Newest rumor - saddam is dead

“Their are reports that the guy who came on the Iraqi news this morning was a fake. Did we get Saddam last night?”

“really?? that would be soooo nice if we did!! almost too much to hope for...”

“It would be cool, but I doubt it has happened... yet.”

“not likely.
just more rumors”

“Hey, it may be a rumor, but it feels better to hope that he is dead than it does to hope that we level bagdad.”

“OK, I want to play I am the U.S. gov with its P.R. machine. Why would you announce to everyone you planned the "Decapitation Attack" (or whatever, "decapitation" WAS in the title........ when the odds are so great you won't get Saddam and it appears he wasn't "decapitated."

Why are they releasing that? They could have just said, it was a preliminary attack, trying to get whatever forces we could in Baghdad. (hmmm, guess I better learn to spell that town name)”

“True, hyway. I really hope we can keep much of the city intact. Those are people's homes and businesses, I really hope the collateral damage will be minimal.”

“Makes us look like morons.... course, that could be the plan. Make'em believe we are inept at fighting.... lol...”

“I've played Abbey Road backwards and I still can't hear it!”

“Of course, the rumor could have strategic value... if Iraqis beleive he is dead, or are left to wonder if Saddam is dead or alive - that could affect what their troops do.”

“Pedxing, that could be true. It would be a situation where the past use of dopubles will work against saddam. How can his people believe it is him and not bhis double on Iraqi TV telling them to fight on?”

“Just like bin Laden, Saddam prolly recorded dozens of these and they'll release one every time they think the populace needs a dose of patriotism...or needs a threat that he's still around and will be looking for retribution after the war.

Lizs, yeah, if we missed (sheeeyat, how does ya miss with 36 cruise missles?) we'll look like idjits. Or at least our intelligence will look less than stellar. Reminds one of Clinton lobbing cruise missles at bin Laden's tent a few years back, eh boyz?”

“Weekend at Bernies!”

“So now that Bush has authorised a last ditch effort to kill Saddam before releasing Hell on Iraq he is an "idjit". I would have thought all the anti-war people would be praising him for the attempt.”

“I've worn out three cartridges and I can't hear it either.”

“hway... those were my thoughts too...


Kleety: he did mention the date in his anounement (of course that could be pre-recorded... he could do one for a lot of different dates)... it was interesting that reports said he wore sunglasses and did not look well.”

“1 bullet costs about ten cents? That attack cost about $50 million and we missed. Now that's really getting bang for our buck. Saddam is going to win this war by bankrupting us.”

“Last night the talking heads were saying that he hadn't worn reading glasses before and previously he had always used a teleprompter.

But those could be elements of a ruse also.”

“hyway, can you point out exactly where someone called Bush an idjit for this action?”

“We don't know if we missed or not. We may have got his sons, or his chief military leaders. We don't know anything, yet. But if we had not taken the chance when it was available, there would have been hell to pay later when news came out that we could have and didn't try.

Some people seem to just hate Bush no matter what he does.”

“kleetn, I assumed that when you said "we would look like idjits" that you meant Bush, or people who support him, since you have gone ouit of your way on numerous occasions to point out how you don't wnat to be associated with him or his decisions.

My bad, you could have just as easily been calling yourself an idjit. I shouldn't have assumed otherwise. sorry.”

“The footage I saw this morning looked like Sad Sack and he was not wearing sunglasses. I doubt we got him. The intelligence was being discussed at the White House at 3 p.m. and the attack didn't occur until after 9 p.m., or nearly dawn in Bag-it-dad. Assuming Sad Sack was at the location early in the evening, it is a stretch to think he would still be there six hours later. The man does move around a lot, for obvious reasons.”

“I just don't understand why you would put so much emphasis on this one thing, calling it "Decapitation whatever" cuz that makes it sound like the whole tone of the war is set by our success or failure at it. I think the gov. needs new PR people. UNLESS there's a whole, seedy, underbelly motivation in making ourselves look inept.

There doesn't have to be a title given for each stinkin' attack, like it's a PR campaign. And if they do choose to do that -- apparently they do -- well, name it something like "Prelude to War."

lol”

“Yes, decapitation was a poor choice of terms. It was meant to refer to cutting off the head of the Iraqi government, but with a large risk of failure in such an attack, it seems silly. Had it succeeded, might be a different story. I think Bush was poorly advised on the whole thing.”

“I don't care about world or public opinion on this attack. It isn't about politics at this point. If this worked then the war would be over and many lives would/could have been spared. It cost us money to make the attempt, but it didn't cost us lives.”

