Why is Saddam Hussein often referred to as 'Saddam' in the news media?

[ripple]

Are there other world leaders (either deposed, in power, or in power by proxy) who are referred to in a similar fashion?

To my best of my knowlege, Castro isn't commonly referred to as Fidel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't referred to as Mahmoud (nor is Mahhmoud Abbas), Kim Jong il is referred to by his full name (as opposed to 'Kim'), Nouri al-Maliki isn't referred to as Noiri, Osama bin laden isn't simply 'Osama', Jacques Chirac isn't 'Jacques', Ehud Olmert isn't 'Ehud', Muqtada al-Sadr isn't 'Muqtada', Vladimir Putin isn't 'Vladimir'....and the list goes on.

If and when Bush is ever tried for his crimes against humanity, I can't imagine the media referring to him simply as 'George'.

Does anyone know what gives with this inconsistent (and seemingly unprofessional) behavior on the part of the media? Is there a logical explanation that I'm somehow missing? :shrug:


A CNN story in which Saddam and Hussein are practically interchangeable:

www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/29/hussein/index.html


MSNBC is all about Saddam:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16389128/


Even NPR and the AP are Saddam-ites:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5642694


Just for comparison purposes, here is a bin laden story from CNN- note, he isn’t referred to as Osama:

www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. It's a commonly used method to lower someone's status. To denigrate.

And the USA since WWI has been a leading expert on denigration propaganda.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. It may be in other cases, but in this case it isn't.

See my other posts in this thread.

[LynnTheDem]

24. N/M

:)

[slackmaster]

2. I think it goes back to the late King Hussein of Jordan

King Hussein was seen as a "good guy", so Saddam Hussein was called "Saddam" to prevent any confusion between the two.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. My vote is here

Many powerful Husseins in the Middle East, so Saddam is Saddam to keep the associations away.

Of course, the right-wing Wurlitzers is going to undo all of that for Barack.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Poppy started the thing with "Saddam", making it a point to

saying the name like "Sodom".

[Warpy]

5. Disrespect

Even if he's as bad as the propaganda makes him out to be (and that war against Iran and the CIA's insistence was pretty bad), he still deserves the basic respect we'd afford any world leader, including Hitler and Stalin.

I've always referred to him as "Hussein."

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. No, that's wrong.

"Saddam" is the name he encourages people to use; Hussein is *not* his family name, it's his father's given name. It's also the name he's mostly referred to by in Iraq and the Middle East. It's nothing to do with respect or lack thereof on the part of the Western media.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/saddam_hussein.html goes into it in detail, and wikipedia mentions it.

[Warpy]

20. I'm sure that may be part of it in other media

but the mass media in this country are not that educated and use it as a term of disrespect.

He's the big bogeyman, after all.

People at the time called Hitler and Stalin "Adolph" and "Joe," but the media didn't.

[MemphisTiger]

6. Why do we call our president W or Bush and not President Bush?

It's just a matter of name recognition and you get what is going on in the story.

[ripple]

8. The media doesn't refer to him that way

with the exception of 'Bush', after they've already identified him as 'President Bush' early in the article or story.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

7. It's nothing to do with disrespect; that's a common misapprehension.

There's a discussion of it at http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/saddam_hussein.html

Basically, Hussein is his father's first name, not his family surname. As far as I can tell, "Hussein" would be a bit like calling Samuel Johnson "John", although it's less clearcut than that.

But it's nothing to do with respect or lack thereof.

[PDittie]

11. This is the factual answer. eom

[ripple]

14. Interesting. Thanks for posting that! n/t

[Beelzebud]

9. Because he's an old friend.

[jarab]

12. Spelling difficulty. "i" before "e" except after "c". (eom)

...O...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti is his full name.

Saddam is his "given" name. Hussein ("little beauty") his family name. "Abd" means "servent of". Words followed by "al" are descriptive.

So, his name translates approximately as "Saddam, the little beauty, servant of the Glorious, who is from Tikrit."

As best as I can glean from google, the proper usage would be "Saddam Hussein".

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. No, that's wrong.

"Hussein al-Majid" is his father's given name, *not* his family name.

"al-Tikriti" is the closest thing he has to a family name - it means "of the Tikriti tribe" - but he's banned the use of all such tribal names in Iraq.

There's a long discussion about this at http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/saddam_hussein.html

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. Thanks. Not an easy thing to disentangle.

I would think that the patronymic would be the "family" name. Somewhat like "Johan-son" or "Orms-dotter" in Scandinavian languages or O'Hara or MacDuff in Gaelic languages.

[Moochy]

16. Same reason Goldstein was only referred to as Goldstein

He's like Cher, Satan and Madonna. We are on a first name basis with our boogeyman.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

17. What should he be called? Mr. Hussein? Former Dictator Hussein?

Condemned prisoner Hussein?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

19. If you're not using "Saddam", "Mr Hussein" is probably the next best choice.

But "Saddam" is what everyone in Iraq refers to him as, including himself, and "Hussein" is his father's given name, not his family name.

[UTUSN]

21. Easy!!1 Because he's the MALE "HILLARY"!!!1 n/t

[WI_DEM]

22. Even Hitler is referred to as "Hitler" not "Adolf"

[KittyWampus]

25. This thread is the perfect illustration of DU'ers pulling crap out of their ass & ignoring facts

because the facts don't fit as nicely into their bias.

Several DU'ers point out that Saddam is what HE wanted used, what is used in Iraq and how his father's family name wasn't preferred by †he man himself.

Yet many other DU'ers insist on repeating the info this is all about disrepect.

[blogslut]

26. Poppy started it

Used to call him Saddam (stress the dam) all the time.

[NYCGirl]

27. Actually not — here's the entire factual story (as posted first above):

http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/saddam_hussein.html