Saddam Hussein

As America rejoices in the stunning success of President Bush's diplomatic and military leadership in the Persian Gulf War, we must not forget that there is still a peace to be secured and lessons from the conflict to be applied. While American military might and skill reversed Saddam Hussein's aggression against Iraq, it should not be forgotten that U.S. diplomacy before the war was fatally flawed.

Despite legends to the contrary, Walt Disney was not frozen when he died in 1966. But Saddam Hussein may turn out to be a different story. American Cryonics Society President Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham says representatives of the Iraqi strongman approached him two months ago to inquire about freezing samples of Hussein's semen, as well as cell tissues that might someday be used to clone a new individual--scientific progress permitting.

Three Jordanians loitering outside a restaurant named, incongruously, Uncle Sam's were vying with one another to see who could describe Saddam Hussein, the strongman of Iraq, in the most glowing terms. "He is like Churchill," Samer Shitreh, a burly construction worker, said. "No, he is like your Reagan," countered Ahmed Abu Maher. "He is like Rambo," exclaimed Mahbi Shakri. "For us, he is the only strong Arab leader."

Following is the text of President Bush's speech to the nation. MY FELLOW CITIZENS, events in Iraq have now reached the final days of decision. For more than a decade, the United States and other nations have pursued patient and honorable efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime without war. That regime pledged to reveal and destroy all of its weapons of mass destruction as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Since then, the world has engaged in 12 years of diplomacy.

Following is the text of the letter that President Bush wrote to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Jan. 5. The letter was refused Wednesday by Iraq's Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz when Secretary of State James A. Baker III tried to get him to deliver it. Aziz said it contained language inappropriate for correspondence between two heads of state.

Re "Bring back Hussein, the lesser evil," Current, Nov. 26 Jonathan Chait asks why bringing back Saddam Hussein isn't the worst solution. That someone asks such a question shows how badly things have been handled in Iraq, but it is still the wrong question. We should be looking for the best solution and ask whether it is worse than what is currently being done. A better question is: What do the Iraqis want? An overwhelming majority want the U.S. out of their country. Everything else in Iraq should be resolved according to this simple principle, which is that Iraqis should be the primary drivers of what goes on in their country.

George W. Bush must now figure out how to succeed in Iraq where his father failed in 1991. Saddam Hussein, whom former President Bush failed to topple, is still the most vicious and dangerous leader anywhere in the world today. The bad news is that it is probably too late for the new administration to effect genuine change in Iraq at a price the United States is willing to pay. What might have been possible even five years ago is no longer possible today.

Saddam Hussein's relentless drive to dominate the Persian Gulf at any cost poses a grave threat to the vital interests of the United States. Unfortunately, neither the wishful thinking of the U.N. Security Council nor Washington's efforts to contain Baghdad with economic sanctions and "no-fly zones" will change Hussein's determination to fulfill his self-proclaimed destiny to lead Arab, Islamic and Third World countries. The only policy that will is a U.S.

If Jordan had a president, and if this were an election year, Saddam Hussein would seem to be the front-runner in terms of campaign paraphernalia. Supporters of Hussein--and it is difficult to find a Jordanian who is not--have plastered pictures of the president of neighboring Iraq on just about everything here that doesn't move, and on some things that do--taxicabs, for example. Jordan's King Hussein gets little more than equal billing in this time of crisis.

The Iraqi leader, who had controlled the world's fourth-largest army, can now survey only the wreckage of his once-powerful military machine. In the face of increasingly certain defeat, why did he continue to refuse to give up? Part of the answer lies in the men he held up as his heroes--each ruthless and larger than life.