Fear played a major role in sustaining the Baʿth regime for more than three decades, but the party's control of the population was not based only on fear. An elaborate system of rewards and punishments provided a robust framework for the Baʿth Party's domination. Nevertheless, although society as a whole accepted the regime and its relentless demands, a significant number of people did not. Examining the different forms of resistance helps us to understand what “made one person a dissident or resistance fighter and another a collaborator.”

Fear and Violence

In Chapter 4, we saw that the Baʿth regime created many security agencies and an extensive security network. In so doing, it was strikingly similar to other tyrannies. Like Stalin, Saddam Hussein was always acutely aware that the people closest to him had the greatest ability to inflict harm: “Near the Tsar, near to death.” In his semiautobiographical book, rijal wa madina, Saddam Hussein wrote that “he who is not alert, even with a long stick, the dogs will covet him and bite him.” Both dictators knew that treachery could arise from within their inner circles, and they understood the need for special guards and organizations that they personally controlled, who would be more loyal than their closest associates but would remain carefully segregated from their inner circles. Both leaders were closely involved with their security organizations, received direct information from them, and intervened in their affairs. Based on remarks from close associates of Saddam Hussein, Aburish quotes him as saying that “when we take over the government I’ll turn this country into a Stalinist state.” Both leaders kept changing the organizational structure of the security organs to meet their needs and used fear and violence to keep a firm grip on power.