Replies

His goal is to unite the Arab world under his leadership and always has been. I think he will focus his reaction against the US and Israel only. He probably has it in his head that he can hold out long enough for that uniting to occur and I seriously doubt any of his generals are going to tell him anything he does not want to hear. He probably doesn't have a realistic picture of his own capabilities.

I think he is likely to do everything possible to drag Israel into the fight including missiles, WMD attacks, terrorists, trying to move towards the Jordanian border. Once Israel is into the mix he probably thinks he can drag in the whole Arab world.

I believe that he has already been warned that he will be nuked if he releases WMD first. I would think that he's on defense right now, and in survival mode. What better way to do that then make this announcement?

Of course, only he knows what they are capable of releasing at this point. This is high-stakes poker.

His goal is to unite the Arab world under his leadership and always has been. I think he will focus his reaction against the US and Israel only.

This is true. The funny thing about this, is that the best way to assume secular power for megalomaniacal Saddam is to assume the religious mantle. He isn't a religious guy; he cares only about himself. `It is only relatively recently that he has deviated from the strict strongman persona and been shown praying and wearing a kaffiyeh. Strangely, in this he is probably like Mohammed, who was also a megalomaniacal psycho who used religion to enhance his power.

Think about it--most relentless preachers can score a lot of chicks and get to process a lot of goodies for the cause, if they are so inclined. Those who combine this with state power--well the sky is the limit.