Posted on 03/09/2005 5:23:32 PM PST by wagglebee
Was Saddam Hussein hiding in an underground bunker when he was captured, or was he caught in a house?
The Pentagon is flatly denying a report claiming the U.S. military fabricated the details of how the deposed Iraqi dictator was captured, allegedly staging the "spider hole" scenario.
"It's not true, period," Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin told WorldNetDaily.
She was referring to a story originally published by the Saudi newspaper al-Medina, and picked up by United Press International, which had quotes from someone identified as Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, a former Marine who is said to have participated in the capture of Hussein.
He was quoted as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, a day earlier than the official version of the U.S. military.
"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. "We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed."
The UPI version continued to say Abou Rabeh said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from a second-floor window, as forces shouted in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."
"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh told the paper.
WND contacted UPI about its story, and was told "United Press International published a summary of the newspaper report without seeking Pentagon comment."
The wire service has since posted an updated version, which states:
"Pentagon officials dismissed as 'ridiculous' and untrue a report that the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was staged.
"A Saudi Arabian newspaper reported Tuesday that a former U.S. Marine, now living in Lebanon, claimed the Iraqi dictator had been captured earlier by a small team of troops, and forced into the now famous 'spider hole' to play a role in a film fabricated by the U.S. military to make Saddam look bad."
A Marine Corps captain contacted by WorldNetDaily was unable to confirm by press time if the Marine mentioned in the story was indeed in that branch of the armed forces.
It sounds like an American Islamofascist somehow got into the Marine Corps and later told the Saudi Islamofascist paper what they wanted to hear.
It sounds like a non-existent Marine of imaginary Lebanese descent to me.
I helped debunk this story.
http://theneocon.blogspot.com/2005/03/ex-marine-alleges-saddam-story-was.html
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes" - Mark Twain.
Sweet work! When will the Lame Stream Media learn that the Pajamahadeen are all powerfull?
</sarcasm>
Or a real Lebanese who rooked some Saudis. ;)
great post neocon.
Regardless of the circumstances of his capture, he was the droid we were looking for.
We need to ban Arabs and Muslims from our Military. It seems we have more loyalty problems than we should with them.
Maybe we can ban Muslims from the Military and only allow Americanized Arabs and not first generation Arab scum(Many have no loyalty to this country even if they aren't actively hostile to it) into the service.
Future cellmates:)
IIRC, during WW II, German Americans were not stationed in Europe and Japanese Americans were not stationed in the Pacific. A lot of people disagreed with the policy, but it was effective.
It's astonishing to see what is deemed to be newsworthy these days. The facts don't change however. Sadam is in custody!
Drudge had a link to this story on his front page for most of the evening, with red type to call attention to it, but I see he has recently removed it.
It looks as if UPI was snookered.
I wonder if they bothered to check this story before running with it? Probably not. If it makes Bush look bad, publish it first and check it afterwards seems to be the general MSM rule.
The thread on this story quickly established that the "ex-marine" was never in the marine corps under that name. And the whole story smelled of fabrication.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.