Triana (1000+ posts) Mon Dec-15-03 03:22 PM
Original message
Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a Captive
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743DEBKAfile Special Report
December 14, 2003, 6:55 PM (GMT+02:00)
A number of questions are raised by the incredibly bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and pampered ruler who was discovered in a hole in the ground on Saturday, December 13:
1. The length and state of his hair indicated he had not seen a barber or even had a shampoo for several weeks.
2. The wild state of his beard indicated he had not shaved for the same period
3. The hole dug in the floor of a cellar in a farm compound near Tikrit was primitive indeed – 6ft across and 8ft across with minimal sanitary arrangements - a far cry from his opulent palaces.
4. Saddam looked beaten and hungry.
5. Detained trying to escape were two unidentified men. Left with him were two AK-47 assault guns and a pistol, none of which were used.
6. The hole had only one opening. It was not only camouflaged with mud and bricks – it was blocked. He could not have climbed out without someone on the outside removing the covering.
7. And most important, $750,000 in 100-dollar notes were found with him (a pittance for his captors who expected a $25m reward)– but no communications equipment of any kind, whether cell phone or even a carrier pigeon for contacting the outside world.
According to DEBKAfile analysts, these seven anomalies point to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner.
(snip of their analysis)
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=743Tuesday, December 2, 2003
LaHood: Hussein's capture imminent
Pantagraph Staff
BLOOMINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood held his thumb and forefinger slightly apart and said,
"We're this close" to catching Saddam Hussein.Once that's accomplished, Iraqi resistance will fall apart, said the five-term Republican congressman from Peoria who serves on the House Intelligence Committee.
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.
(snip)
http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/120203/new_20031202014.shtml (link no longer active but referenced in this Dec-15-03 DU thread:
Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a Captive)
[br />====
Saddam's Sister Says U.S. Forces Drugged HimPurveyor (157 posts) Mon Dec-15-03 04:05 PM
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's sister said on Monday her brother would never have surrendered meekly and that U.S. forces must have used drugs or gas to paralyze him.
"Saddam Hussein, hero of Arabs, would never surrender like this. He must have been subjected to drugs or nerve gas to paralyze him, for he is not one to surrender in this humiliating manner," Nawal Ibrahim al-Hasan told London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi by telephone from an unidentified Arab capital.
<snip>
"Is it possible for a president to be humiliated like this and for the Americans to comb through his hair for nits?" al-Hasan said in the interview, to be published in the Arabic-language daily's Tuesday edition.
"This is not the Saddam Hussein we know. He must have been drugged or injected with illegal chemicals. What happened is an insult to all Arabs and Muslims," the paper quoted her as saying as she wept.
(snip)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3996209 (link no longer active but referenced in thread)
More comments here...
Saddam's hero-like image shattered in Arab eyes