Who Got Him?

Kurds Claim Capture of Saddam Hussein

The world breathed a cumulative sigh of relief when the U.S. announced "We got 'im" --- the capture of Saddam Hussein. There were also many giggles and outright disbelief at Saddam's deteriorated physical condition and the idea that he was found hiding in a hole and quite a few chuckles at the TV footage of the former Iraqi leader being checked for lice.

Now comes word that the "capture" was staged by the military in another media manipulation that has become so characteristic of the Bush administration. In the style of the Jessica Lynch story, in which the military made up a fanciful story about her heroism, capture and subsequent rescue. Lynch, herself, wrote a book and appeared on all of the talk shows debunking the story.

The Kurds reported Saddam's capture and turned him over to U.S. forces after negotiating a deal for political power. They then drugged Hussein and turned him over to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which placed him in the hole, from which he had no escape.

The Kurds had acted on a tip from a member of the al-Jabour tribe, which hates Saddam because his son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam reportedly admitted to the crime and paid seven million pounds to the tribe, but threatened its extinction if the word ever leaked out.

The first report of Saddam's capture was aired in Tehran on December 13th. U.S. forces took custody of Saddam around 8:30 that day, but did not release the story until about 3 p.m. the next day.

A Kurdish wire service reported the capture early on the 14th, claiming the capture was made by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. A special intelligence unit caught Hussein in his home town, Tikrit.

The wire service said that the Kurdish unit was "accompanied" by a group of U.S. soldiers.The U.S. media ignored Pentagon briefings that described the capture as the result of a joint operation.

The contrived U.S. media report claimed the U.S. military had "extracted" information from a witness at about 5:30 p.m. on the 13th. Supposedly, a 600-member force was organized to surround the farm on which he was captured. No mention was made of the involvement of the Kurds.

Saddam was actually trapped in that hole for an extensive period while the U.S. assembled the media to film television footage of the capture.

Saddam subsequently disappeared behind the U.S' cloak of secrecy and has not been heard from since. Soon after the joyous celebrations of his capture the elation ended and the realization that Saddam has very little to do with the threat of terrorism in this country, or the rest of the word, started to sink in.

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