Iraqis Are Looking for a Strong Leader

BAGHDAD —  The visible signs of Saddam Hussein are largely gone, other than the odd mural with his face painted over or hacked off.

A less perceptible imprint of Iraq’s former president, however, will be much more difficult to erase: his psychological legacy.

“We need a strongman -- that’s what all Iraqis believe,” said Hamid Shakar, a 35-year-old lieutenant with the Iraqi police. “Everyone’s going in different directions, and it just weakens the country.”

It’s a comment heard daily on street corners, at crowded mosques and in cafes that serve small glasses of sugared tea -- the need for the big man who can crack heads, hold the nation together and engender respect outside Iraq’s borders.

Hussein’s brutality and his divide-and-conquer tactics left deep scars. But millions of average Iraqis who didn’t directly threaten his regime had a tolerable life. To many of them, he was a force for Iraqi and Arab nationalism and a leader who commanded order. At least life was predictable and relatively secure.

America’s much-touted freedoms, in contrast, have translated for many into little more than sectarian violence, foreign meddling and mayhem.

“Iraqis grew up with that power and are used to being treated that way,” said Muthana Fahawi, a carpet importer and merchant. “So we’re not going to take to democracy easily. In Saddam’s time, you could take your car out till 10 or 11 at night. Now I can’t even drive it out of my garage.”

Iraqi nerves are also raw after decades of divisive rule. For the last quarter-century, Hussein pitted Sunni Muslims against Shiites, the south against the north, the Kurds against the Arabs and his inner circle against everyone else.

One result is that people are suspicious of any form of leadership, some analysts say -- cognizant of where they’ve been but paralyzed about where they should go.

“The powerful guy was very tough with us and imposed his ideas on us by force,” said Laith Ali, a 52-year-old artist and journalist. “Now people are looking for something to replace him. But they’re not sure what it should be. They’re hesitant to commit to any new leader.”

Cultural factors may play a role as Iraqis mull over filling Hussein’s huge shoes. For centuries, Iraqis -- indeed, much of the male-dominated Arab world -- have respected or endured larger-than-life authoritarian figures. A common mantra is that tough geography and tough neighbors require equally tough leaders.

“It’s not just in the government,” said Insan Hassan, a sociologist and psychologist at the University of Baghdad. “It’s even in our universities, companies and local communities. If they’re lenient, soft, they’re of no use to us.”

Among the prominent figures in Iraqi history are Hajjaj bin Yousef, who ruled with an iron fist 1,300 years ago, and Harun al Rashid, the 9th century caliph credited with building Baghdad into the richest city in the world. The blueprint persisted through centuries of brutal rule during the Ottoman Empire to the ascent of the Baath Party in 1968.

In the eyes of many Iraqis, the Americans haven’t exactly set a good example -- they can’t seem to keep order.

They can’t get the lights working. They don’t let people know what they’re doing. They remain hidden under intimidating body armor.

Furthermore, the language of the American administrators -- with its emphasis on give-and-take, democratic ideals and balance of power -- may sound great on paper, many say, but doesn’t ring true when people can’t find work and aren’t even sure of their survival.

“The problem now is that Iraqis are very short-term in their focus,” said Esam Aqid, owner of World of Furniture Co. in Baghdad. “There’s no willingness to sacrifice today for something tomorrow, especially when the future remains so unclear.”

Intellectuals complain that voices of moderation and tolerance are drowned out in extreme times. In some ways, Iraq would have been more receptive to democracy 25 years ago, before Hussein took power, said Humam Shamaa, an economist. Since then, he said, Islamic fundamentalism has emerged as a counterforce to democracy, not just in Iraq but throughout the region.

Many Iraqis say their ideal leader is an enlightened authoritarian, a strongman with the people’s interests at heart. “We need someone strong but also benevolent at the same time,” said Falah Hassan, a shopkeeper who sported a machine gun as he did volunteer guard duty at a Baghdad shrine.

Hanging in the balance is whether it will ultimately prove easier for Iraq’s battered people to fall back on familiar patterns and be ruled by another strongman or embrace a representative approach rarely found in the nation’s history. Most agree that the road ahead won’t be smooth.