MetaFilter posts tagged with saddamhussein and Iraq

The Saddam Sessions

kliuless — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:33:50 -0800

Saddam's Confessions - Given Saddam Hussein's central place in the American Consciousness over the last couple decades and particularly in recent years, I found 60 minutes' interview with FBI interrogator George Piro pretty fascinating.

Saddam Hussein is Dead

pyramid termite — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 19:17:17 -0800

Saddam has been executed, Iraqi media reports

Stop the hate. Love, Saddam.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 10:41:32 -0800

Saddam's farewell letter.

When the President Does It, That Means it is Not Illegal

orthogonality — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:01:22 -0800

"Saddam Hussein after his capture addressed the court with the same challenge that Charles I threw at his judges: ‘By what legal authority do you try me?’" "Therefore, let me know by what authority I am called hither." ...and therein trusted with a limited power to govern by and according to the laws of the land, and not otherwise;... "‘Lex is Rex’, is what they’d said in the ship money case. The king is the law, the king is above the law, and the king can’t be brought to trial." "-- the president is always right, Senator."

Gay Teens Executed in Iran

digaman — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:34:51 -0800

Iran executes two teenagers. Their crime? Making love. Homosexuality is a crime under Sharia law. Meanwhile, newly "liberated" Iraq moves closer to embedding traditional Islamic laws in its new constitution, reducing rights for women. Will Iraqi gays be the next to suffer the wrath of "Allah's law" after years of secular oppression under Saddam Hussein?

"I Punched Saddam in the Mouth"

dhoyt — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:18:21 -0800

"I Punched Saddam in the Mouth" • A man known only as "Samir" worked as an Arabic interpreter for United States Special Forces in late 2003 when Saddam Hussein was captured in Tikrit: "I was so angry. I began cussing at him, calling him a motherfucker, a son-of-a-bitch -- you name it. I told him I was Shiite from the south and was part of the revolution against him in 1991. I said he murdered my uncles and cousins. He imprisoned my father. In Arabic, Saddam told Samir to shut up. And when Saddam called him a traitor, an enraged Samir silenced his prisoner with a flurry of quick jabs to the face. I punched Saddam in the mouth."

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction

Postroad — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 10:40:37 -0800

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling

Postroad — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 18:26:39 -0800

Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors. The oil trade with countries such as Turkey and Jordan appears to have been an open secret inside the U.S. government and the United Nations for years.

Rumsfeld doubts Saddam Laden link

hoder — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 20:03:53 -0800

Rumsfeld doubts Saddam Laden link US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has cast doubt on whether there was ever a relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.

More Whitewash, Jeeves?

Blue Stone — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:57:00 -0800

As the verdict of Butler Report into the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, draws near in Britain, a senior intelligence source reveals that MI6 took the "rare step" of withdrawing the intelligence assessment that underpinned the claim that Saddam had continued to produce WMD (an admission that such information was fundamentally unreliable), however Blair did not tell the public "that the evidence of WMD was crumbling beneath him". [Watch the Panorama programme in question here for 7 days from 11-7-2004] The Dossier that Lord Hutton declared was not sexed-up (leading to senior BBC resignations), Dr Brian Jones (former head of the nuclear, chemical and biological branch of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence Staff) says was sexed-up, and details exactly how.

Thy Name be Cognitive Dissonance

fenriq — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 23:39:36 -0800

Bush Insists on Iraq-Al Qaeda Links Despite Report
Not knowing when to give up and admit that he was wrong, Mr. Bush is digging in his heels and insisting, in spite of the 9/11 commision's findings to the contrary, that Saddam Hussein and Al-Queda are linked.

Said Mr. Bush, "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda."

I guess that'll be good enough for just under half the population.

Saddam's daughter: I want to go to Iraq

Postroad — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 08:21:58 -0800

Saddam's daughter: I want to go to Iraq "...My life is a series of collapses," Raghad Saddam Hussein said in an interview in Friday's edition of Sayidaty magazine. "If age is measured by anguish and sadness, I would have been 80 today."...

UNSCAM: Oil for Money

MrAnonymous — Mon, 19 Apr 2004 23:48:23 -0800

UNSCAM: The scandal surrounding the UN and their oil-for-food program with Iraq hasn't received a whole lot of media attention and hasn't, surprisingly, even been brought up on MeFi. It boils down to Saddam Hussein taking the money from oil sales and using it to give kickbacks to France, Russia, and the UN itself, while Saddam built palaces and such, rather than buying food and medicine. It's complicated, but could be the biggest public financial scandal in history. It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that Russia is trying to block any investigation into the matter.

Saddam Hussein Sourcebook

homunculus — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:12:54 -0800

Several newly declassified documents have been added to the National Security Archive's Saddam Hussein Sourcebook, including a State Department cable to special envoy Donald Rumsfeld (PDF) for his second meeting with Saddam Hussein (months after the infamous handshake meeting,) in which Rumsfeld conveyed the Reagan administration's undiminished support for Hussein despite their public condemnation of his use of chemical weapons. (It also mentions but seems unconcerned with Hussein's support for Abu Nidhal.) Another document describes Bechtel's intention to do business with Iraq (PDF) through non-US sources in case of US sanctions. [More analysis at Juan Cole.]

