In answer to why Saddam Hussein supported Islamic fundamentalism, Deroy Murdock, a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service, summed up the relationship by saying, "My enemy's enemy is my friend." Murdock was the featured speaker at a media fellow luncheon sponsored by the Hoover Institution on September 22.
In his talk, "Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror," he outlined the link between Hussein and terrorism that others have disputed. Hussein, Murdock said, provided funding, diplomatic assistance, safe haven, medical treatment, and training to terrorists. The information he provided to support his points can be found in the article, by the same name, on which the presentation was based at http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/murdocksaddamarticle.pdf.
Murdock explained that he is motivated to tell this story because others have not provided it to the public. He was especially critical of the White House communications department, which shies away from this information, he said, "due to risk aversion."
In addition to his column, "This Opinion Just In…," Murdock appears as a commentator on Nightline, Politically Incorrect, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Fox News Channel, C-Span, and others. Publications he has contributed to include Economic Strategy and National Security (Westview Press/Council on Foreign Relations, 2000) and Race Card: White Guilt, Black Resentment and the Assault on Truth and Justice (Forum, 1997). Murdock is a senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a cofounder and National Board member of Third Millennium, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and president of Loud & Clear, a marketing and media consultancy firm.
