CBS: 'Senior Officials' Think Saddam May Not Have Survived

CBS c/o Drudge

[Bigfish_2002]

CBS: 'Senior Officials' Think Saddam May Not Have Survived Thu Mar 20 2003 10:33:00 ET

"I am being told by several senior officials not to take that taped speech Saddam gave last night as proof that he survived the attack," CBS NEWS reporter David Martin said on air.

"They say the evidence that put him in the bunker last night was very reliable, and they are confident that the cruise missiles and bunker-busting bombs that were fired at that bunker last night hit the target. So now, intelligence experts are studying the tape to determine if it is really Saddam, or a body double which he is known to use from time to time. And they are running a computerized voice analysis, comparing that speech with known recordings of Saddam's voice. But that's a process that takes awhile. So we may not have a quick answer."

CBS adds that there is "is considerable belief in this government that they may, in fact, have gotten Saddam."

Developing...

[NittanyLion]

However, I am of the opinion that human nature being what it is, and that Saddam has tortured and killed so many CLOSE to him, that the minute he assumes room temperature, they will come out with their hands up....this guy is TRULY evil, and althoug I think you are right that he is NOT the only evil one amoung the top ranks, I just can't see them holding together without him.

I can definitely see your point. This is a situation where I wish I could go forward 20 years and see what really happened. Great for speculation right now, though...

[HamiltonJay]

That guy on TV last night looked NOTHING like the Saddam I have seen in photos and newscasts before. He may be alive, but I highly doubt that guy on TV last night was Saddam

[the_doc]

I wouldn't call this "wishful thinking," since that's a term which presupposes that the hopes are false.

(Gosh, you have no warrant to say that the Pentagons hopes are surely false. I personally suspect that the Pentagon suspicions that Saddam is dead are, at the very least, well-founded suspicions. That's not based on wishful thinking on my part, but based on my respect for our military--which certainly has earned my respect.)

[wireman]

"If he had died in that first attack, the entire regime structure would be imploding right now."

How do you know it's not?

[mattdono]

I don't think that your implication that I don't respect our military is warranted.

I would concede that "wishing thinking" perhaps wasn't the best phrase. I conceded that in the thread. Perhaps you might read the whole thread instead of firing off a post that accusing me of disrespecting our military capacity.

It is not known that Saddam is dead. I am hoping that he is...hence, my wishful thinking comment.

Get off your literary high-horse, doc.

[xkaydet65]

I have a problem believing this. If Saddam is past tense I think we would have seen a total collopse of Iraqi military structure. Without Saddam there is no reason to continue the fight.That's why we went for him.

[spokeshave]

I bet Kim Il Sung doesn't sleep to well now

[Slings and Arrows]

I bet Kim Il Sung doesn't sleep to well now

Yeah, rigor mortis will do that to you.

Kim Jong-Il probably isn't getting much sleep either.

[Hegemony Cricket]

Wait, that's party of 21.


Huh, oh, you've already eaten?

[the_doc]

Your post missed the point--except insofar as you conceded that your language was inappropriate.

Now, given that you have conceded that point, why do I dare to say that you have missed the overall point? It's because you have accused me of being snotty, whereas I was merely saying--correctly, of course--that your attitude is needlessly negative.

[rudy45]

Off topic, I know, but has anyone ever seen the 1930s cloak-and-dagger movie "State Secret"? It starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Glynis Johns. Fairbanks played a doctor on vacation in a European country, who is called upon to treat the ailing dictator of that country. While doing so, the dictator dies, and is replaced by a double. The doctor has to escape the country, lest he be captured and executed to protect the secret.

Pity the movie seems to be unavailable on tape or DVD.

[WhatWouldReaganDo]

MORRIS (as MULDER): There is no Saddam Hussein. This guy's name is John Gillnitz. We found him doing dinner theater in Tulsa. Did a mean King and I. Plays good ethnics.

LANGLY: You're trying to say that Saddam Hussein's a government plant?

MORRIS (as MULDER): I'm saying I invented the guy. We set him up in '79. He rattles his saber whenever we need a good distraction. Ah... If you boys only knew how many of your stories I dreamed up while sitting on the pot.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I think it WAS Saddam.. but that it was a PREVIOUSLY RECORDED TAPE. There were no references that would point to it being "after" the hit. So time will tell.

[UCANSEE2]

Saddam has been dead for over two months. It has been kept quiet by his sons, and the highest members of the Republican Guard to keep the regime from toppling.
The meeting last night that was hit by bunker busters was the top staff getting together at the last minute to make final plans.
Saddam was bad, but his sons would be worse. That is why it doesn't matter if he is/was dead or alive. We have to finish off his entire regime to liberate the Iraqi people.

[TontoKowalski]

This is the second thread in which you've posted this.

Please post a source or clearly identify as personal speculation.

Some of our troops read this forum, and it is a disservice to them to portray rumor or speculation as fact.

[Argus]

I don't know whether they got him or not but it seems to me from the video that Saddam has either: 1) aged an awful lot; or 2) was substituted for by someone's 88-year old aunt wearing a discarded beret from the 1930s.

Maybe our bunker busters killed all the good body doubles, like the one Rather interviewed, and this is finally the real Sodom.

[Argus]

I think that movie was remade as CRISIS, with Cary Grant, and again as MOON OVER PARADOR, with Rick Dry-face.

[wireman]

Gee, that settles everything!

Why didn't you say this two months ago?

[mattdono]

but based on my respect for our military--which certainly has earned my respect.)

Your initial post clearly implied that I had no respect for the military. That characterization is not warranted, period.

was merely saying--correctly, of course

Yeah, that's not snotty.

[the_doc]

You are still missing the point. I was not being snotty, but I'm afraid that you are. (Evidently, you just don't like anyone pointing out that your negativism is unwarranted.)

Lurkers are invited to read our exchange. I honestly think you have a chip on your shoulder. You need to relax. Everything's going just fine.