Sayid: what role does the Iraqi play?

Been thinking about this one for a couple days in the back of my mind. Not sure Sayid CAN be pinned down, which instantly helps me recognize him as 'The Shapeshifter' archetype. For that matter, Ben Linus exudes many of these shapeshifting traits, but ultimately there is an honesty and truth to Sayid, that seems lacking in Ben.

One minute we see Sayid as torchurer, killer, spiritual man, as Adam pointed out. The diversity of Sayid as a character serves to illustrate the embodiment of the light and dark within everyman. Therefore, Sayid IS Everyman, only more in touch with his shadow than the average person. With an internal awareness of his darker parts, Sayid ironically has a pretty keen sense of conscience and humanity.

Sayid serves as a shapeshifting archetype to help the viewer see the world and their own humanity through a less polarized lens of right and wrong, good and bad. Shades of grey, my friends! Sayid, the Grey!

I am a very devoted fan of LOST and I'd like to add to the thoughts about the role of the Iraqi Sayid. First of all, like almost every LOST character, he's hot, which keeps the huge fan base of female viewers, such as myself, tuned in. So on a commercial scale, Sayid represents (along with every other cast member and the captivating script) a guaranteed audience. In the political arena Sayid represents an ethnicity some of our country has been brainwashed to hate, so it's good for business as the show can be said to be PC in its casting and as Hollywood's offer of an olive branch to Iraqis and Middle Easterners, because look here, we have one of you generously represented in this very popular US television show. How many other Iraqis/Middle Easterners do you ever see as main characters? (Even though in actuality the actor who plays Sayid is a British-East Indian.)

Sayid's character falls under multiple archetypes, such as the Outcast, the Lover, the Hero, and the Devil (assassin). He's the perfect soldier except that he betrayed his country in order to save his beloved. Sayid also represents a pawn as he was used by his government to interrogate prisoners without mercy. This mercilessness serves him again and again as he repeatedly faces life's cruel injustices and uses his skillfully concealed rage to kill without even blinking. He's a rather adaptable person and his multi-dimensional personality varies much more than any other survivor of Oceanic flight 815. It's possible his role, like those of his cast-mates, is meant to entice and add variety, but specifically Sayid can be seen as the quintessential enigma -- the Universal Human -- who defies definition and is a little bit of each of us.