|
|
Article: Who tarnished Saladin's eagle?
- Article from:
- Midstream
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Theodor Herzl Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
As American and Allied troops converged on Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, the Second Gulf War wound down to a "sort-of" conclusion. Saddam had chosen for his coat of arms "Saladin's eagle," claiming an identity with another Tikrit native who was medieval Islam's greatest hero. (1) It is difficult to imagine a starker contrast than that between Saladin's magnanimity and the malignity of Saddam Hussein, the self-styled, "Second Saladin." A scholar and pious adherent of orthodox Sunni Islam, Saladin was also a shrewd, courageous commander whose military prowess dispatched Egypt's corrupt Fatimid dynasty. (2)
As Vizier and then Sultan of ...