“It was really the republic of fear. If you whispered, just whispered, something against the regime, you were finished.”
With these chilling words, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s Head of Protocol Haitham Rashid Wihaib culminated his account of his employment under the former dictator. As the chairman of the Iraqi Green Party and a major player in rebuilding postwar Iraq, Ambassador Wihaib discussed his daily interactions with Hussein, his admiration for American soldiers fighting for his country’s liberation and his hopes for democracy.
Wihaib deplored Hussein’s terrorist tactics and use of public funds during his 35-year rule of the Middle Eastern state.
“He wasted $45 billion of Iraqi weapons every year in weapons of mass destruction,” he said. ”$22 billion was stolen from the mouths of the Iraqi people [through ‘Oil for Food’].”
Although Wihaib expressed gratitude for American intervention in his country, his unique role as a former member of a notorious dictatorship provided a temporary obstacle in Lecture Fund Chair Gerard Alolod’s (SFS ‘05) efforts to gain approval for his lecture.
“Because he was a potentially controversial figure that offered a viewpoint not of the mainstream, we wanted to make sure that he would promote dialogue,” Alolod said.
Wihaib estimated that Iraq would not be secure enough for an American military departure for another one or two years. He contested the argument that Iraq’s ethnic divisions will hinder the establishment of democracy.
“Believe me: In Iraq, we are one people, we are united,” he said. “Who divided these people? It was Saddam.”
