A few weeks ago I described the Baghdad Caliphate under the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) when a brilliant Islamic civilization was the astonishment and envy of Europe still in the dark ages. I suggested that Saddam Hussein might have the restoration of the glory of Baghdad in mind with himself as the Caliph of the whole Muslim world. John Burn's article reports that The Mother of All Battles Mosque on the outskirts of Baghdad has its outer four minarets in the form of Kalashkinov guns and the inner four minarets in the shape of Scud missiles. Inside the holy of holiest there is a copy of the Qur'an written in Saddam Hussein's blood. "A reflecting pool that encircles the mosque is shaped like the map of the Arab world." But The Mosque of Saddam Hussein now under construction will be five times as great. Its completion date is 2015. I wonder why Saddam Hussein would endanger that time-table by risking a war with George Bush?.
John Burn concludes that mosque building shows that "Saddam Hussein,
is the natural leader of an Arab world yearning for past glories under
the banner of Islam that fluttered atop the Arab armies that conquered
much of the ancient world after the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632."
Why build atom bombs when mosque building is far more powerful?