Senators Are Optimistic That U.S. Hit Hussein's Convoy

NY Times via Google News ^ | June 22, 2003 | BRIAN KNOWLTON

[Pedrobud]

I will believe it when I see it. This would obviously be great news but do you really think it will stop those nuts over in Iraq from sniping our brave soldiers'

[oceanview]

don't be surprised if this isn't a Dem strategy. Float "sourced" stories via their media outlets about successes, only to have the bubble burst when its finally revealed that it isn't true. It keeps the disappoinment factor running high, which is what the Dems want.

[PayrollOffice]

I hope he's dead too, but who cares? He ain't gettin' Iraq back. If he's alive, he can write a book. Ho hum.

[oceanview]

Russia.

Remember General Paul Vallely, the Fox News retired general used as a commentator during the war. He floated the story one night on Fox, funny, it was the last time I ever recall seeing him on Fox. Hmm.....

[PayrollOffice]

If we were wrong, and he didn't have WMD, which I doubt is the truth anyway, I'm glad about what we did. Iraq is just the first Islamo-Nazi country that we disassemble. (Even though they were technically not an Islamic-ruled country)

Next!

[justshutupandtakeit]

Saddam is traveling by "taxi."

Ali picks up passenger, it is Saddamn. Turns white.

Soddamn " Driver, take me to....by the beard of the Prophet, what is that smell? It is like a herd of camels camped in this car. Wait, driver....come back." Driver runs off to change his pants.

[dixiechick2000]

LOL!

[dixiechick2000]

Bummer...

[dixiechick2000]

That makes sense. Very good points...

[steveegg]

While we're on the subject of Kosovo, it's time to throw the timeline back in the liberals' faces.

Combat operations lasted from the middle of March through the beginning of June, 1999 (far longer than combat operations in Iraq), a peacekeeping force is still there 4 years later. It took 18 months after the start of combat operations to remove Milosevic from power. It took almost 2 years from that start to get him arrested by someone, and over 26 months to get him in "independent" custody.

What do we have to show for it? How about a festering "peacekeeping" operation that's 4 years old and has no end in sight, and a 16-month-long (and counting) trial before a packed court.

[exDemMom]

O.K., I remember that one of Clinton's wars was based on claims of genocide that turned out to be mostly fabricated.

That was Kosovo, where the Serbs were allegedly systematically wiping out Albanians. It was a big lie. Neither side in that situation was innocent, both sides were engaged in killing (it was a civil war), and never once did Klintoon explain why we had to get involved. (I do know why: Klintoon had to keep some misdeed off the front page. Wag the dog, and all that.)

[exDemMom]

Isn't it amazing how Clinton's verifiable lies got so much less coverage than the coverage that the press is giving the democRATs' unverifiable claims that Bush lied?

It isn't so amazing when you consider the leftist bias of the media, and the leftists' usage of terms. To the left, any statement that does not support or advance a socialist agenda is a lie. Statements promoting socialism are true. Facts supporting or refuting such statements are irrelevant.

[Kevin Curry]

I'm convinced Saddam is a hologram. Hit him with a bomb and he simply shatters into a thousand more Saddams, each one a bit fuzzier that its predecessor Saddam.

[pttttt]

Why Saddam would come back from Belarus to drive in a car convoy near the Syrian border and talk on a sat phone is just beyond me! C'mon folks, lets start thinking here..

Check the FBI's pond in Frederick Maryland. At least as good a chance his DNA is there.

[rs79bm]

Polls show that Americans don't believe this is a big issue, as far as finding WMD's. Saddam at the very least, is not ruling Iraq anymore. That's a good start.

[dixiechick2000]

I am very okay with that...

[bruinbirdman]

"So the fiction continues as long as it serves the purposes of those with dogs in this fight."

Good hypothesis. Same goes for WMD.

yitbos

[Lady In Blue]

Just scanned tomorrow's Washington Post.Here is what I found:

The officials said that DNA tests were being carried out on the victims, and the AC-130 gunship strike by Special Operations forces had drawn high-level attention in the Pentagon. But they added that so far there was no evidence Hussein was hit. Some intelligence officials expressed doubt about whether the strike had targeted Hussein or his sons, Uday and Qusay.

The attack on the moving convoy took place close to the Syrian border in western Iraq, officials said. One source said the strike "chewed up something big" and added that the targets were believed to be among the top four or five Iraqis being sought. Separately, a senior defense official said there was "nothing specific" about Hussein in the intelligence that prompted the attack, "although it was tied to the leadership in some manner or another." A third U.S. official said there was very good intelligence that "one or more high-value targets" were in the convoy.--snip---

A Bush administration official said last night, however, that U.S. forces followed the convoy into Syrian territory and attacked it there. The Americans, the official said on condition of anonymity, were "in hot pursuit and wound up crossing the Syrian border."

The possibility that Hussein or other Iraqi leaders might have been in the targeted convoy was not reported through normal CIA channels, said another senior U.S. official, who added that intelligence officials had no knowledge of any request to match Hussein's DNA, which is in the possession of the U.S. government, with DNA found at the convoy site.

The way I read all of this,is that at this point in time,they don't know who they hit,so it could very well be that they did in fact hit Saddam Hussein. They are NOT saying that it definitely wasn't him!

[bluefish]

I am serious, I would substitute one of the doubles....what are our guys thinking?

Are you suggesting this only if we knew he was dead? Because if we didn't, this would be a rather stupid idea. We announce that he is dead and all of a sudden a tape crops up from Sodamn stating that he is alive and well.

Its the oldest intel trick in the book...

How many world leaders have been supposedly offed by us for the rest of the world's consumption, by substituting a double? The trick may be used on a temporary basis with key people in a high stakes game, but I can't imagine that it would play the same way on a permanent basis for a world audience bent on proving us wrong over and over again.

[txrangerette]

My impression from the WaPost and
other media reports, plus what the
Intel Committee Senators said in full
context, is that no info placed S.H.
in this convoy. So the heading that
says "hit HUSSEIN convoy" is wrong.

Apparently, we don't know who it was.
We only know "senior leaders", and
we blasted 'em.

I'm doubtful it was Saddam. Hope I'm
wrong. :o(