European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 02, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Chilt following said to be on the Rise Saddam by Mark Fineman los Angeles times s Amir Saad Al Din Nimr a Quot a Little interest in. Politics until the persian Gulf War gave him a new hero two weeks ago. A a Nimr a cab Driver does the 550-mile run from Amman Jordan to the iraqi capital of Baghdad Over what is now one of the most deadly stretches of Road on Earth. He Dodges the Allied strafing and bombing runs going in empty in his Chevy Van and driving out overloaded with War refugees. And every Day he listens to the news of the War and his new hero on the Mother of Battles radio station Baghdad a. Quot hey did you hear Quot Nimr called out to his fellow Delvers and jordanian friends when he emerged from the War zone in run nishid to spread the news of the Day Quot Saddam went 20 Kilometres into saudi Arabia. He took it and then gave it Back. It was just to Quot show he could do it Quot Nimr said Quot Quot Saddam is god Quot Abdul Ahmad another Driver wino made the run wednesday shouted. Quot even if every single american comes Here to fight they cannot face him even a such is the stuff of the emerging cult of iraqi president Saddam Hussein. After two full weeks of bombing that have battered iraqi targets and driven Mach of iraqis military elite Ever deeper a into their bunkers according to , Hussein himself continues to grow stronger and More popular by the Day according to scores of arabs Muslim leaders and political analysts Hussein a personal following Long confined largely to the iraqi leaders own Back Yard is now spreading throughout the Arab moslem and third worlds a a a a Quot simply by standing up for so Long to the punishment of this massive and modern Allied Force Saddam has. Become larger than life Quot said a european analyst in the persian Gulf Quot he a playing to a lot of audiences that have a too few. Heroes and already minor lose Saddam s images going to to with us for years maybe decades Toa a a come. A a a a. Of palestinian woman who lived for several years in Hussein a Iraq stated even More dramatically just How far the iraqi Leader s Star has risen. ,. Quot i know tins Man. I know his evil Quot she said during a visit to the jordanian Border crossing at run nishid explaining that she was born in Kuwait but went to school in Iraq. Quot in a the iraqi schools we weren t allowed to think. We just did what we were fold what he and his party chose to Tell us. And when f finished school i had no idea How to do anything at All. A a a. Quot this is Saddam Hussein and i know this. But now it is different. He is an Arab fighting those who have oppressed us those who stole our lands. And even., though i know he is doing this Only for his own ambition a Only to save his own skin realty just exploiting us in the process i am after All an Arab. Quot Given the Choice Between George Bush and Saddam Hussein id choose Saddam any and so have so Many others As the Saddam War in the Gulf phenomenon has spread throughout the Middle East and beyond. ,. In the past two weeks alone Saddam s photograph has inspired entire towns in the South Indian state of tamil Nadu to form Saddam Hussein clubs and Issue nationwide Calls for volunteers to join Iraq in Battle. It has been carried through the streets by thousands of muslims who stood in front of police bullets in the North Indian City of Graf Sabad it has drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets m Algeria Yemen Pakistan and Tunisia and it has led hundreds of families from Amman to rang Pur Bangladesh to name their Newborn sons Saddam. The hottest items in town in the jordanian capital of Amman Are the Saddam souvenirs at the downtown Al Afghani trinket shop a key chains emblazoned with Gold arabic letters spelling the name of the Long Range scud missile Quot Al Hussein Quot and Lapel pins of the iraqi Leader superimposed on a cartoon of an outbound missile captioned Quot East or West scud is Best Quot. Refugees fleeing Hussein s War Forn nation for their Homes in Sudan Bangladesh sri Lanka and even Romania this week spoke with deep admiration and near fundamentalist moslem marchers in Amman Jordan carry a poster of iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein. A Awe about an embattled Leader of invincibility grows by the Day. A a a a a. ,. A a and Saddam s own strategic ploys Suchias temporarily a capturing the tiny saudi Border town of Khanji reinforce the belief among arabs such As Nimr that Hussein. Actually could win this War against the world of nations ranged around him. A v �.����. A a a this will be a Long War you Tell or. George Bush that Quot said Talal Deeb a palestinian accountant fleeing a besieged Kuwait City after spending the past 24"years there. Quot Saddam is Strong he is a Quot Saddam will eat you americans alive Quot shouted a jordanian refugee from Kuwait As he stood in a Long line of cars at the run nishid Border Post which is decorated with a prominent poster of Hussein. Quot he can eat everything. He can eat rocks snakes donkeys Trees missiles and a. A but the emerging International cult worship of the iraqi president is not without its calculated inspiration most of it engineered by Saddam himself and his cadre of information advisers. A when Allied air strikes disabled Iraq s International communications facilities his advisers arranged for a Cable news network team in Amman to bring in a Mobile satellite dish and air a 90-minute-interview with Saddam by can reporter Peter Arnett _ a a the interview was broadcast worldwide and according a to dozens who scrutinized the videotape Over and Over again projected Hussein As confident relaxed and if anything stronger than he was even before the War began Quot he s Back in his element Quot said the european analyst a who has studied the iraqi president for several years. Quot before the. Jan. 15 deadline we were seeing Clear. Signs of stress in Saddam. His face was puffy and his voice hollow almost like Hitler right before thee and. A look at him now. Juis eyes Are Sharp. His Grin is Back. And he a doing what he does Best a fight a War. Saddam Hussein is not after All a peacetime on the heels of the successful can interview Baghdad redoubled its propaganda efforts permitting a carefully selected group of two dozen journalists mostly european to re enter Iraq late wednesday. A. Iraq of the press group,.which included a French the vision Crew British newspaper writers and a Large contingent of turkish journalists was consistent with Hussein a strategy of appealing directly to Public opinion m nations he sees As weak links in the anti Iraq Alliance. At the same time he continues to reach out to audiences in the Arab worlds. Jordan s Crown Prince Hassan,.who doubles As a keen political analyst not Only of the Region but of Saddam specifically said that Saddam a cult following cuts across ethnic religious and socioeconomic lines. A i. A 1 a a a. A a a Why is he popular someone was asking me Quot the Prince said in a recent interview with the los Angeles times. The reason he s popular is he has become a a Symbol Many symbols in he s a Symbol because he has emphasized 0 linkage Between Kuwait and the israeli occupied territories and achieved it through a violent act now a the attacking of israeli targets and economically again it s the question of equity. We Are talking about 300 million people Between Cairo and Islamabad by the end of this decade 70 percent of them under the age of 15. You can t say that the new regional Security arrangement. The Gulf is going to guard against extremism a Quot Rami Khoury former editor of the English language Jordan times and now a political commentator in Amman said the Way Saddam thinks is very methodical. He is not irrational. He is not crazy. He has Power. He is More experienced in Power than Gen h. Norman sch Yar Kop Gen. Colin Powell or president Bush. A for him this is a Battle of historic proportions a Battle ode stay said Khoury himself a palestinian he added to arabs Iraq is the country that stood up and challenged the a \ Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes saturday february 2, 1991
