Waiting, with bravado and anxiety

摘要

"Bush, Bush, listen well, we love Sad-dam Hussein." This was the chant, in rhyming Arabic, of 100 white-robed tribesmen at a dusty polling station near the Shia Muslim holy city of Karbala. Some had pricked their fingers to stamp Yes on the flimsy ballots with their own blood. Others had slaughtered sheep in celebration. With such scenes repeated across Iraq, this week's referendum to extend Mr Hussein's rule produced a 100% yes vote, from a purported 100% turnout. To its own people, the beleaguered regime was brazening its capacity to dramatise a show of national solidarity before the world's press. To outsiders, it was meant as a pointed reminder that foreign invaders will be met not just by an army, but by 25m hostile citizens. In a society governed by fear, ruined by war and sanctions, and fractured by clan, creed and ethnicity, the truth of such an assertion is hard to gauge. Thirty-four years of rule by the Baath Party, with Mr Hussein at the helm for 23 of them, have brought disaster, but also a wary equilibrium. Many detest their leader, though virtually none dare do so openly. Yet even opponents admire his defiance, and admit the effectiveness of his propaganda.