Monstrous challenge: Rehabilitate Saddam Hussain’s image

Some Americans now especially among the right see him as a brutal but “necessary” dictator. Or to put it in their words(not my so don’t get mad at me. I’m just repeating what I have heard right wingers say in the US. You will actually be surprised how much I have heard people say this), “Saddam might have been a ruthless bastard but that region has to be ruled by an iron fist or you end up with what we have now”.

"He was a bad guy -- really bad guy. But you know what? He did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights. They didn't talk. They were terrorists. Over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism"

https://tinyurl.com/yyqtnrla
 
I’m guessing you want the first Gulf War to go as otl right?

Let’s start right after the war then. etc etc etc

ModernImperialism:

Your scenario contains a bit of wishful thinking and a few leaps in plausibility, but is nevertheless basically grounded in the accepted reality.

One card Saddam could play(which I don't think you mention) is the pro-Christian one, as it is generally agreed that Christians were better off under the baathists than under Islamists, and while American Christians are not generally known for being overly concerned about the middle-eastern variety, it wouldn't take that much of a PR campaign to get them interested.

I think the Vatican was already effectivley pro-baathist, so he'd have an entry there, and in the era of Catholic/fundamentalist co-operation in the Religious Right, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get some Rome-allied Chaldeans speaking engangements at both Catholic and protestant churches in the USA, documenting all the horrors unleashed in Iran and the monarchies against the followers of Jesus, that the baath is protecting Iraqis from.

And while this might be venturing into the area of the surreal, but how about grandfatherly old Tariq Aziz on Fox News delivering "A Christmas Message To American Christians From Their Brothers And Sisters In Iraq"? (And, God, I would love it if they could have him wearing a red Santa-cap for that, but that's probably too much to wish for.)
 
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