Home >
Humanities And Science >
Current Events
Saddam Hussein's ability to create spectacle, manipulate language, and reinvent ideas are key factors to his success as a speaker and ultimately aided him in his rise to power. The use of rhetoric to persuade the masses has been a device long since used by figures great and small to achieve their goals of both triumph and disaster. Nowhere is this clearer than with Saddam Hussein. In particular, his use of rhetoric is important in understanding how he rose to power. There are two fundametally different kinds of speakers: those who use reasoning, and those who speak from the heart. The speaker who uses reason implements the use of facts and statistics to create a strong and powerful speech, minimizing error. The speaker from the heart, on the other hand, directs his speech to the listeners' emotions, often igniting a plethora of responses from within the individual. Saddam Hussein is the latter who indeed speaks to the masses on an emotional level, which creates a tight unity among the Iraqi people. His extraordinary ability to create spectacle, manipulate language, and reinvent ideas allowes him to control the masses and to rise to power despite the ugly truths that were masked behind his rhetoric.
One example of why Saddam Hussein's rhetoric is so successful is his use of spectacle. Saddam's Baath Party uses various forms spectacle to make their rhetoric stand out. In studying these points it can be seen how Saddam Hussein manipulates language to achieve his ultimate goal of purity and perfection. Inborn dignity centers on the idea that all human beings have a basic dignity, that they are born with and that it should be respected by others. Yet Saddam Hussein perverts this doctrine so only the Arab race has inborn dignity. Thus Arabs' inborn dignity is a superiority rather than a commonality and everyone else is inferior. After the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War, there are especially strong emotional needs that this compensatory doctrine of an inborn superiority could gratify.
Another aspect of Saddam Hussein's unification rhetoric is his use of projection devices. This term, related to psychoanalysis, involves the projection of the problem onto another group or individual. On a social level, this term is called a scapegoat. The Iraqi economy, a seemingly domestic problem, is blamed on the international Jew. Saddam Hussein's use of rhetoric here is to displace the issue at hand to something irrelevant. This is especially appealing to the middle class, who is encouraged to feel that they could conduct their businesses without any basic change whatever, once the businessmen of a different ‘religion' were eliminated.
Next in this rhetorical process is a means of symbolic rebirth. Once the problem is blamed on the Jews, Saddam Hussein has to advocate their elimination and promise the Iraqi people a better life. He offers his people a positive vision of the future in order to unite them against this common enemy. The projective device of the scapegoat, coupled with the Saddam Hussein´s doctrine of inborn national superiority, provides its followers with a ‘positive' view of life. They can again get the feel of moving forward towards a goal. The idea of commercial use can be seen in Saddam Hussein's attempt to offer a non-economic interpretation of the economic ills in Iraq. He is able to sell his rhetoric to Iraqis without even addressing issues pertaining to the economy. As such, it serves with maximum efficiency in deflecting the attention from the economic factors involved in modern conflict; hence by attacking Jew finance instead of finance, it can stimulate an enthusiastic movement that left ‘Arab' finance in control. All of these features lead to a unifying voice for the entire nation and gives Saddam Hussein seemingly immeasurable power over his people.
The use of Unification Rhetoric (U.R.) contributed to making Saddam Hussein a powerful speaker. Under U.R. there are three points that explain how this is done. The first is a geographical materialization of Saddam Hussein's ideology. Saddam Hussein points to Jerusalem. Jerusalem symbolizes a geographical Arab aspiration. Saddam Hussein's idea of "all roads lead to Jerusalem" is an attempt to unify the Arab people. This give his people a physical location in an effort to understand what it means to be Arab nationalist.
Another principal under U.R. is the idea of "the common enemy". Otherwise known as the international Jew or Zionists. Saddam Hussein labels the enemy as an ‘ultimate evil' in order to unite the masses against a common evil. Having this common enemy is a great tool for Saddam Hussein to use to appeal to the emotions of the Iraqi people. It is the role of the leader to create the rhetoric that unifies people against the common enemy.
Saddam Hussein's rhetoric is not only powerful against his people but is also powerful against those who rejects his ideas. His ‘conspiracy theory' turns all those against anyone who do not see the way he do. Simple yet effective, anyone opposes to him is part of the conspiracy and therefore against the Iraq cause.
For Saddam Hussein there are only two possibilities: either he remains Iraq and the Arab nations or he comes under the thumb of the Jews. Saddam Hussein deliveres so two options, and two options only to the Arab people. Either you are Iraqi and Arab or you are controlled by the Jews. Through this example, it is clear that the Arabs could be under control of the Jews and as a result have to band together to make their nation strong. This type of rhetoric allowes the decision his listeners have to make easy, with a clear and concise end-result.
The third section under U.R. is the Parliamentary attacks that Saddam Hussein lead through speeches and rallies, which make him a more powerful and respected leader. Saddam Hussein believes his people need to speak with one voice and they all need to be on the same page. In these attacks it can be seen that Saddam Hussein is taking the attacks on Capitalism and transposing the problems onto the Jews.
Saddam Hussein's rhetoric also becomes successful due to his totalizing vision. Saddam Hussein proposes an all-encompassing plan that appeares to offer a solution to all of Iraq's problems. His ideology is a complete worldview, meant to explain anything that is encountered. Saddam Hussein's ability to convince the masses of his totalizing vision brings unity to the Iraqi people and is largely bases on the irradiation of what he calls ‘the ultimate evil.' Jews are the Iraqi nation's true enemy. Saddam Hussein's all encompassing worldview is meant to be the answer to any possible question. All fingers are pointed at the Jews for Iraq's problems and their extermination is part of Saddam Hussein's totalizing vision for a pure Arab Nation.
In addition to his use of spectacle and a totalizing vision, Saddam Hussein uses the power of religion to make his rhetoric successful. Saddam's Baath Party is officially secular, but in 1993 he launched "the grand faith campaign" in what is seen as a bid to win the loyalty of Iraqis who had turned to religion after losing loved ones in war and as their economy suffered under sanctions. The Iraqi leader's words often mix the historical with the religious. Saddam refers often to the eight-year war with Iran, which claimed 1 million lives on both sides, al-Qadissiya - the name of the decisive battle in which the Arab Muslim army inflicted a huge defeat on Persia in 637. He depicts the Gulf War as the victorious Um Al Maarek, or "mother of all battles".
A deconstruction of religion proved to be a key influence in making his rhetoric stand out. In this sense, Saddam Hussein turns religion on its head. He turns the power of religion and uses it for secular goals. He make the sacred unsacred and the holy impure. His control of religious power and religious rhetoric proves to be a key ingredient for his success as a speaker. Saddam himself is sometimes calls "Rasul al-Arab", or "prophet of the Arabs", and "Seif al-Arab", or "sword of the Arabs".
The art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and hence to the heart of the broad masses. Saddam Hussein's ability to use rhetoric instills in him the ability to execute his totalizing vision, mastering the art of manipulation and persuasion. Appealing to a person's emotions is crucial in order to convince or persuade them towards certain ideas or to initiate a certain response.
Saddam Hussein's ability to create spectacle, manipulate language, and reinvent ideas are key factors to his success as a speaker and ultimately aided him in his rise to power.
About the Author
Salomon Ruysdael lives in Frankfurt, Germany, where he divides his time between writing and editing. He is the Editor of two books, including From Imagination to Reality and New Trends in Turkish Foreign Affairs.