If Saddam were alive why is'nt he leading from the front?

mike65

?

I mean come on now, Saddam has an ego the size of Kuiwait, and he traditionally has used media to remain in power by being "omipresent". Yet since the miltitary
campaign began we hav'nt for sure seen him once. While his propaganda minister has been working over-time.

I think he's dead...

Mike.

Éomer of Rohan

First of all, you know him personally then? How on earth can you claim to know what size his ego is?

Secondly, why the hell does he care what westerners think? His people believe he is alive, that much is evident. If he died, I reckon the Iraqi army would have called a cease fire with a view to negotiating the removal of the Ba'ath party or to some other end.

seamus

Eomer, it's well documented (and obvious) that Saddam is an extremely vain man, who is far more concerned with looking good on camera then most other things. He regularly uses doubles, if he is not in top shape, or else he keeps tight reins on TV cameras, and the angles they are allowed tape him from, etc.

Many of his top generals would happily continue the defence of Iraq long after Saddam was killed. The Iraqi army may not like him, but they probably wouldn't be told. As far as anyone but the top brass would be concerned, Saddam would be alive and well until the Americans found his corpse.

Still though, I don't think he's dead. I have a very bad feeling that there's something very surprising waiting for the Anglo-American forces in Baghdad, and Saddam is nowhere near there.

I agree. Saddam is not the sort to sacrifice the publicity unless he has a good reason for it. I daresay he's biding his time waiting until the media hipe is huge, and then he'll make an appearance. He's probably waiting for the allies, to show proof that he's dead, and then he'll appear to refute the evidence.

If saddam was dead, i daresay you would have found alot more action happening outside of the cities. I figure he's the only one capable of keeping his forces, from either surrendering, or charging out like a mob.

Originally posted by klaz
If saddam was dead, i daresay you would have found alot more action happening outside of the cities. I figure he's the only one capable of keeping his forces, from either surrendering, or charging out like a mob.

Theres been a lot of speculation about this.
Sadam, is obviously a very clever man, who has left his stooges, like the information minister, to bail out, in vain the slowly sinking ship.
It would be very difficult for him to maintain a genuinely live appearance on TV, given the circumstances, the national station is on very limited resources, what with it being targeted regularly.
If he is alive, it would be too easy, for Special forces to track him down if he was doing regular live tv.
mm

Victor

Originally posted by mike65
Re: If Saddam were alive why is'nt he leading from the front?

You don't see Bush on the front lines do you?

That said, I haven't seen Bush in days either. Hmmm, conspiracy theory! Thats why he wanted people to pray for him.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

mike65

I would'nt expect Sadders-Babe to go live for the reasons stated but a recorded piece of him commenting on something both sides know happened, like for example the market explosion, could be done.

This evening there were mute shots of Saddam and his "cabinet" but so what, they could be months old.

Mike.

Éomer of Rohan

LOL @ "Sadders babe"

but a recorded piece of him commenting on something both sides know happened, like for example the market explosion, could be done.

This evening there were mute shots of Saddam and his "cabinet" but so what, they could be months old.

Surely for him to comment at all, even on something both sides know about, he has to be alive lol?? The best precedent for this would of course be the Osama Bin Laden, dead or alive? debacle. He then went on to prove he was alive. There may be strategic reasons not to engage in a live interview - for example, the Americans might then know for certain where the hell he is. Wouldn't it be hilarious if amidst the rubble of Baghdad, when a yank finally enters Saddam's palace, they find nothing - that the spider has left the centre of its web.

Victor

Originally posted by Éomer of Rohan
There may be strategic reasons not to engage in a live interview - for example, the Americans might then know for certain where the hell he is.

No that is a tactical reason. A strategic one is to keep the Americans guessing.

Von

Originally posted by Victor
You don't see Bush on the front lines do you?

That said, I haven't seen Bush in days either. Hmmm, conspiracy theory! Thats why he wanted people to pray for him.

There he is.

"I used to be cynical about politicians who are born into privilege and wealth. I thought, 'Sure, they talk a good game about our duty to protect democracy, but when push comes to shove, they'd rather send off the nation's poor, uneducated, and underprivileged to do the fighting for them,'" said Pvt. Frank Elkins, 19. "I always figured they'd rather see somebody else die in some foreign land than make that sacrifice themselves. But now I know I was wrong."

mike65

...thats James Garner damnit!

Mike.

TomF

I think Saddam is very heavily incapacitated, perhaps to the degree of being dead.

YoungNastyMan

Originally posted by daveirl
I suspect he's learnt his lesson from Gulf War 1, where he narrowly escaped having done a TV appearance when a cruise missile hit the building 25 minutes after he was finished.

Was that not Hitler i remember watching something on all the assaination attemps on him, was on the history channel or something

mike65

Just broadcast on Iraqi tv and shown as a live feed on TV here is footage of Saddam on the streets in an impromptu "walkabout". The oil fire smoke can be seen so it is nearly contemporary. However the picture quality
was awful and it may just have been a stand-in....

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

YoungNastyMan

This is a bit off the subject of post, but if Sadam dose have these wepons of mass destruction, chemical or whatever,why are the coallition bombing all millitary related targets ie. bunkers which cud contain these weapons, i think american intelligence either already know the exact location of these weapons, or know that he dos'nt have any at all. To put it into a conspiriacy theory, i think american intelligence is hiding somthing.

josh40

Who says Saddam is the supreme ruler of Iraq? There is no such thing as a totalitarian ruler, a party yes, but not one individual.

Whether he is dead or alive, doesn't really matter ,to the close circle around him, they are going to go down anyway, so they have to keep on fighting to the end.

Saddam has long used doubles, in the typical paranoid mode of a brutal dictator.It would be suicidal for him to appear in public now. Plus it makes the coalition forces look a bit stupid, we are going to bring down this brutal dictator, oops, we can't find him.

Do you think Bush runs the USA?

Barry Aldwell

Originally posted by josh40
Do you think Bush runs the USA?

A lot of people seem to think that he is the be all and end all of the American Government, that he planned the invasion personally, and that he personally has to ok every shot fired in the Gulf.

Victor

Originally posted by josh40
Saddam has long used doubles, in the typical paranoid mode of a brutal dictator.It would be suicidal for him to appear in public now. Plus it makes the coalition forces look a bit stupid, we are going to bring down this brutal dictator, oops, we can't find him.

My personal theory is he was killed in his Winabago in 1991 and that the senior member sof the Ba'ath Party have been using his as a bogey man to keep the limelight off themselves .....