But the experts said at a Washington meeting organised by the American Enterprise Institute that any trial of Saddam could simply get bogged down over the lack of evidence.

March/April 1993
ABC News Nightline opened last June 9 with words to make the heart stop. "It is becoming increasingly clear," said a grave Ted Koppel, "that George Bush41, operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into the aggressive power that the United States ultimately had to destroy."
Is this accurate? Just about every reporter following the story thinks so. Most say that the so-called Iraqgate scandal is far more significant then either Watergate or Iran-contra, both in its scope and its consequences. And all believe that, with investigations continuing, it is bound to get bigger.



December 2, 2003. LaHood: Hussein's capture imminent
U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood held his thumb and forefinger slightly apart and said, "We're this close" to catching Saddam Hussein.
A member of The Pantagraph editorial board -- not really expecting an answer -- asked LaHood for more details, saying, "Do you know something we don't?"
"Yes I do," replied LaHood.


Vice-President Dick Cheney, who was then secretary of defence, outlined some of them in a BBC interview in 1992, when he said: "If we'd gone to Baghdad and got rid of Saddam Hussein - assuming we could have found him - we'd have had to put a lot of forces in and run him to ground some place. He would not have been easy to capture.
"Then you've got to put a new government in his place, and then you're faced with the question of what kind of government are you going to establish in Iraq? Is it going to be a Kurdish government, or a Shiah government or a Sunni government?"
Cheney continued: "How many forces are you going to have to leave there to keep it propped up; how many casualties are you going to take through the course of this operation?"

Donald Rumsfeld mused yesterday that fear of dying might prompt Hussein to talk.


BP faces fresh embarrassment over its new Russian merger partner, TNK, following the release of CIA documents alleging bribery by former TNK president Simon Kukes. The disclosure is also a blow for Russia's largest oil company, Yukos, at which Mr Kukes was recently installed as chief executive following the imprisonment of his predecessor, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Police have refused to characterize the shootings as the work of a sniper -- a word that summons chilling comparisons to the string of shootings from a vehicle around Washington last year that took 10 lives.

The ambush-style attacks follow a series of fatal sniper shootings in the Washington area last year that terrorized residents around the U.S. capital.

FNC: 'schools have closed in ohio where *several shootings* have occured recently, killing one woman."


"...Iraq, at the very least, is a nation of a thousand Jack Rubys."
"Will BushFeld let an Iraqi Jack Ruby "slip through" to keep Saddam from exposing Bush's WMD lies?..."

President Bush is already stumbling over his words and showing the signs of advanced aspartame poisoning.
The world is suffering from Aspartame Disease thanks to President Bush's friend, Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld, who called in his markers to get it approved when the FDA had refused for 16 years to not only allow approval but attempted to have the manufacturer indicted.
Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle when he called in his markers to get it approved. He was on President Reagan's transition team, and Reagan the day after taking office appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes as FDA Commissioner since no Commissioner in 16 years would approve the poison. A board of inquiry of the best scientists the FDA had to offer was set up and it was their decision that the petition for approval of aspartame be revoked. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes over-ruled that Board of Inquiry and then went to work for the PR Agency of the manufacturer and has refused to talk to the press ever since.

mred - this from a non-murdoch 'paper' - but tabloid nunthaless
Sep 21 2003
DESPERATE SADDAM OFFERS AMERICANS DEAL
SADDAM Hussein has been in secret negotiations with US forces in Iraq for the past nine days, we can reveal.
The Iraqi dictator is demanding safe passage to the former Soviet republic of Belarus. In exchange, he has vowed to provide information on weapons of mass destruction and disclose bank accounts where he siphoned off tens of millions of dollars in plundered cash.
Saddam's English-speaking representative walked into the US HQ at Tikrit - the dictator's home town - on September 12 and asked to talk to senior officers.
"The discussions are now going on under the direct authority of General Sanchez. Naturally all the major decisions are being made at the level of the National Security Council, under Condoleezza Rice."
"He has apparently run out of black hair-dye and will almost certainly have white hair."
mred - this is all quite curious if true

AN American soldier shot and killed a tiger in Baghdad's zoo after it attacked a colleague who had put his arms through the bars to feed it. "They turned up after the zoo was closed and were both drunk", an Iraqi keeper said.

DEBKAfile speculates on intelligence issues from a pro-Israeli viewpoint. Noting the "incredibly bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and pampered ruler," DEBKAfile concludes: "Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner.

Seven-hour "conclusive" DNA tests? Dyed hair while living in a hole? War tribunals for Saddam set up 3 days before Saddam's capture? So where are those alleged hoardes of "Saddam loyalists?
When the ‘Saddam Capture’ story broke, a survey of several mainstream news outlets makes it clear: The corporate media in the US and UK, were conveniently supplied with a package similar to a press kit that included video footage, still shots, press releases worded in such a way they could be cut and pasted, ready to go, in the “news sections” or read on air. Statements from selected officials were provided (Jay Bremer, Condi Rice, etc.), along with timelines of Saddam’s rise and fall, maps, etc.

