I have to tell you, I enjoyed the series and will certainly watch it again, not necessarily because it is accurate (it isn't), but just intriguing.
Johnson's friends hit the nail on the head, and their point is exactly mine. I was watching this thing last night, making snarky and sarcastic comments to my wife about "what a humanitarian Saddam is." Here is a man with unspeakable human rights abuses, and no word about Rape Rooms and the like. No, we see Saddam, at the end of the series, right before his capture, fishing on the banks of what appears to be the Tigris with a young boy. Imparting fatherly wisdom to the lad. The barbarians? The US troops, of course. One of Saddams hinchmen left the scene of Saddam's defense to come home to his wife, cooking dinner. His wife hugs him and says how worried she was for his safety. All we needed was a dog to come running up and lick the guy's face and he'd be Major Dad. So, Saddam's henchman/bodyguard is home with his wife having a quiet peaceful meal, discussing his day in the office and the children's grades, etc., when the brutal thugs of the US military come rushing in to take him down. Saddam's Fedayeen wouldn't do something so barbaric, no sir.
My thought through the whole thing was just as Johnson, et al. Here is an attempt to make this psychopath, who molded himself in the ways of Joseph Stalin, look like he was just another guy in power trying to feed his people and "restore Arab greatness."
*****Update - Ironically, this link to a BBC webpage talks of the sadistic nature of Saddam's sons. While the series did portray Uday Hussein as a spoiled brat, there was little mention of his horrific treatment of women (save the 'waitress' he raped/had sex with in the bathroom in one scene). Qusay was shown as a responsible - almost respectable figure - yet no mention of his cruelty either. The link above shows the truth.*****
And while we are talking about Iraq, the Useful Idiots are all atwitter about this whole shoe throwing incident. I just learned that the shoe thrower in question was an Iraqi journalist. Don't you just love how these clowns get really brave when dealing with Western leaders? What would have happened to the "journalist" if he'd have thrown his shoe at Saddam? Twilight zone time. We buy this idiot's freedom with our blood and that's how he thanks our Commander in Chief, the man who made the difficult decision to sacrifice American Blood and Treasure for it. You're welcome.
