If Saddam Hussein had a primetime interview on CBS in October 2002...

[Bacon King]

...would Congress have passed the resolution authorizing the use of military force against Iraq, even after Saddam made his case to the American public?
 
Assad's interview got me wondering about the parallels. Assume for the sake of argument that he could speak fluent English.

[Linus Van Pelt]

He was interviewed on CBS right before the invasion.

[King]

It's amazing how much of a colossal failure the Iraq War continues to be.  Caused massive debt, killed thousands of Americans, empowered Iran, empowered the Taliban with weakened Afghanistan focus, has destroyed American confidence in its military, destroyed UN and NATO confidence in American intelligence, wasted post-9/11 political unity, and as a result will likely result in the death and enslavement of millions of people worldwide at the hands of thugs on the noose of isolationism.

[Indy Texas]

Assume for the sake of argument that he could speak fluent English.

I think people underestimate how critical this can be in terms of how Americans perceive a given country or its leader.

Using an interpreter puts a layer of separation between the subject and the interviewer; it's one more layer between the subject and the public. In the YouTube clip, we're not hearing Saddam explaining himself in his own words; we're hearing someone else's disembodied voice speaking halting, stilted English. Nuances are lost. Gestures and facial expressions lose meaning due to time delay. It's probably an even more damning situation to be in when speaking Arabic, since so many of their words and phrases don't translate well into English or are based on Koranic allegories that would be totally lost on American listeners (in the same way all of the expressions English speakers get from Shakespeare or the King James Bible would make little sense when translated into other languages).

[barfbag]

It's amazing how much of a colossal failure the Iraq War continues to be.  Caused massive debt, killed thousands of Americans, empowered Iran, empowered the Taliban with weakened Afghanistan focus, has destroyed American confidence in its military, destroyed UN and NATO confidence in American intelligence, wasted post-9/11 political unity, and as a result will likely result in the death and enslavement of millions of people worldwide at the hands of thugs on the noose of isolationism.

and liberated 50,000,000 people!