WHY NOT TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN?

Attempting to explain why Saddam was in a hole when he had the money to buy himself anonymity on some beach on the Black Sea.

But megalomania is not a head cold.

This is why discussions with these guys, or even what we sometimes like to think of as negotiations, are always weird. We're inclined to think they are basically rational people with a few unpleasant habits (a friend has just passed along James Thurber's line: "We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked") who have gone astray, and we're always surprised that a reasoned argument, much less carpet bombing and the approach of an invasion fleet, doesn't prompt them to recognize the errors of their ways.

If not forget that, we should at least rethink it. The news has been filled with reports of Saddam's interviews and interrogations since his capture that state, with maidenly astonishment, that he shows no remorse. Why would he? Remorse for what? He's right. He always has been. We're the ones who are wrong. The only thing that surprises him is that we can't see this.

They are believers. They have somehow come to have blind faith in themselves, and besides, if you're the one who decides what reasonable is then you are always reasonable. This isn't a bad definition of psychotic. I don't buy the presence of "evil" in the world, but there's no shortage of psychosis, and I have no idea what we can do about it.

Clearly nobody goes into that kind of work for the money.