CIA Crimes and Boners - and Saddam

Check this out from a POAC forum thread.

And then, in light of what you know about the recent stunts the administration has pulled and been caught at, view the Saddam show, including interesting details, and see if you feel certain that you're being told the truth about the "capture".

I've been wondering who's who in this production. CIA likely involved in holding Saddam until the "right moment" - but who in the WH is in on that part of the story? Any of the Pentagon officials? The Army is likely an unwitting role player. I think those guys who went in to "capture" the dragon probably were unaware of the real story. Even their commanding officers, since they were so honest about reporting Saddam as being "very disoriented".

4th Infantry will not be happy to be used as chumps in a political production. Jessica got her pay for her role in a previous one, but can't every man in the 600 who "captured" Saddam make millions off this deal.

The Washington Post, playing its role today:

The capture of Saddam Hussein is being greeted with near universal satisfaction in the international online media. For some in the English-speaking world, it is a vindication of President Bush's foreign policy, sending a signal of American strength to dictators and terrorists.

And of course, any media who didn't sing the same tune is obviously delusional:

Parviz Esmaeili, editorialist for the more conservative Tehran Times take refuge in the comforting paranoid universe in which the news is seen as just another form of American trickery.

Count me in the paranoid universe then, but it doesn't feel exactly comforting here. Actually, that's not quite the way I'd put it. I'd say it's American self-delusion, which is not quite the same thing as trickery. (Although there are certainly components of trickery involved in American corporate media.)

Reuters obliges the plot as well:

For many Arabs Saddam Hussein's meek surrender to U.S. forces marked the total humiliation of a man who portrayed himself as a champion of Arab rights and the reincarnation of the 12th century Muslim warrior Saladin.

Repeated broadcasts of close-up footage of Saddam submitting to medical exams at the hands of U.S. soldiers were seen with disbelief, shame and disgust.

Of course many were revelling in his spectacular humiliation.

Of course that was intentional. Why he had to be "captured" from a "spider hole" like a rat, all disheveled and grubby, with a pistol that he didn't use. He had to be shown to be nothing but a cowering animal, not a hero at all. Maybe Arabs don't get to see enough movies or cheap TV plots to understand how these things were all set up to manipulate their emotions and beliefs.

Some of the latest comments from the BBC log:

London :: Brian Hanrahan :: 1450GMT

I think the sequence of pictures of Saddam being given a medical examination, were shown on television for a quite deliberate purpose. It was intended to show the local population that they had got him, he was in their power, and they could do anything with him they like.

In other words, this man whom you respect and revere not only surrendered without a shot, he's totally humiliated and powerless. He's finished.

I think you're right, Brian.

Our God is bigger than your God.

Washington D.C. :: Jon Leyne :: 1230GMT

We're getting news out of Iraq now saying that Saddam has been divulging information leading to the capture of key rebel leaders. So it's clear he has been cooperative. He's been talking, some of which has been messages of defiance.

Good boy. Deals are being made. Deals have been made.

Ad Dawr, Tikrit :: James Rogers :: 1035GMT

This is a pretty poor village, but with a lot of Saddam loyalists living in it.

The farmhouse where they found Saddam is set away from the rest of the village, it's in open country. If you wanted to avoid detection it's not a bad place to put yourself. But it seems that the rumours of his presence got out. Some people in Ad Dawr told me that there were stories going round as early as the middle of last week that Saddam had chosen the edge of the village for his hide out.

Uh-huh.

The Americans are being very tight lipped on how they got their tip off regarding Saddam's whereabouts. I think there has to be a suspicion that he was betrayed for them to get that kind of pinpoint information.

They'd better be tight-lipped about it. Getting that kind of "pinpoint information" doesn't have to mean Saddam was betrayed in the sense Mr. Rogers is talking here, and it could well be the reason for the secrecy. They'll eventually come out with a story, though.

Tikrit :: James Rodgers :: 0815GMT

People in the village say they had been hearing rumours for four or five days that Saddam Hussein was in the area. The United States forces of course, suspected that he moved around a lot - that he never stayed in any place for longer than a few hours for fear of being caught.

People in this area are clearly disappointed that Saddam Hussein was caught and disappointed and surprised by the nature of the way that he was finally captured. I was talking to a man this morning who was saying "Why didn't Saddam Hussein resist the Americans, why didn't he shoot at them?" You must imagine that these people who lived for decades under his iron rule, suddenly to see this bearded, bedraggled old man, completely humiliated at the hands of his enemies.

As I was saying.

....but hey, believe what you want....you will anyway.