Book excerpt: Describes what he calls "the most ruthless regime in the world," that of Saddam Hussein & his Ba'th Party in Iraq. Shows the importance of the obsessive fabrication of "enemies," & the tortuous logic that compels Hussein to maintain a state of perpetual alert against the enemies of Arabism both inside & outside the country. Explains how such a state could be created in the late 20th century. Chapters: a chronology from 1918; the Ba'thist polity: institutions of violence; a world of fear; Ba'thism & the masses, & authority; the legitimation of Ba'thism: Pan-Arabism & Iraq, formation of the Ba'th, & the legitimation of Iraqi Ba'thism. Purges of high-ranking, 1968-1989.