Last Days of Saddam: I spoke yesterday to a well-known Arab nationalist figure who knew Saddam from 1968, before he left the Ba`th party, and Saddam tried repeatedly to have him killed with...RPGs. He met with Saddam one month prior to the recent US war in and on Iraq (I made it clear to him that I was (and am) fiercely opposed to any meetings with Saddam). He tried to appeal to him to make the necessary changes, and offer some concessions to avert the US war. Saddam looked at him and said: "You know me better. My physiological makeup (bunyani As-saykuluji) prevents me from making concessions under pressures." The person then told him, I spent half of my life being fearful of you, and now I will spend the rest being fearful for you. Saddam then said: "Yes, so many good comrades were lost over the years." I said: what did he mean by "lost"? He killed them. The person said that Saddam was conceding that at that point.