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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (108583)	7/28/2003 11:15:57 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "Saddam had his line of succession all worked out.. Do you think he was going to leave his wife and daughters to the "tender mercies" of his rivals and enemies?" Neither of Saddam's sons were "dictator material". They had the ruthlessness, but they had little of the street smarts that Saddam had. Notice that they're dead but Saddam is still running around loose? Dictators try to create dynasties all the time. The vast majority fail at it. Most of this has to do with the undeniable fact that these dictators get and stay where they are by possessing very special skills. Few dictators have those skills. Even fewer of their kids do. So the reigns of the children tend to be average length dictator rules, rather than multi-decade rules like Franco or Saddam. Qusai was widely feared and hated. Saddam was widely feared and loved. Qusai simply would not have survived as a dictator because he had too many enemies. -- Carl