Coming back to this after stumbling on a Youtube interview with the CIA analyst who interrogated Saddam after he fell into the hands of Iraq's "Liberators". i was surprised at how frank and insightful he seemed to be. The piece on Youtube has sent me on the search for more information and ideas.

John Nixon (penguin.co.uk)

I spent some years in that sensitive are of KSA just south of Iraq. (Hafr al Batin - now a large military base). Most of my students were pro-Saddam.