Egyptian Intelligence not so good

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[Bugbear]

SADDAM 'MAY BE DEAD' - EGYPTIAN INTELLIGENCE

Saddam Hussein has had a major stroke and may even be dead, according to Egyptian security sources.

The Iraqi dictator has not been seen since a New Year’s Day parade when he was shown on Iraqi TV firing his gun into the air. Reports say he was taking the salute from his military when he collapsed.

Sky News sources in Baghdad say that while all is quiet on the streets of the Iraqi capital there has been increased troop movement around Saddam’s presidential palace.

Showing off

The military parade on Sunday was the biggest since the Gulf War and was a chance to show off sophisticated surface-to-surface, anti-aircraft missiles plus over 1,000 modern Russian-made tanks.

None of the missiles violate UN arms control restrictions imposed after the Gulf War when Iraq invaded neighbouring Kuwait.

Saddam has survived more than a decade of UN sanctions against Iraq for the invasion, but the country’s infrastructure has been severely damaged.

Death

The Iraqi government claims that more than 10,000 people, most of them children, have died as a result of sanctions.

The UN does allow the sale of some of Iraq’s oil in exchange for medicine and food, but Saddam has been accused of spending the cash earned from oil on building presidential palaces and rebuilding his war machine.

Uday Hussein - a chip off the old block

If reports of Saddam’s demise are true his likely successor is his eldest son Uday who survived an assassination attempt four years ago.

Uday (pictured) is known to be as ruthless as his father. He was wheelchair-bound for years after the attempt on his life but has gradually been given more and more control of key government institutions by Saddam.

Opposition

There are several opposition groups in exile who say they would be prepared to go back and take control of the country. But the various factions are not thought to be unified enough to govern and analysts have warned of civil war in the country without a strong leader at the helm.

The United States has invested a large sum of money in the Iraqi opposition to help it remove Saddam from power.

[Bugbear]

Just came acrost this, amazing how much news is speculation that should have been checked out before being printed.

[L`enn]

Actually I remember that when it was reported. There were pictures that showed Saddam collapsing and not looking very well.

[WorkingClassFilth]

I buhleeve it. Now, gimme muh beer back.

[Consort]

Egyptian Inyelligence Agencies.

[Consort]

Change "y" to "t".

[redheadtoo]

I read about an organization (sorry I don't recall the name)that analysed all of Saddam's appearances on television for several years. They concluded that Saddam used three different body doubles. They also concluded that Saddam has not appeared on television for a couple of years now. All of his TV "appearances" have been one of the doubles.

[agrandis]

Egyptian Intelligence not so good...

Yeah, I know. One of my friends is an Egyptian.

[jlogajan]

sophisticated surface-to-surface, anti-aircraft missiles

What the h*ll is a suface-to-surface anti-aircraft missile???

[Bugbear]

One that hits aircraft that are still on the ground?

Or a SCUD that does not fly to far b4 hitting the ground and blowing up the wrong target.

[Quix]

Interesting.

I wonder how the plot will thicken if it's true.

The Bible Codes alluded to such a thing, as I recall. But the code was so cryptic it was hard to guess exactly what it meant ahead of time--but it clearly involved Saddam being dead--and seemingly ahead of a conflict, I think. Maybe I'll look it up tomorrow.

[sharktrager]

Well, a German paper hired an identification expert to see if Sadaam was using body doubles, and they claim they did not find a single photograph or video for the last few years that was actually Sadaam.

When dealing with a country like Iraq, anything is possible. Do I believe he is dead? No. Would it surprise me if the German's claims are true? Not very much.