Historically Speaking, the Message Died

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered what had been billed as a historic address to his people Sunday, speaking over Baghdad Radio for 20 minutes about the need for patience and the victory that ultimately would be theirs.

Although all the evidence suggests that his country’s infrastructure and military are being destroyed, Hussein urged steadfastness. “The Iraqis,” he said, are “becoming more firm in their faith, and shining out more in front of the whole world.”

But there was one glitch in the first major speech he had delivered to the nation in weeks: Practically no one heard it at the time.

Iraq’s television and radio broadcasting building, one of the most heavily guarded structures in Baghdad, was attacked and largely destroyed by allied planes during the first days of the war. When Hussein spoke Sunday, intelligence sources said, his speech could be clearly heard only in the few downtown blocks that were within range of a mobile transmitter.

The allied command has given a high priority to communication facilities in Operation Desert Storm in an attempt to destroy Iraq’s command and control capabilities. Burdened with a Soviet-style centralized command structure, Hussein’s forces in Kuwait would lose a great deal of flexibility and maneuverability in responding to battlefield changes if denied the ability to communicate with senior officers. For Hussein, coordinating a major attack would become extremely difficult.

There is, though, another reason for targeting communication installations: the desire to isolate Saddam Hussein from his people.

With Baghdad and Basra under heavy allied attack, the Iraqi strongman needs to convince his people that they are not involved in an unwinnable war--a formidable task that requires the use of the country’s 600,000 television sets and 3 million radios. Without that access to the airwaves, he loses much of his ability to manipulate and inspire as well as the psychological advantage of being perceived as a man in charge.

Taking control of--or, in this case, destroying--the national radio network is an old tactic. In sub-Saharan Africa, which has endured more coups in the last 30 years than any region in the world, the first rebel target invariably is the national radio station. Control that, the belief goes, and you can control the people’s minds.

Although Hussein granted an interview to Cable News Network late last month, the Iraqi leader--unlike President Bush, who has maintained a high profile--has seldom been seen or heard by the Iraqis since the war began. Travelers reaching Jordan from Iraq have said there are growing murmurs of discontent and have reported seeing graffiti on Baghdad walls declaring “Down With Saddam.”

Military sources said the Allies believe that they have severely disrupted Hussein’s communications. It takes as long as 24 hours, they said, for him to get a message to the front by utilizing a relatively secure but primitive backup system. That delay would cost Hussein dearly in a land war, they said.