Saturday, December 20, 2003

Arab press accounts of "what really happened" regarding Saddam's capture continue. The Iraqi newspaper Az-Zaman is the latest contribution. It is probably the best selling Arabic newspaper in Iraq today. It is edited by Sa`d Al-Bazzaz. He is now a media mogul, and is close to the American occupation. Al-Bazzaz will be starting a private satellite TV station, among other ventures he is planning. We need to remember that he was director of Iraqi TV UNDER SADDAM. This skilled journalist used his talents to help Saddam with the construction of his personality cult. He wrote a best-selling book after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991, in which he faulted Kuwait for the invasion. He later broke with Saddam (over human rights he wants you to believe), and became close to the Jordanian and Gulf governments (who of course have the highest respect for human rights and democracy). In this account, the newspaper reports that a certain bodyguard of Saddam, by the name of Qusayy Rasul, was the one who was responsible. It maintains that Saddam asked him to fetch him some food (Pizza, KFC family meal, Subway 4444" sandwich, California Pizza Kitchen to go, among other items), and the fellow came back with the American troops 2 hours later. The fellow will not be receiving the hefty reward because he did not volunteer the information and because he had participated in attacks on US troops before.