If It Doesn't Work with Jessica Lynch, Try it With Saddam.

OpEdNews.Com

The Israeli news site, Debka file, often the first with inside Mideast news, reputed to have access to Mossad (Israeli version of CIA) info, says, in an article, that there are seven clues that suggest Saddam was already a prisoner when the US military took him. 

The clues, or anomalies, as DEBKA file describes them, include--

-Saddam couldn't escape from the hole without help. He was effectively trapped inside.

-Saddam's hair  hadn't seen a barber in weeks.

-his beard was untrimmed and un trimmed in weeks

-Saddam looked like a prisoner-- beaten, hungry, relieved to be captured

-he had three quarters of a million dollars in $100 dollar bills with him, to help prove it was him, since his captors expected to claim a vast amount more-- $25 million. it is highly likely that whoever captured Saddam held on to a lot more money than that. Surely Saddam was traveling with millions. 

-He had NO communications equipment with him

DEBKA file says "the negotiations were mediated by Jalal Talabani’s Kurdish PUK militia."

But, DEBKA speculates, the US military jumped the gun and "took advantage of the negotiations with Saddam’s abductors to move in close and capture him on their own account."

They give three reasons for the US military grabbing Saddam before his imprisoners handed him over:

"A. His capture had become a matter of national pride for the Americans. No kudos would have been attached to his handover by a local gang of bounty-seekers or criminals. The country  (Iraq) would have been swept anew with rumors that the big hero Saddam was again betrayed by the people he trusted, just as in the war."

This sure looks like the Jessica Lynch syndrome. Grab someone already nicely, neatly safe and packaged and make it look like the work of the military, when, in this case, it's the work of the $25 million reward, except the US grabbed Saddam while negotiations were still going on. I can't blame them for getting him as soon as they figured out where he was. DEBKA File's second reason makes good sense.

"B. It was vital to catch his kidnappers unawares so as to make sure Saddam was taken alive. They might well have killed him and demanded the prize for his body. But they made sure he had no means of taking his own life and may have kept him sedated."

Still, the capture of Saddam, like the Lynch "rescue" is based on omission of facts that drastically change the "story."  If DEBKA File's speculations are true, then it wasn't detective work that found Saddam. It wasn't a brilliant success by Bush. It was BUSINESS. Of course that's where Bush is quite expert, especially when he's using OPM-- other people's money.

The last explanation for the early grab, by DEBKA file is:

"C. During the weeks he is presumed to have been in captivity, guerrilla activity declined markedly – especially in the Sunni Triangle towns of Falluja, Ramadi and Balad - while surging outside this flashpoint region – in Mosul in the north and Najef, Nasseriya and Hilla in the south. It was important for the coalition to lay hands on him before the epicenter of the violence turned back towards Baghdad and the center of the Sunni Triangle."

This suggests that his handlers were able to control the guerilla activity. Now, we will see if they get the $25 million reward, or just run with the money they surely grabbed from Saddam, and use it to fund more guerrilla activity. The Israelis are bracing for major attacks as more international terrorists fill the void.

DEBKA file is a well known news site, known to all the major media. It will be interesting to see if any of them cover this angle of the Saddam Capture

Now that the Bush regime has Saddam, the question is, what do they do with him. He now becomes a tool for the Karl Rove propaganda machine. But this tool has some high risks. As a number of progressive pundits have already stated, Saddam was an employee of the US, engaged in nefarious business, with dealings with Donald Rumsfield, Bush senior and others. It will be too risky to the Bush cabal to allow Saddam to ever speak publicly and may be so risky that they decide he needs to die, by accident or illness. One thing is sure. We can believe the pronouncements from the Bush propaganda team regarding Saddam as much as we can believe them regarding WMDs and doing good for the environment.

One thing we should remember is that capturing Saddam, a really nasty, evil guy, is not the same as capturing Hitler. Saddam was the head of a weak country with a virtually worn out and eviscerated military. The grand conquest of Iraq was a propaganda effort. The US army had little bragging rights for beating a country that was already mostly beaten. So, capturing the head of this pathetic country is not at all comparable with capturing the head of a super-power like Germany was in world war two. Yes, it is good that the world no longer has a Saddam Hussein. But let's not overdo the comparisons. And don't forget, there are more people in the world who think George Bush is worse than Saddam Hussein. .

An afternote, added two days later. Now that the 911 hearings commission has anno0unced that 911 COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED we know why they timed Saddam's capture like they did.

Rob Kall rob@opednews.com is editor of OpEdNews.com This article is copyright Rob Kall and originally published by opednews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog or web media so long as this credit paragraph is attached.