News Is Hussein's power over Iraq overstated?

[Pelt]

Exactly.
Hussein's support of the Palestinian http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/world/main505316.shtml" is another example; if those same Palestinians had tried to run a popular movement inside Iraq that in anything posed a challenge the Bathist rule then Hussein would have no doubt squashed them too.

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Happy Holidays All

It's surprisingly easy to overestimate the man, especially now that he's dead and Iraq these days is so full of life in many of the worst possible ways. But consider this. After the 1991 uprisings, Hussein failed to quell the Kurdish rebellion and essentially lost most of the territory north of Kirkuk. In the South, he never managed to stamp out Shia imams no matter how hard he tried--the man did his level best to wipe out the Sadrs and still the son managed to raise the second largest private army in Iraq within months of Baghdad's fall. Also, the 1991 uprising itself is spectacular in its scope both in geography and daring. Honestly, it's remarkable Hussein did as well as he did in 1991. Baathist rule over Iraq was concentric, with Baghdad fully under Hussein's control and the outlying governorates held in check by frequent kleptomania and occasional brutality. It was also nothing compared to Hafez al Assad's hold on Syria.