You gotta wonder...

This from the Washington Post, "When the deposed Iraqi leader was pulled by U.S. troops from a dank hole adjacent to the farmhouse Saturday, he told them in English: "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate."" (emphasis added) Before you write it off as just proof of insanity you need to understand that the Middle Eastern mindset is overwhelmingly different from that of the West. I spent some time in Saudi Arabia twenty years ago. The culture there, and way of thinking is completely foreign to those of us here in the U.S. Exxagerations expressed in declarations or descriptions are commonplace. Logic is applied only when favorable. Muslim / non-Muslim concerns are paramount. Note I am not painting a broad-based picture of all Arabs, Muslims, or Middle Easterners... this is just a cultural reality - the West is different. Understanding this helps one to see how suicide bombers make their choices... how puny attacks on U.S. forces continue... and why someone in Saddam's position, after being pulled out of a hole in the ground, would make the statement he made.