Putting aside the ins and outs of Iraqi tribal politics, at least one reason for this maneuver isn't tough to guess. It was to obscure what everyone knew: that the Repubic of Iraq under the Ba'ath Party and Saddam Hussein was virtually no less a family proprietorship than, say, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - both named directly for their ruling clans - or for the various minor emirates of the Persian Gulf, all of them family enterprises as well. (To this list, one might also add the other Ba'athist state, the Assad clan's Syrian Arab Republic.)

Indeed, one of the more striking features of the deck are the features, literally, of many of the men it depicts. Many have a family resemblance. Compare Saddam himself to his late and unlamented cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid. Or to half-brother Watban. Or to a host of lesser-known Tikriti cousins. Or to his sons, of course. Saddam's visage wasn't just posted or painted on walls all over Iraq, larger than life - it was stamped on the power structure of the regime itself.