But here are a few questions that I would like to see asked – not just asked but PROBED, the way real journalists are supposed to probe unexplained “mysteries” that have a significant bearing on the credibility of the government.
1. How could confirmed results of a DNA test come back in just 7 hours, or even 24 for that matter, when an accurate test takes 3-5 days?
2. How Can Saddam, at 67, still Have BLACK HAIR, even after hiding out in a hole?
3. Why was a tribunal hastily set up on December 10, without the foreknowledge or consent of the Iraqi people, just in time for Saddam's 'capture on the 13th'?
4. How will We Know What Saddam Actually Says and What the Bush Fairytalers Make Up as they Go Along?


The man is traveling around for several months carring papers and 750k, I have not seen the condition of the papers, but the dollars after going from dirt hole to dirt hole looked like they just came out of the treasury. Had to have opened up the case many times.

mr ed - i actually made a post somewhere!
"nice work cheryl. other curious items include:
1. FauxNews was breathlessly waiting for 'official confirmation' and it became official when Blair 'announced' the capture. it reminded me of the SOTU snafu re niger. and any talk of 'doubles' was quashed.
2. the very curious story about saddams wife in lebanon, pre-dating the capture by a few days, in murdochpress. 'saddam calls frequently, and he writes me if its a secret.' and they "printed photos of her and said it was the first time her face had been published." Why so chatty Mrs Hussein? ive heard that mr hussein wasnt amenable to security risks. and why the effective 'offer' to have her mail intercepted to get those juicy saddam secrets of which he cant speak on the phone? and the lebanon/syria/paris connection is cute. http://asia.news.yahoo.com/031214/afp/031214030249top.html and later we hear that the cafe where the "undated" interview takes place *doesnt exist*. Were they trying to *prove* that he is alive?
3. wheres the parishilton/jessicalynch nitevision video?
4. 'Then one man on the property, apparently realizing the game was up, pointed. "Saddam is in there".' - if i was this guy, and i thought the game was up, id probably start thinking about the $25M and a witness protection program before pointing. my kids would probably thank me.
5. the tip was received at 11am. the troops 'waited till 6pm for darkness.' id have thought that darkness was unfriendly in any mass search with loads of soldiers and bradleys and helicopters. this was no sneak operation.
6. saddam was apparently moving 'every 3 hours' - why wait 7 hours for darkness?
7. we also have this " "The bedroom was cluttered with new clothes, including T-shirts and socks, some still in their wrappers, leading General Odierno to estimate that Mr. Hussein had been at the site perhaps only an hour or so."
2 questions. how does an unopened pair of socks lead a general to assume that the occupant had only been there for an hour??? secondly, the troops had barricaded the site for a few hours by the time of the capture - did saddam sneak in from outside in the last hour?
8.we also have a soldier noticing the "edge of a fabric-backed rubber mat peeking through soil edging the concrete floor". thats presumably difficult to do in the dark. the 'compound' was searched earlier - presumably during the day - and came up empty.
9. and this "soldiers peered down into the shaft with weapons and bright lights, with orders to kill Mr. Hussein if he put up a fight, held back when they saw he carried no body belt bomb or gun and appeared to be pleading for his life." the diagrams (http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/net/20031215/capt.aphideout.jpg) of the spidey-hidey *clearly* show that 'peering with weapons' at nighttime isnt gonna be too reassuring about whether there was a 'body belt bomb' or not. if i was a nervous soldier in the dark who'd just stumbled across a concealed hole when looking for saddam, id have probably called for backup - perhaps taken gwb literally for once and 'smoked him out' - there wouldnt be very much 'peering' i can promise you. i also question his apparent 'pleading for his life' - the 'schematic' shows that the soldiers can only see his toes - and the acoustics must have been terrible. i doubt the soldiers could have determined if anyone was doing any non-specific pleading - next time they should ensure at least kneeling room. it makes pleading much easier. and "ace in the hole" is pure, perfect rove. he is so good. i can only hope that he is also hubristic and smug.
10. and this priceless piece: "Pentagon officials said Mr. Hussein's identity had been confirmed by old bullet wounds and by other Iraqis who saw him." Against what benchmark are the old bullet wounds calibrated? apparently one of his doubles previously defected cos he couldnt stand all the surgery. did this include cosmetic bullet wounds? and in the same vein, im not sure that 'other iraqis who saw him' is a solid line of evidence. can we please put a stop to *everyone* saying 'well, it looks like him' - we dont even know what he looks like. thats exactly the point of having doubles. theres no baseline for comparison - not for pundits here, or for 'other iraqis'. forever we've heard on fauxnews et al that 'we cant be sure if this footage is of the real saddam' and now we get 'it really looks like him' - please stop it everyone!
11. another curious thing is that im not even sure that ive seen that there were any actual dna reports. we saw saddam being dentally examined (btw - a halloween trick if u wanna scare kids at nite is to put a torch in your mouth) - it looked almost as though it was sposed to *imply* that he was being 'swabbed'.
12. "Sources have indicated that Saddam may have instructed his closest bodyguards to rat him out and lead U.S. forces to his hiding place. When U.S. forces dug through the spider hole, they found Saddam face down, a man resigned to his fate, a gun in his lap, but he did not even reach for it. " I cant even bring myself to comment on the first part of the sentence - but the image of any man lying face down with a gun in his lap is really too much.

weaving webs of deceipt - shakespeare or not

references at http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_wotisitgood4_archive.html#107159694475908045"