Thirteen Ways of Looking at Saddam

Madeleine Albright, Jim McDermott, you are not alone. MEMRI translates a roundup of Saddam conspiracy theories by columnist Mushari Al-Dhayidi. Pass 'em along while they're hot!

Comments

[jat]

My own theory is there is NO FUCKING WAY Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli is real. That name is straight outta some Ian Fleming bender…….

[Jesse Walker]

You read my mind, Jeff…

[richard]

people reading minds??? where is my foil?

[Rick Barton]

So; what was the utility in making it seem like he was captured at this particular time?

Here is one that’s more likely; but if we say NO, loud enough perhaps we can stop it from coming to pass. From a report in the Israeli paper; Ha’aretz:

“Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could be offered a deal in which he would give his captors information on if and how he hid weapons of mass destruction and if he smuggled some of them into Syria. In exchange, he would face life imprisonment and not be executed for war crimes, senior Iraqis attending a conference here on the future of the region have hinted.”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=371903&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Raimomdo, at antiwar.com speculates:

“Implicate Syria, and we’ll spare your life. Will Saddam take the deal? The President is already proclaiming that Saddam deserves the death penalty. Throughout a good part of his career as a tin-pot despot, Saddam played cards dealt to him by the U.S. He has nothing to lose by playing one last hand.”

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html

[Tim Cavanaugh]

So; what was the utility in making it seem like he was captured at this particular time?

This, and the fact that Debkafile is pushing this story, are the most compelling reasons not to believe it. Is the Christmas season a particularly anti-Bush time of year or something? How is 11 months prior to the election, when the Democrats are still in full henpeck, an opportune time to catch Saddam?

My first reaction was “Imagine, a woman of Madeleine Albright’s experience in government talking such nonsense!” My second reaction was “Wait, if a woman of Madeleine Albright’s experience in government says something like this, how do I know it’s nonsense?” My third reaction, now that she’s claimed it was all a joke: “See reactions one and two.”

I still think it’s bullshit, though. If they’d had time to plan it, they’d have arranged for Bush to fly in and personally slap the cuffs on Saddam (an option I suspect they considered for five minutes even under the circumstances).

[not Weishaupt]

The capture of Saddam is a sham! He drove me to the airport yesterday.

[Gary McGath]

The article illustrates the use of “conspiracy” as a manipulative rather than substantive word. It’s uncontroversially true that there was a large conspiracy to capture Saddam Hussein; it wasn’t a lone hunter acting on his own. I’m not aware of any reason to believe, for instance, that he was drugged or gassed, but it wouldn’t have required any additional conspirators to do so.

What the various people cited are claiming is that the Bush administration lied in one way or another. These claims are rather dubious, even though George Dubious isn’t known for his honesty. But casting lies as “conspiracy theories” wins the debate through ridicule; politicians may lie, but only an extremist loony would think they “conspire” to lie.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

That the government had Saddam in custody for weeks or months, but got all the soldiers, sailors, spooks and jailers to breath together in a plot to keep it secret certainly qualifies as a conspiracy theory. But your larger point is well taken.

[suzi]

very informal…..

[Distler Barb]

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DATE: 05/21/2004 05:51:56
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