Any serious new government would have to come from Iraq's professional and middle classes. Yet it is these people who have been the direct beneficiaries of the universities, bridges, roads and secular, modernized structure that Saddam has created. That makes them, paradoxically, the ones with most to lose if he departs. They are also the ones who have suffered most from U.S.-led international sanctions against the country, watching their fixed government salaries disappear and selling their artwork and appliances for a pittance to feed their families. The urban middle class has truly felt punished.
Many people point to the continuing international trade sanctions as the first problem.
He and Unicef officials say the lack of spare parts for the electric, sewer and water networks are contributing to the deaths of more than 6,000 infants a month there. While the West blames Saddam for those deaths, most Iraqis, while not pleased with their president, blame the West. But when they are attacked by the Americans, they rally around the flag, and he happens to be the flag. Even analysts who urge the United States to actively promote a coup against Saddam and consider the sanctions a useful form of pressure on the regime say getting to the dictator will be extremely difficult physically and politically. The only hope is to separate him from his power base, prove to his power base that life is more dangerous with him than without him.