DEEP DOWN
Why, of all places, would a man such as Saddam H. choose to be placed in a hole in the ground?
Even under the most dire circumstances, it would seem that such a choice would be about the last one on the list. The fact that he, apparently did so, should tell us a great deal about this curious man.
For what weird reasons would a person deliberately accept being confined to a hole dug six feet or so into the earth. It cannot seem good even with such luixuries as a breathing tube leading off to the side and a shelf dug to one side on which one might lie down to await whatever happens. Such a man would have to have a tremendous amount of trust in the group of soldiers let topside. To save their own hides, they could easily make a quick pass over the area with a bulldozer and eliminate all chances of being captured with “Number One�on their hands.
Men and women of medical areas dealing with mental processes determining what the human mind might attempt under stress, must be having a field day with this case. He was man who must have felt lost, alone, very insecure - unshaven and disheveled. He will be seen as a man seeking the security and comfort of his pre-natal state. His fetal position on the cramped, short shelf might suggest that view..
This is, surely, not the stuff from which maryters are made. If he had hoped to leave his nation a heritage of strength, dominance and fortitude, he could have chosen no worse way to make his exit from world affairs. He had guided scores of suicidal men and women to their deaths, yet chose to hide like an animal in a miserable hole in the earth when he faced immediate danger. It is, perhaps, best for all of us that it happened in this way because, had he gone out of the active picture in a blaze of firey glory, fighting to the very last, he would have "earned" maryterdom in the eyes of many people.
What happens to him in the months ahead is an unwritten page in history. It could take some amazing turns.
A.L.M. December 19, 2003 [c384wds]
