Iraq Sword of the Arabs

The Arabic word saddam means "one who confronts." From the start of the three-day Arab summit in Baghdad last week, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lived up to his name. Playing shrewdly on the frustration of Arabs exasperated by the bloody stalemate with Israel, Saddam set the aggressive tone in his opening address: "We should state clearly that if Israel commits aggression and attacks, we will strike back with great force. If Israel uses weapons of total destruction against our nation, we will use whatever weapons of total destruction we have against it."

The fiery rhetoric of a madman? Or the calculated...