MUST-SEE SADDAM.(journalist Dan Rather criticized for not pushing Saddam Hussein during interview that flattered Hussein)

Saddam Hussein looks good in a suit, doesn't he? What was that green notebook on the table for? He holds a pen in his right hand--guess that means he's right-handed. The pen: isn't that a Uni-Ball Vision, the one where you can see how much ink is left in the barrel? Do they have a Staples in Baghdad? These thoughts were about all that was inspired by the actual content of Dan Rather's "60 Minutes II"interview with the President of Iraq; the missing content of Operation Desert Kiss-Up was much more interesting. Rather, who worked for more than a year to arrange the interview, was congratulated by some journalists for the "get”: he was the first American to interview Saddam in more than ten years. CBS made the most of its ostensible triumph by parcelling out tidbits of the interview over four days, like a striptease artist showing a little skin, and then the network took it all off Wednesday night on "60 Minutes II."The program drew seventeen million viewers--an impressive figure, though it is about ten million less than the number of people who watched the season premiere of "American Idol,"in January.

Saddam came across in the interview as thoughtful, confident yet not cocky, and open to whatever Rather might throw at him. He was the picture of reasonableness, offering to debate President Bush on TV: "He will explain why he wants to go to war; I will explain why we are insistent on peace and we want to maintain peace."The debate, he went on, would be "without tricks, without editing, without prepared speeches."You almost believed him, even though, as Rather pointed out, CBS was prohibited from using its own cameras or recording equipment or translators, and had to wait for an edited version of the interview to be delivered, several hours later. Making expansive hand gestures that flattered viewers with an implied inclusiveness, a sense of give-and-take, Saddam paid the American character a high compliment: "On films, we see that the Americans are courageous. When challenged to a duel, they will not back down."(The films that illustrate the trait that Saddam finds so admirable are presumably not produced by the branches of the media that Saddam says are "controlled by Zionism.”)

On Paula Zahn's CNN morning show on Friday, Rather, asked if there was one question he wished he'd asked Saddam during the interview, said that there were a hundred questions he wished he'd asked. Good answer; it expresses humility and ...