The Gulf: Saddam Hussein as the Lesser of Two Evils

Even among Arabs who condemn him, many consider the foreign presence in the gulf a greater abomination

The old man who sat before a steaming cup at the Baghdad Coffee House in the heart of Bahrain's Indian bazaar was of an age where he no longer cared that government informers might overhear him. "Listen to me," he demanded, urgently tapping a Westerner on the knee. "Any time an independent Arab leader looks strong," he boomed, "the West beats him down. They did it with Nasser. They have run a vilification campaign against Assad. And look what they did to Arafat. It dates from the Crusades, and it will never change." The man, a retired printer, paused. "Saddam will...

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