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You don't catch Saddam yaddayaddaing for 2 hours about his Iraqi historical fantasies. He was busy learning to breathe through a pipe with a box fan stuck in it.
I remember reading about Saddam's takeover of the Ba'ath party. That story was a wild ride.
TLDR: Saddam calls an emergency party conference and has the former president's secretary stand up and read a "confession", claiming to be part of a Syrian-backed plot to overthrow the Iraqi government along with a list of names of his "co-conspirators."
As the name of each "co-conspirator' is read, guards come in and take them from the room one at a time. 68 people were removed, charged with treason, and convicted. Saddam has 22 of them sentenced to death, gives the others weapons, and orders them to kill the first group.
Voila! Saddam is now dictator for life.
The craziest thing about that is there's a video documenting the whole thing. It's on YouTube and well worth watching; probably one of the first, if not the first televised coup.
Saddam nonchalantly smoking a cigar while the auditorium's mood goes from confused to hysterical is something to behold. Properly chilling.
Found a clip narrated by the much missed Christopher Hitchens: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CR1X3zV6X5Y
I forgot about that part! Saddam had the whole thing taped and distributed copies all over Iraq. We take the ease of media distribution today for granted. Much harder to do in 1979. That was truly some next level bragging. "I'm in charge now. Go fuck yourself."
That's a great clip. So immensely chilling to hear the barbaric shit the Ba'ath were capable of. Thank you for sharing the link.
Saddam lived a life of unimaginable luxury for decades, and his sons were evil incarnate, savaging the Iraqi citizens whenever it fit their fancy, with absolute impunity.