A Blast From the Past: Pic of Saddam With a Gun to His Wife’s Head

There’s an old Arabic saying I’ve heard at least a million times that I’ve just got to use here because pretty much anything you say in classical Arabic (fos’ha) sounds deep: “some love kills.”

The picture above, which has been making the rounds on social media over the last few days, shows former Iraq president and dictator extraordinaire Saddam Hussein teasing his wife, Sajida Talfah.

Shy as she might seem, Talfah tries to move her husband’s hand away from her head while smiling. The happy dictator looks all too-thrilled at the photo opp.

Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed this new trend in Arabic songs where the singer expresses sado-masochistic affection for their lover? Take Ramy Ayache’s new song “Ma Baddi Shi,” for example. At around 1:51 in the video, he sings, “please be hard on me, the taste of pain is so sweet, give me more pain… and if you want to amuse yourself, injure me and walk on my injuries.”