"I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people. A race of Saddam Husseins which will conquer the world! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Welcome to Lakhanow, a heavily Sunni village in northern India where a man has just renamed his three-year-old son Saddam Hussein. According to the BBC,

the child will not be the only Saddam Hussein in the neighbourhood. There are more than 20 other Saddam Husseins in Lakhanow alone.

Local people say there are more than 100 Saddam Husseins in 27 adjoining villages dominated by mostly Sunni Muslims….

"This is our way to pay tribute to our leader. We want to carry on his legacy here at least in our village," said Ejaj Alam.

"God willing one day our village will be full of Saddam Husseins."

"George Bush can hang one Saddam Hussein," another villager declared, "but we will create an army of Saddam Husseins."

Comments

[JKP]

Yup. Islam sure is about peace after all! How could I ever have looked askance at such a beautiful religion?

[Lisa]

Their concept of individual rights is a threat to our beloved tyrants!

[creech]

To this day, Adolph - which was once a very common name in Germany - is rarely given to a newborn.

[PWA]

JKP,
What has this to do with Islam? Sunni Muslims were Iraq's elite under Saddam Hussein, this is the only reason why they're mentioned. This is a story about dictatorship nostalgia, not about religion. The Baathist regime was secularist, not islamist.

[thoreau]

I really, really, really hope that this turns out to be a joke or inaccurate report or urban legend or something.

The alternative is just too depressing.

[Marcus Licinius Crassus]

"George Bush can hang one Saddam Hussein," another villager declared, "but we will create an army of Saddam Husseins."

Is the Appian Way in use at the moment?

[Number 6]

Dr. T- I believe it. The fact is that even the most monstrous tyrants are loved by large segments of the population.

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

The fact is that even the most monstrous tyrants are loved by large segments of the population.

Take FDR, for example.

[Marcus Wellby]

Welcome to Knuckleheadistan!

[jb]

Especially since these people were never ruled by him. It's easier to love a dictator who doesn't rule you--check out the Stalin revisionists.

[Abu Yosaf]

If this is a true, then I sincerely advice against having so many Saddam's in their village in case one day one of them develops chemical weapons and uses it against the others. Also, they should start to check for mass graves in their area too.

[mike in ftw]

When the army of Saddam Husseins meets the army of George Foremans on the battlefield it will be a clear sign of apopolyptic times. So sayeth, Pat Robertson, Amen.

[thoreau]

OK, I read the article. Sounds like these people get only a trickle of information. I guess that a poor village with only a trickle of information will be a ripe breeding ground for all sorts of awful notions that a more open, informed, and prosperous society would make short work of.

Still depressing.

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

I guess that a poor village with only a trickle of information will be a ripe breeding ground for all sorts of awful notions that a more open, informed, and prosperous society would make short work of.

Like Mississippi?

[de stijl]

Besides, it's not really like everyone is going to call them Saddam Hussein. If you have a whole bunch of folks running around with the same name it is way too confusing. So people will start calling them by their nicknames or whatever. There'll be a Stinky, and a Rusty, and a Three-Toe, and a Lil Saddy, etc.

I'd hate to be the mailman in that town.

[kwais]

That is actaully pretty funny.
I forsee a lot of children killing their parents in that village.

[MacPimp]

I know Husayn/Hussein is a reasonably common name in the Muslim world, and was under the impression that Saddam was, if not common, frequent enough - sort of akin to a dictator being named 'Steve Miller' or somesuch.

[Bhh]

I wonder if they'll be able to date when a kid was born due to his then-fashionable name. Like Sunshine and Moonbeam or Tyler and Dakota.

[:-]

Anticipate a demand for strong rope in 35-40 years.

[76]

I remember this one site, ran by North Korea featuring westerners who believed the situation in NK was a lie propagated by the evil capitalist west to smear the communist paradise and that the reality of NK was what the joyful actors portrayed.

[Jesse Walker]

sort of akin to a dictator being named 'Steve Miller'

Paging the guy who wrote that Van Halen story: We've got another alternate history for you.

[JKP]

PWA:

Everything. Are there Buddhists naming their sons "Saddam"?

[de stijl]

JKP,

All the Buddhists are naming their kids George Foreman.

[tarran]

You know, this has been tried before.

What we need is to breed a race of intelligent jellyfish to counter this threat.

[JKP]

Dude! I'm totally becoming a Buddhist!

[Mohummad]

""George Bush can hang one Saddam Hussein," another villager declared, "but we will create an army of Saddam Husseins.""

How amazingly childish.

[Toker]

Evidence that hatred of America in the Muslim world has much less to with American foreign policy than with throngs of ill informed and uneducated people.

[Stevo Darkly]

Not really on-topic, but have you ever noticed that nobody is naming their kids "Keanu"?

[kwais]

""I know Husayn/Hussein is a reasonably common name in the Muslim world, and was under the impression that Saddam was, if not common, frequent enough""

This is purely anecdotal, but I know a bunch of Hussein's and only one Saddam, so I think that Hussein is common, but Saddam not so much.

Well that is a wild guess really.

[Yankee Boy]

"Like Mississippi?"

You can make fun of Mississippi all you want but compaired to Alabama, Mississippi is Massachusetts.

[mobile]

Maybe someday all the fifteen year-old Georgebush's in Kuwait will go to that village and kick all their asses.

[VM]

Stevo:

woah!

[Dr. Eric Vornoff]

Now, here in this forsaken jungle hell, I have proven that I am alright!

[A Boy Named Saddam]

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Saddam! I still hate that name!

[Aresen]

"Not really on-topic, but have you ever noticed that nobody is naming their kids "Keanu"?"

They may be ignorant, but they're not batshit insane.

[Eric the .5b]

What has this to do with Islam? Sunni Muslims were Iraq's elite under Saddam Hussein, this is the only reason why they're mentioned. This is a story about dictatorship nostalgia, not about religion.

Perhaps because this is not in Iraq, but in India?

[Akira MacKenzie]

I" love you Sparticus... I mean, Saddam."

[Stevo Darkly]

I know Husayn/Hussein is a reasonably common name in the Muslim world, and was under the impression that Saddam was, if not common, frequent enough - sort of akin to a dictator being named 'Steve Miller' or somesuch.

"In his first public speech since seizing power, President-for-Life Steve Miller said he would 'fly like an eagle, to the sea' -- apparently stating Miller's plans to add more coastline to his nation's territory, by blitzkrieg conquest if necessary. Miller then urged his people to 'feel the revolution' and offered them a utopian vision of a future in which his newly installed government would 'feed the babies who don't have enough to eat ... shoe the children with no shoes on their feet ... house the people living in the street.' As if anticipating would-be skeptics, Miller then added, insistently, 'Whoa, whoa, there's a solution.'"

[Pro Libertate]

Stevo Darkly,

What are you, some sort of joker? Or, perhaps a space cowboy?

[Stevo \"Maurice\" Darkly]

I speak of the pompitous of love, PL.

[smartass sob]

[ Pro Libertate | January 10, 2007, 7:08pm | #

Stevo Darkly,

What are you, some sort of joker? Or, perhaps a space cowboy? ]

Naw,..he's a midnight toker.

[Grand Chalupa]

"God willing one day our village will be full of Saddam Husseins."

Of all the things I hate about modern liberalism, this is just a typical example of why the belief that all cultures are equal, or even worthy of respect takes the cake.

[Wisco]

Aha, this is in Bihar, probably the most backward, poor, corrupt, and violent part of India. It's a very sad place.

Here's hoping it improves, and many of those little Saddams go on to start their own companies or something.