JOURNALIST DISCOUNTS IRAQ FORCE; CONTENDS SADDAM MISJUDGES U.S.

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Saddam Hussein does not understand Western culture, and if his country goes to war with the United States, Iraq will lose.

That's the message veteran news reporter and foreign correspondent John Morley told about 200 members of the Cape Girardeau Executives Club Tuesday night in an address he called "Eyewitness: What's Ahead in the Headlines."

Morley said he met Saddam about 15 years ago as a Middle East correspondent. Though Saddam was not yet known as a leader in Iraq, he was already a "bad operator," Morley said.

"Immoral, improper, you name it," he said on Iraq's current president.

He said Saddam does not understand the strength of the United States.

"He has no perception of the strength of this country, militarily or financially," said Morley. Saddam only accounts for the troops already in the region when considering what he's up against, he said.

Morley stated he would not attempt to predict the future, but he made reference to President Bush's threat of military force against Iraq if Saddam does not leave Kuwait by Jan. 15. He called the threat a "deal."

"We all pray that we can make this deal without killing," Morley said. "But I've covered too many wars and I'll cover this one."

Morley said Saddam has "no chance" of winning a war with the United States because he is hated in his own country. "If someone crosses him, he has them assassinated. That's the kind of man we're dealing with.

"(Saddam) cannot go to war," Morley said. "He will lose or be murdered."

Morley said he personally backs Bush in his decision to threaten military action against Iraq.

"Our president has decided on a course of action and the United Nations has backed him.

"(Bush) knows every detail of what goes on in the Gulf," he said, "and chances are, Congress will give him the power to go to war."

But, Morley said, "It pains me that we have not found a way to solve world differences without killing."

Morley frequently lectures on the subject of world affairs. Born in Paris to an American father and French mother, he graduated from the University of Chicago, Blackstone College of Law, and studied at Oxford University.

He was a military correspondent during the Korean and Vietnam wars and said he has been on the press staff at the White House since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Morley also spoke of the way of life in the Soviet Union, a country where he said he has spent a considerable amount of time and where he has friends.

He said that to know what life is like in Russia, you must live there and learn to speak the language.

"When you hear that (Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbechev said this or that, it doesn't mean that the Russian people can do what he says," Morley noted. "It's a different world."

There is no freedom to travel there, and the Soviet people must wait in long lines to purchase goods, he said.

"Thirty thousand people line up every day to buy a McDonald's hamburger, and then they pay $6 a hamburger," he said.

Morley talked of religious life in the Soviet Union, and said Gorbachev is not a popular leader because he is an atheist.

He said contrary to popular belief, the number of Soviets who are deeply religious is on the rise.

"Gorbachev will be lucky to live out the next six years of his term," he said.

Morley praised the way of life in the United States and said: "If you can't be happy anywhere in this great country give it up you can't be happy anywhere."

Morley is currently writing a book about his experiences as a journalist.