To aid in the analysis and discussion, some historical examples will be provided to shed light on Arendt's views and to demonstrate how they applied to Saddam's Iraq.
Arendt observed that totalitarian regimes take form or are born of an ideology, often associated with racist, as in the case of Nazi anti-Semitism, or classist struggles, as in Stalin's communist Russia (Jacobus 86). As Hitler's Nazi Germany grew out of and became consumed with the idea of creating a racially purified Aryan Germany and extending it to all of Europe, Saddam's goals, formed along with his Baathist principles, were aimed at creating a pan-Arab world and a master race. David Brooks of The Review describes Saddam's position that "Someday there will be a great historical culmination presumably between the Arab world and the United States. Some nation, some people, will establish permanent dominance over the earth. It will realize all values, bring to culmination all hopes, and ascend to permanent glory." He further attributes to Saddam that "The ideology of Baathism calls for relentless struggle, ever-widening conflict, until some ideal culmination of histo
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, using the central elements of Arendt's analysis of totalitarianism, will be presented. To aid in the analysis and discussion, some historical examples will be provided to shed light on Arendt's views and to demonstrate how they applied to Saddam's Iraq.
Ideology is fundamental, but the cause can't be achieved with out mass support. The totalitarian movements aim at and succeed in organizing masses (Arendt 308). Twentieth century technology in mass media, radio, television, mass printed text and its widely flung distribution systems, allowed and allow totalitarian states and leaders to reach an audience not reachable in previous eras. Tailoring official information and carefully selecting it for its political effect is a powerful tool. Hitler postulated that "all propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence of those it is addressed to" (Magstadt 56). Totalitarian movements depend upon sheer force of numbers (Arendt 308), often motivated by a common goal or hatred. Creating and maintaining an identity with the goal or idea demands that no outside source of influence or dissent can compete with the idea. By controlling the media, controlling dissent, controlling education, and controlling movement within and external to Iraq, Saddam ensured that a single voice and a single message fed the masses. Iraqi radio and TV, controlled by the state, expulsion or elimination of intellectuals and professionals (Jabar 3), iron-fisted control and monitoring of communications, and the control of movement within and external to the country all supported Saddam's ability to remain in control and either energize, make fearful, or confuse his subjects. Indoctrination at an early age was a method observed in the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany and Saddam's equivalent, the Baath Party Youth Organization. How the Saddam regime dealt with dissent is exemplified in accounts of Saddam's despotic jailing of children for refusal to participate (Bush 1).
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