A Letter From Saddam Hussein Is Published

Jailed ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has written a martyr-like letter delivered by the International Red Cross and published in Jordanian newspapers.

It’s not long but reveals how he views himself and pointedly takes up the subject of Palestine to solidify sympathy and support for him in the Arab world as a martyr to the Arab cause. From the BBC:

“I and my family offer ourselves as a sacrifice for this nation, including dear Palestine and our steadfast, beloved, and wretched Iraq,” he writes.

“Life without faith, love and the inherited traditions of our nation is destruction.

“He who sacrifices his property and soul for his nation is but doing a little because this nation deserves much to be done.”

He ends the letter: “Long live Palestine. Love your nation.”

The full text of the letter in its flowery language can be read here. The AP notes that the letter was read before it went out and was “censored” (but the report does not say if that means just read or some material was cut out).

Clearly, his trial for murdering his countrymen is coming up soon and Hussein is trying to create his own context for the trial — that he was a great leader of the Arab world and that’s why he’s on trial…and not because he and his late, unlamented sons butchered slews of their own countrymen in often hideous, indescribably brutal ways.

In American politics commentators call this “changing the subject.”