Lessons of Saddam a wake-up call for Middle East despots

IN AN Arab world where democracy is a rarity, entrenched leaders are faced with the image of Saddam Hussein in captivity, his power shrunken to myth, his bravado gone.

It’s a sobering picture for Arab rulers whose authority is based on might, not on the consent of their people.

As the picture of a weary, addled Saddam began sinking in today, political analysts and commentators raised the question of whether other Middle East leaders would learn from the downfall of the Iraqi dictator or persist in their old, despotic ways.

“Lessons to the likes of Saddam,” a front-page editorial in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyassah was headlined. Written by editor-in-chief Ahmed al-Jarrallah, it said Saddam’s arrest provided a shock “to all the evil regimes that until now follow the example of Saddam.”

Such regimes, al-Jarrallah wrote, “know they are like him ... and that they are the prisoners of the slogans they used to lie to their people ... Saddam has fallen because of what his wooden mind produced, and similarly, what their minds produce will lead to their fall.”

Neither al-Jarrallah nor others who described the dilemma of Arab leaders were specific about which of them had the most to fear. But all saw the arrest as a signal that the Middle East could be at an important turning point.

In Saudi Arabia, political analyst Dawood al-Shirian said the capture of Saddam was a positive development in Arab politics, but he noted it might not be positive for some Arab rulers.

“For the first time, an Arab dictator is being held accountable for his actions. That will encourage the Arab street to be more forceful in pushing for their rights,” said al-Shirian.

But he added that oppressive Arab governments “must feel unhappy ... because they can now see that a society without institutions, human rights and democracy will meet the same fate.