Another Fishy Saddam Capture Story Surfaces

A month to the day after this fairy tale about Saddam Hussein's capture came to light, a new one has been reported in the Gulf Daily News:

Capture of Saddam a tradeoff?
LONDON: One of Saddam Hussain's bodyguards Qayess Al Namiq denied that the ousted leader was arrested as he hid in the bottom of a hole in a farmhouse in Tikrit.

Al Namiq, who accompanied Saddam from the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, to the moment he were arrested, told London-based Al Sharq Al Awsat daily that Saddam was not in that hole but was in his private farm when he was captured, adding that he was taken there by US troops.

He also confirmed that Saddam had met his two sons - Uday and Qusai a month before they were killed. Also, he was in very good mental condition contrary to reports alleging he was depressed.

He and Saddam used a small Datsun truck, a motorcycle, a bicycle and sometimes a horse to move around the city.

The name Qayess Al Namiq isn't cited in any of the news stories I was able to find about Saddam's capture. Coming as it does in conjunction with anti-American protests instigated by renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr it seems likely to be another false report.

I have no doubts about the circumstances of the capture because I spoke with a soldier who took part in it about a month after the capture took place. At that time I saw photos taken by this soldier that have never been published, but which are consistent with published photos. Saddam's ignominious capture was a severe mental blow to the ex-Ba'athist and foreign terrorists of the Iraqi insurgency. Saddam Hussein represented a virile symbol of Iraqi strength to these people. The reality of the picture below seems to be more than they can handle.

Like a flounder, Saddam is pulled
from the hole in which he was cowering.