MORE ON SADDAM AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR: A letter by Mr. Hazhir Teimourian to the Editor in yesterday's Times of London (unfortunately requires registration - and dinero - outside the U.K.) comments that

He [Saddam] told his first biographer:

I want every Iraqi to think of Nebuchadnezzar every day . . . we could go to Israel once more and bring all the Jews back here in Babylon with their hands tied beyond their backs.

Anyone know who this "first biographer" might be or which biography?

By the way, I can't get the link to the letter to work and have lost patience with trying, but if you're getting a search page, enter "Hazhir Teimourian" and it should get you the text of the letter. (Sorry, I seem to have accidentally overwrittten this post with the Masada story below, so I'm reposting it. This blogging thing can have a steep learning curve.)