grazed in the subsequent bloodbath. Middle East specialists familiar with Iraqi propaganda industry films sur- rounding this event will find a stark contrast with the real story. Coughlin’s detailed account of Saddam’s famous meeting with April Glaspie, the last U.S. ambassador to Iraq, on the eve of his 1990 invasion of Kuwait will be particularly thought- provoking for Foreign Service officers — as is Joseph Wilson’s (the American charge d’affaires in Baghdad after Glaspie’s recall) later demarche seek- ing guarantees for the security of Saudi Arabia. FSOs may well wonder what they would do, and how easily things could go wrong, in a similar situation. For their part, no matter how long and distinguished their careers, Iraqi diplomats are always vulnerable under Saddam’s regime. Consider Salim Shakir, a former Iraqi army offi- cer who became a hero for his role in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. While serving as ambassador to Senegal, Shakir obeyed a call to return to Baghdad for consultations. But instead of being debriefed on new diplomatic objectives, he was arrested at the airport for alleged disloyalty and tortured. When he dared to ask Saddam upon his release how he would feel if he had executed him by mistake, the dictator replied, “It is far better to kill an innocent man than to allow a guilty man to survive.” That chilling quote — like the rest of Saddam: King of Terror — is a salu- tary reminder of just how far Saddam Hussein will go to stay in power. David Casavis works for the U.S. Department of Commerce in New York City. Coughlin sheds especially valuable light on the viciousness of Saddam Hussein’s early career. B OOKS