Saddam's spiderhole photo was taken in August?

mediaddict — Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:38:32 -0800

Saddam's spiderhole photo was taken in August, or what? The fruit on the date palm behind the soldier is yellow. Date fruit grows from March-August (see 'Iraq' in table 23) and is harvested in early fall. Dates are yellow (ie. just ripened) in August, not December. I'm not invoking conspiracy - I'm just asking: what gives?

Saddam Captured

brettski — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 03:03:47 -0800

Saddam Reported Captured - So what next? A trial at the International Criminal Court (which the US does not recognise), a trip to Cuba or a trial in Iraq? And is this finally the decapitation of the resistance in Iraq?

powells low point

specialk420 — Wed, 15 Oct 2003 08:57:25 -0800

“Various people would laugh at various times [during Powell’s speech] because the information he was presenting was just, you know, didn't mean anything -- had no meaning,"

President confirms link between Saddam Hussein and terrorism!

insomnia_lj — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:51:15 -0800

President ~~confirms~~ ~~denies~~ confirms link between Iraq and terrorism! " The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction."

In other news, we're at war with Eastasia. We've always been at war with Eastasia... Food rations have jumped by 10%! Doubleplusgood!

Desperate Saddam Offers Americans Deal

stew560 — Sun, 21 Sep 2003 19:47:00 -0800

Desperate Saddam Offers Americans Deal. Wait...no...move along...nothing to see here...move along please...

The Geopolitics of Translation

effugas — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 08:14:14 -0800

"This is not what Saddam attributes to himself." This? What is This? According to the BBC and Al Jazeera, This is the assassination of Iraqi Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, the source of far more mourning amongst the Shiite community than, say, the death of Uday and Qusay Hussein. Apparently, Saddam pointed out how quickly the West rushed to judgment against him, then denied he had anything to do with the bombing. CNN and the Associated Press concur with that assessment, though they do not use the above (translated) passage in their report. And that would be it, save for the BBC providing a full text translation of the primary source for the story. A slightly larger excerpt:

[The invaders say without evidence that some of my supporters were responsible.] Saddam Hussein is not the leader of the minority or a group, with whom he is affiliated or who are affiliated. He is the leader of all the great Iraqi people - Arabs and Kurds; Shias and Sunnis, Muslims and non-Muslims. Saddam Hussein does not attribute this saying to himself. This[emphasis added] is what was decided by the great Iraqi people themselves in free, public elections.

Contextual shift between translations has always been a contentious issue, but precisely how does the message "I am not just the ruler of a few shattered remnants of Iraqi society" get warped into "I did not order the death of this man"? The two messages are, after all, mutually exclusive. The only thing that's clear is that it's unlikely this was a militarily-sourced obfuscation; Heatley's comments on CNN clearly address the obvious interpretation. Thoughts?

he's got stones

e^2 — Sun, 03 Aug 2003 12:45:46 -0800

Beliefs about Saddam -- some Iraqis find it difficult to believe that their former ruler can die. "How can we really be sure he's gone for good?" asked Hassam Sahar, 45, an engineer. "We can't trust the U.S. and Britain. They left once before." Some believe that Saddam has links to the occult [audio file] ranging from a djinn kept in a stone to magic practiced by his mother, which are based in folk islam [google cache 1 2 3] Western occultists, too, have something to say about Saddam.

WMD, where they be?

skallas — Fri, 01 Aug 2003 19:55:06 -0800

Another senior Iraqi officer claims Saddam destroyed all his WMD in 1991. "Iraqi scientists, including those currently held by the U.S. military, have maintained that no new unconventional weapons programs were started in recent years and that all the materials from previous programs were destroyed." Also see Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel's 1995 statements to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Not the real Slim Shady

konolia — Sun, 27 Jul 2003 15:20:10 -0800

The Real Hussein Warning: Shockwave

John Dean case for War in Iraq

thedailygrowl — Fri, 18 Jul 2003 01:42:37 -0800

John Dean's analysis of the administrations case for War. "What I found, in critically examining Bush's evidence, is not pretty. The African uranium matter is merely indicative of larger problems, and troubling questions of potential and widespread criminality when taking the nation to war. It appears that not only the Niger uranium hoax, but most everything else that Bush said about Saddam Hussein's weapons was false, fabricated, exaggerated, or phony."

Dealing With Saddam

Dunvegan — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 17:53:59 -0800

Dealing With Saddam What's in the cards for the missing members of the Iraqi high command? According to Reuters AlertNet "The United States will soon deliver Iraq's deposed president Saddam Hussein and his inner circle into the hands of its own troops -- as a deck of playing cards...Brigadier General Vincent Brooks held up one of the first examples of the card packs at a Central Command briefing on Friday, explaining that each card depicted a character the United States wanted pursued, killed or captured." Checking the deck quite predictably we find that Saddam is portrayed as the Ace of Spades, and his strong-arm younger son Qusay is tricked out as Ace of Clubs. Ironically, elder-psychopathic progeny Uday, who is said to favor the use of rape as a weapon of torture, is imaged as the Ace of Hearts. An Adobe Acrobat PDF image of the full deck is available at Defense Link.

Is this the the new US military card game, Poke-Iman? "Hey, soldiers...gotta catch 'em all!"