Here's some excellent analysis on Saddam's capture from Mike Ruppert at From the Wilderness:
SADDAM HUSSEIN
What were they thinking?
Assuming that it is the real Saddam Hussein that was officially taken into custody on December 14 th FTW cannot conceive of a single scenario in which
the US government will ever let him come to trial. The world will not accept a secret trial.
The New York Times wrote on December 17th, �The trial of Saddam Hussein must do several things at once. It must educate Iraqis and the world about the
nature of his regime, adhere to the highest international standards of fairness, and provide a mechanism for appropriate punishment. The best way to
achieve those goals is by creating a tribunal inside Iraq under United Nations authority, staffed by Iraqi and international judges and prosecutors.�
But the dilemma faced by the US was made clear by the Agence France Presse which wrote on December 20th, �Controversial French lawyer Jacques Verges
says he is willing to defend Saddam Hussein in court and, if he can, bring world leaders to the witness stand, in what could be a huge embarrassment
for the United States, France and other countries.
��He insisted that �all Western heads of state,' from the time of the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war to the latest Iraq conflict, should take the stand when
the imprisoned former Iraqi officials go on trial� �When we reprove the use of certain weapons (we need to know) who sold these weapons,' he said
about Iraq 's past purchase of arms from France, Britain, the United States and Russia.�
Joe Conason of The New York Observer observed on Dec 22nd that, � An obvious prospective witness is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who acted as a
special envoy to Baghdad during the early 1980's. On a courtroom easel, Saddam might display the famous December 1983 photograph of him shaking hands
with Mr. Rumsfeld, who acknowledges that the United States knew Iraq was using chemical weapons. If his forces were using Tabun, mustard gas, and
other forbidden poisons, he might ask, why did Washington restore diplomatic relations with Baghdad in November 1984?
There are many problems with the details of Saddam's convenient capture at a time when Bush popularity was sinking. A number of world papers from
Britain to Australia have noted that Kurdish rebel groups laid claim to Saddam's capture before US sources released an official story. The Kurdish
stories are credible but do not reveal the date of capture which might account for the former Iraqi dictator's disheveled appearance.
On December 21, FTW received the following unsourced photograph in an email titled �From a friend in Saudi Arabia.� The picture purports to show two
US soldiers demonstrating how they lifted a Styrofoam block seal to Saddam's hiding place. The picture poses two problems for the US story. First, it
clearly depicts ripened dates hanging from a tree branch. This ripening only occurs in the summer months and by December dates have either long since
been harvested, rotted black on the branch or have fallen from the trees. Next to the dates is a line holding an unknown meat drying in the sun.
Again, this is a process � according to Iraqi and Arab sources � which only occurs during the summer months.
A search of various news websites revealed that the photograph was an AP photo which � along with at least four others showing the ripened dates � is
still posted on the CBS News website at: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/14/60minutes/rooney/main588520.shtml .
(Go to �The Capture of Saddam� and then click on �Photo Essays�).
The AP photos dispel other rumors that Saddam had been trapped under a concrete block. AP close-ups of the block above clearly indicate that it is
lightweight. This is supported by the less-than-aggressive hand grips used by the soldiers in the photograph. While it is possible that bricks had
been placed on top of the foam seal, it remains true that if Saddam had been captured sometime earlier, he was held a prisoner in the spider hole
while his captors occupied the Spartan farmhouse above.
The timing and manner of Hussein's capture defy logic. He can only be tried in public and even if convenient confessions from him, unsupported by
video or sworn testimony, allow the US to locate planted weapons of mass destruction, the cards of this poker hand are going to have to be fully
disclosed at some point. The Bush administration knows this and FTW concludes that even as it announced his capture, it also had decided that Saddam
Hussein would never be tried in public or allowed to defend himself. This makes his capture an incredibly ominous event. Something big will have to
happen to prevent the trial from taking place.
the whole analysis of 2004:
www.fromthewilderness.com...