Posted on 06/27/2003 1:34:37 PM PDT by kattracks
Former Iraqi "information" minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, better known as "Comical Ali" and "Baghdad Bob," says he made his absurd remarks based on bad information.
He claimed on April 7 that there were no U.S. troops in Baghdad even though tanks could clearly be seen on television in the capital. The city fell two days later.
He became a comical cult figure in the West during the war for statements such as "God will roast their stomachs in hell" and "My feeling, as usual, is we will slaughter them."
Now he tells Abu Dhabi Television that he was always convinced of what he said, although he also claims to have been just doing a job and was never part of dictator Saddam Hussein's inner circle.
According to reports, after Baghdad's fall he tried to surrender to the United States but wasn't wanted because he wasn't on the "deck of death" cards listing the 55 worst Saddamites.
So, when will the inevitable book appear? Just wait, warned Baghdad Bob, who makes the New York Times look credible.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Media Bias
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
The Rodney Dangerfield of public relations.
Sorry, Hillary beat you to it.
US Denies Arrest, Release of Ex-Iraqi Info Min- Report
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The U.S. denied claims by former Iraq's information minister that U.S. troops questioned him and released him.
A spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad denied Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf's claims that he surrendered himself to U.S. forces who released him after questioning, according to the BBC's Web site.
The spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq said they had never questioned al-Sahhaf, let alone had him to release, the Web site reported.
A Pentagon spokeswoman insisted late Thursday that there was no information that al-Sahhaf was ever in U.S. custody, a report in the New York Post said.
Daily press briefings by Al-Sahhaf - nicknamed Baghdad Bob by troops and Comical Ali in headlines - in Baghdad during the war, at which his statements were increasingly at odds with reality, made him a figure of fun in the West.
She noted that the former information minister is No. 155 on the larger list of 200 most-wanted regime figures, and would never be released that quickly if he were, in fact, in U.S. hands, according to the Post article.
Al-Sahhaf is not on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
"Through some friends, I went to the Americans, to the people in charge, and an interview took place about a number of issues relating to my work," he said in brief interviews on Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV on Thursday. "After the interview, I was released."
U.S. Central Command was also unable to confirm his claims, telling BBC News Online, "He is an interesting story teller and we look forward to hearing what he has got to say."
Al-Sahhaf's comments were part of a longer interview due to be broadcast on Friday at 1900 GMT, Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV said in a statement, according to BBC Online.
An Iraqi Kurdish official told the newspaper that al-Sahhaf was staying at his aunt's house in Baghdad, and was under surveillance by U.S. forces, according to the BBC Online web site.
He said the former minister was still trying to negotiate his arrest, fearing for his safety in the Iraqi capital, the Web site reported.
-By Elsie Theodore, Dow Jones Newswires
That's what they all say.
I think he resembles Ed Wynn -- Uncle Albert of Mary Poppins fame.
America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
http://video.ire.org/10650.ram (Requires RealPlayer)
He may have not been a Saddamite (sic) but he was the butt of many jokes.
Jerry Seinfeld. His mother was a Jewish Syrian Arab from Damascus. Weird, huh?
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