“I agree hyway. Just dumb choice of words and even putting a title on it at all.”

“I don't think we should jump to conclusions about this. There is no way of knowing what prompted the attack - or what the result was. It's possible that part of the strategy was to up the psychological pressure... launch an attack when there is still daylight - and see how the Iraqi military reacts. They were expecting an intense night-time bombardment.

Maybe, just maybe, the US military planners are hoping that just starting the war will cause some defections or desertions... or will cause the Iraqi military to leave some territory. If gains can be made without massive firepower - maybe there can be some sparing of lives and property that would be lost if we began with an all out onsluaght.

Again, I don't know. As far as war tactics, I'm just watching - trying to pay attention and keeping an open mind.”

“When they describe it as a strike to decapitate Sad Sack, they do not leave a whole lot to speculation. If I was making the decision, I would not have ordered the strike in the first place, but gone ahead with my plans on schedule. Having made the decision to launch the attack, I would not have described it as an attack against Sad Sack, but as a preliminary attack against command and control installations (true enough in either case). Then I would not look like a bumbling fool. We ought to know enough about Sad Sack to know he wouldn't stick around one location for six or more hours.”

“Some people seem to just hate Bush no matter what he does."
~hyway

"seem"?”

“no matter what he does

If that includes pre-emptive invasions and reduced civil liberties, then I'd have to agree.”

“I don't think think he's that "hated" gojo; he just dosen't command a lot of respect. He appears to be more of a "Cryto-facist puppet of the management elite"!

Other than that, he's kind of a likable guy!”

“woops, I meant Crypto-facist puppet of the Management Elite!”

“Hard to respect someone who leads us in sneak attacks and attempted assainations....How very Iraqi of of isnt it.”

“the first bombs that hit baghdad were to have hit bunkers that saddam and his highest cohorts were supposed to be in

so if we got him it wouldnt surprise me”

“It's worth a try. It shows the world the U.S. would rather bring down the government by taking out a few select leaders than by full invasion.”

“March 20 — The Bush administration was hopeful that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was killed or wounded in the first strikes on Baghdad, military sources told NBC News Thursday. While CIA analysts worked to verify what, if anything, happened to Saddam, Pentagon officials made it clear that Wednesday’s isolated strikes were nothing compared to the assault to come.”

“WASHINGTON, March 20 — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday the United States hit a senior Iraqi leadership position in its initial strikes, but did not say whether Saddam Hussein survived.
Asked whether an Iraqi television broadcast after the attack showed Saddam or a double, Rumsfeld replied, ''There is debate about that.''”

“George Stephanopoulis reports that military says missiles hit in compound and they think some key leaders were there.”

“my thinking is a rumor started that a key official left or was shot, so they rushed to put him at a press conference...then we rumor that we kill sadamm...and then he's on tv...it seems to me that they may be setting him up for a hit in that way...wait for him to go on TV and nail the sucker”

“We went through this with Osama.”

“Osama never had a "base" of operations..he was always in cave with a sat phone”

“And Saddam never sleeps in the same place, always on the move.”

“Hey, check out this report

Near as I can tell it says "Nyah, nyah, ya missed me!"”

“Woops, here it is...

http://www.al-jazirah.com/”

“"Near as I can tell it says "Nyah, nyah, ya missed me!""

aero
11:03:26 AM
03/20/03

I think CNN needs to hire aero to interpret foreign news reports!”

“* جدة واس:
استقبل خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك فهد بن عبدالعزيز ال سعود حفظه الله في مكتبه بقصر السلام أمس دولة رئيس الوزراء الاردني المهندس علي ابو الراغب والوفد المرافق له. وقد نقل دولته لخادم الحرمين الشريفين تحيات وتقدير اخيه جلالة الملك عبدالله الثاني ملك المملكة الاردنية الهاشمية فيما حمله الملك المفدى ....... التفاصيل »


طارق عزيز يظهر على شاشات التلفزيون لدحض نبأ هروبه من بغداد

* بغداد رويترز:
ظهر نائب رئيس الوزراء العراقي طارق عزيز في بث مباشر على الهواء على شاشات التلفزيون العراقي يتحدث إلى الصحفيين في بغداد داحضا شائعات فراره أو انه قتل اثناء فراره من العاصمة العراقية. وقال طارق عزيز نائب رئيس الوزراء العراقي للصحفيين انه قرر لقاء الصح....... التفاصيل

And that's a quote!”

“I like aero's version better.”

“Aero's was a translation, take or leave a few words.”

“Can I be the new "Scud Stud"?”

“Heck with you guys, I'm going to just read the sports page”