Over the years, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has built a reputation as the authoritarian head of a secularist regime.
But faced with a fight for survival against a massive US-led onslaught, Saddam is now rallying Iraqis to fight for the land of their ancestors, rather in defense of his rule, and is trying to portray the war as one pitting the faithful against disbelievers.
A televised address by Saddam on Monday underlined the Iraqi leader's strategy to use religion as a means to rally Iraqis around him in his days of reckoning. He mentioned the word "God" 28 times, "jihad," or holy war, seven times and the word "faithful" four times.
"It is a near victory that God promises the patient faithful with. Those who are believers will be victorious," Saddam told his people. ``In these decisive days, the enemy tried not using missiles and fighter jets as they did before. This time, they sent their infantry troops. This time, they have come to invade and occupy your land.''
Military communiques issued daily in Iraq speak of troops as "God's soldiers," cites verses from the Koran such as "often has a small minority been able to defeat a larger force," and ends with Islam's rallying cry of "Allahu Akbar," or"God is great"
There's evidence that appealing to the patriotic sense of Iraqis and their religious awareness are resonating among a people whom Washington expected to welcome coalition forces as liberators rather than fight them as enemies.
In reality, US and British forces are meeting stiff resistance in fighting in southern Iraq and, as coalition troops press toward Baghdad, militiamen loyal to Saddam are continuing to harass them with deadly ambushes and ruses.
Saddam and his massive propaganda machine have spared no effort in stoking anti-American sentiments among Iraqis over the past few months and projecting an image of Iraq as the last and only Arab bastion of independence and anti-colonialism. They also have played on the widely accepted perception of the US as biased in favor of Israel and against the Arabs, and the US-led war on terror as a new Crusade against Islam.
Anti-American feelings in Iraq also have their roots in the 1991 Gulf War, when a US-led coalition routed Iraq's army, and in nearly 13 years of crippling UN sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraqis say the sanctions have been kept in place because of Washington's influence in the UN and blame them for what they say is the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, mostly children, as a result.
Iraqi officials have also been feeding the patriotic sense of Iraqis, focusing on the country's history as the birthplace of civilization and a country which knew law and science when, according to Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, the ancestors of US President George W. Bush lived in caves.
Policy makers and analysts from around the world have for years propagated the notion that Saddam's authoritarian regime and its poor human rights record would leave him and his government isolated in the event of an outside threat.
They also spoke of a nation divided along ethnic, religious and regional lines and of the fragility of a government whose popular base is limited to Saddam's own clan in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. Iraq's Sunni Arab minority has traditionally been the ruling elite in a country where Shiite Muslims are the majority, a fact that has led many to point to an imbalance that would eventually lead to instability.
These divisions may still spill over into an open challenge to Saddam's rule -- which happened when the Kurds and Shiites revolted in 1991 -- as the war continues and the anticipated ruinous battle for Baghdad begins.
Available evidence suggests that this may not happen, at least not in the near future.
Iraq's Shiites, whose leaders abroad speak of oppression by Saddam's government, have so far remained quiet despite all the fighting taking place around them.
"All the fighting so far has been taking place in the south, not in Tikrit," Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told a news conference, rebutting claims that Saddam's strategy was to defend his hometown and Baghdad, the seat of power.
"We are all Iraqis. There is no difference between Muslim and Christian, Shiite and Sunni," said Aziz, a Christian and a stalwart of Saddam's regime for at least two decades. "The Iraqi people are united under the leadership of President Saddam Hussein."
It is difficult to gauge how ordinary Iraqis feel about the US-led attack to oust Saddam, their president of 23 years, given the regime's record of zero tolerance for dissent.
But the Iraqis' hostility toward the US is known, making it believable when they speak of fighting the Americans as invaders should they come to Baghdad.
Saddam, however, hardly figures when they speak of that fight. Instead, they speak of their honor and of a nation with a long history.
In contrast, members of Saddam's ruling Baath party -- like Aziz -- speak of their loyalty to the Iraqi president and how he is leading them in this ``epic'' battle against invaders.
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