Stalin to Saddam: So Much for the Madman Theory

By ERICA GOODE, May 4, 2003

By his word he could kill them, have them tortured, have them rescued again, have them rewarded. Life and death depended on his whim."

The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm used these words to describe the "refined sadism" of Josef Stalin, who took delight in playing with the minds of his victims before he ordered the destruction of their bodies.

But the revelations of recent weeks suggest that they might as easily be applied to another former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
posted by Matthew Norman, M.D. at 9:36:12 PM