[ninty]

The thing is, you never know what to believe. The US could be telling me the absolute truth, or an absolute lie. I have no idea whatsoever and never will.

I didn't write this, but it sure makes you wonder:

We haven't heard too much about him lately...and I wonder what he's up to...

I remember seeing the footage of Saddam's court appearance and thinking: This is probably the last we'll see of this charlatan...

...because I find it extremely difficult to believe that they have Saddam at all...none of what transpired leading up to the alleged capture makes much sense to those that are willing to look past the smoke and mirrors...and I know that much of these inconsistencies have been discussed at length on this forum before...but I'd like to reiterate some key points that suggest that the US did not capture Saddam Hussein, in order to further my own discussion...

1. What happened to the dozens of body doubles that Saddam reputedly employed?

2. Would a multi-billionaire such as Hussein have stayed in country after seeing that the US military would sweep his Republican Guard aside in it's initial blitz towards Baghdad?

3. As arrogant as we all had come to know Saddam, could we possibly conceive that he would have hidden at all...let alone in a "spider hole"...armed with a pistol, and a couple of AK47s, but never firing a shot in his defense... with only $750, 000 US dollars...why would the money have been US currency I wonder...was he planning on taking a trip to Miami Beach, or was that all the CIA/Mossad could muster on such short notice...

4. Date palms...http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/dates.htm

5. The speed with which the DNA tests returned a positive result...12 hours, or fully 1/4 the time needed under optimal circumstances...

6. The fact that Saddam was never identified by fingerprint analysis, for which there were many copies of Saddam's thumbprint to be used for positive identification. http://joevialls.altermedia.info/whatshisname.html

http://joevialls.altermedia.info/iraq/vaudeville.html

...what evidence is there that Uday and Qusay were killed?

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq ... 21,00.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq ... ddam_x.htm

...I find the demise of Uday and Qusay a bit contrived as well...

Anyway...in July we saw some scant, severely censored footage of a defiant Iraqi despot, challenging the authority of his accusers, and then nothing...no news about Saddam and his defense strategy, no word on when his trial may proceed...Michael Jackson has received more media coverage by far than has one of the world's most despised dictatorial leaders...

...and the appearance of the Saddam-like defendant in court seemed more like a carnival attraction meant to shock and bewilder than an actual arraignment hearing by a judicial body...

...his appearance itself would appear to have been arranged to substantiate the support of the Iraqi people for their new interim government...

...his defiance in court would have been seen by the insurgency as a sign to keep up the good fight...

Which now leads me to offer my explanation of the bigger picture...

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/c ... 080702.asp
Just prior to the US led invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein and Syria's Bashir al-Assad were becoming quite chummy...a situation that seems quite at odds with the death warrant issued by Syria for Saddam in the 60's...

I think that Saddam, when it was obvious that he could not escape capture from the coalition forces, paid his new friend Assad an impromptu visit in Syria, taking the greater part of his wealth with him, some of which to offer as a gratuity for safe passage for himself and his family...

I think that the coalition forces caught up with one of Saddam's doubles early on in the campaign, and decided to hold onto him as a "trump" for the "Ace of Spades", waiting until the time was right...

...and when the time was right, having extremely bad press for the scandal at Abu Graib, and the American people growing ever more disenchanted with the reasons Bush gave for going to war, as well as the desire of the administration to quietly pass a bill that they knew would outrage the American people (Patriot II Act), they produced their "trump" to the world, and hoped that their cover story would fly...

...and capture of this "trump" would serve many purposes to the US and the Iraqi governing council and the interim government...first to embolden the general populace and ease the anti-US sentiment, thereby adding an element of security to the area to usher in the advent of the Iraqi Interim Govenment...second to demoralize the insurgent resistance fighters, which would also bolster the security situation...

...and shortly after the US handed over sovereignty, and Saddam Hussein to the Iraqi Interim Government, the trial held, where the apparent Saddam, in a great show of defiance to his accusers, rejected the authority of the court to try him...which led to the insurgency attacking the coalition forces with a renewed vigour...which showed the world that the situation in Iraq was still extremely unstable and that it would not be prudent to ask the coalition forces to leave at that time...ie.) the cash cow for Halliburton and the US administration was not yet ready for slaughter...

...I think that the Saddam-like defendent will not live to see his mock trial...I think he will die of natural causes in prison, and the world will say good riddance, and not think any more on it...

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/002423.html
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/002444.html

...as for the real Saddam? I believe he is a guest at Baath party headquarters in Damascus...living like a prince in exile and having a good chuckle at this ironic turn of events...

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/14iraq1.htm

...and I'm betting there's going to be an Osama bin Laden look-alike contest happening sometime soon...so wait for it...

http://www.canadiancontent.net/en/jd/go ... C8818788D4

Taken from this forum:
http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/v ... 8a10915984

[Drew]

While this does raise some interesting questions, a lot of these bits of trivia are circumstantial at best.

I maintain my stance that no citizen outside of the highest levels of government employment will ever have all the facts necessary to make proclamations of the sort this guy seem to be fond of making.

That aside, I'll just address a couple of issues real quick:

1) The DNA testing. This guy claims that - under optimal circumstances - it would take two days for the results of a DNA test to be quantified. This is ignorant for two reasons. First, you can isolate areas of the strand to identify and therefore do so more quickly. If you have sufficient information regarding the test subject's family, race and possible genetic defects, among other things, you may be able to isolate certain traits that would be give a tentative positive. Second, this author makes the assumption that the DNA testing used by crime labs and hospitals is just as efficient as the DNA testing used by the CIA and other intelligence appartuses. Given some of the innovations used by such agencies, that is quite a large assumption.

2) The whole theory that this is a body double, which is what about half of the author's post is centered upon. As I recall, there were several independant groups who - having the same theory - used the latest in face recognition software to confirm that the man in the video tapes of a physical is indeed Sadaam Hussein. Given the liberal tendencies of the media, it is not surprising that this little tidbit was never really mentioned. I remember hearing about it on a liberal radio show at work one day back when this was going on, and surprisingly I never heard anything about on Fox News, Hannity, etc. I'll see if I can find a link and post it later.

Anyway, most of the author's trivia is nothing more than conjecture and assumption. All of it could just as easily be true as it could be false. What bothers me the most is he cites all these different sites which do nothing more than reiterate his theories without providing any further shreds of proof to sway the intelligent reader.

[Mr.Buttocks]

Originally Posted by ninty9

3. As arrogant as we all had come to know Saddam, could we possibly conceive that he would have hidden at all...let alone in a "spider hole"...armed with a pistol, and a couple of AK47s, but never firing a shot in his defense...

[url=http://www.wokr13.tv/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=422B960A-26BA-4891-9E60-21C8818788D4:c30ca]Link[/url:c30ca]

Originally Posted by UPI

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.

Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said.

He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."

"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.

Abou Rabeh was interviewed in Lebanon.

[Drew]

This is still he said/she said stuff. Could just as easily be a soldier looking for some face time in the media or was paid to do it.

Even if it is true - mind you I don't care one way or the other - Sadaam was still captured, not a body double. And he was only captured one day prior, it's not like they caught him and held on to him.

Conspiracy theorists annoy: