Oh, I'm sure!

Saddam Hussein says that he's been beaten and tortured by his American captors.

Which, of course- given the credibility and moral standing of this paragon of virtue- any objective person will instantly believe.

No, Saddam has not been mistreated in prison. Despite aberrations like Abu Ghraib, we- unlike people like Saddam- do not, as a general rule, go in for such things. And despite an understandable first reaction of "Poor baby,!" our military structures are sufficiently transparent that if there were an ounce of truth to what this poor, picked on human monster said, it would be impossible ultimately to conceal it.

Saddam couldn't even conceal such things when he was in charge of one of the most vicious totalitarian regimes in modern history.

The trouble, of course, is that the much-discussed "Arab street," which conducts its politics in the realm of paranoid fantasy, probably believes every word Saddam says. Better, in their eyes, to be a mass murderer who killed and tortured myriads of Muslims than a non-Muslim country more powerful and prosperous than they are.