Politics & Power Quote by Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

A line like this isn’t meant to persuade; it’s meant to contaminate. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, better known as Saddam-era Iraq’s defiant spokesman, turns the United Nations from a flawed diplomatic forum into a body for hire, literally positioned “under the feet of Americans.” The image does two jobs at once: it sexualizes institutional weakness (prostitution as selling oneself) and physically humiliates the UN (beneath a boot). That stacked metaphor is propaganda’s specialty - not argument, but status warfare.

The specific intent is to delegitimize any UN action that aligns with US pressure by framing it as purchased obedience rather than collective judgment. It’s also a preemptive defense: if the UN condemns or authorizes force against Iraq, al-Sahaf supplies his audience with an instant explanation that requires no engagement with evidence or international law. The “Americans” aren’t just a country here; they’re the engine of coercion, money, and spectacle. The UN becomes an accessory.

The subtext is domestic as much as international. Calling the UN a prostitute flatters a besieged regime’s self-image: we are the ones who can’t be bought, the ones standing upright while others kneel. In the early 2000s, as Iraq faced inspections and looming invasion, that posture mattered. Al-Sahaf’s language is crude by design, the rhetorical equivalent of slamming a fist on the table - forcing moral disgust to stand in for geopolitical leverage.