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by
Ernesto Cienfuegos and La Voz de Aztlan
Seeing Double in Baghdad: Saddam
Uses Look-Alikes to Disguise His Whereabouts, by Charles Recknagel,
Radio Free Europe
Iraqis Doubt
Real Hussein Behind Bars, by Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail
Saddam Hit? U.S.: Saddam
Seen Leaving Baghdad Complex on a Gurney After Strike, by ABC News
More
Husseins Than Meet the Eye, by L.A. Times
Will the Real Saddam Hussein
Please Step Down, by Tom Zeller, N.Y. Times
Could Saddam Already Be in Hiding,
by Linda Mottram, ABC Local Radio
- Los Angeles, Alta California - December 16, 2003 - (ACN)
Hundreds of pro-Saddam rallies erupted today throughout occupied Iraq
amidst widespread claims by Iraqis that US forces actually captured one
of Saddam's many known doubles. US forces have killed 16 Iraqis during
separate incidents as demonstrations in support of Saddam Hussein
erupted across the occupied country. US occupation forces shot dead 11
Iraqis in the western Iraqi city of Samarra and returned fire in
response to further attacks in the city, about 45 miles north of
Baghdad. Military sources added that another five Iraqis were shot dead
in Falluja and Ramadi today. Witnesses said hundreds of residents
protesting the Saddam capture hoax overran the office of the
US-appointed mayor in Falluja.
Also, a US patrol north of Falluja was attacked by roadside bombs and
rocket-propelled grenades. Soldiers returned fire, killing two Iraqis,
said the military, however, independent Arabic media reports said those
killed were demonstrators.
In addition, about 500 protesters gathered in Ramadi and Iraqi fighters
apparently fired at US forces in the city, wounding one soldier.
Occupation forces then killed two of the attackers and wounded two
others. In a separate incident, 30 Iraqi fighters opened fired at a
patrol. US soldiers fired back, killing one of them.
In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, about 700 people demonstrated against
the hoax today, chanting "Saddam is in our hearts, Saddam is in our
blood." Also, one protester was said to have been killed in Tikrit in
clashes that broke out between baton-wielding occupation forces and
students, reported independent Arab media sources.
In addition, in the northern city of Mosul, one policeman was killed and
another seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting after a demonstration
by 1000 students protesting against the "Saddam capture" hoax. An Iraqi
policeman said four members of the Site Protection Force (SPF) were
wounded by stones hurled by protesters. The violence erupted after
police fired warning shots to disperse the demonstration.
And in the northern city of Kirkuk, US occupation soldiers shot and
killed one Iraqi overnight as he was walking in the street. A second was
seriously wounded when a US convoy opened fire near a petrol station,
said the Iraqi (USA) police.
In related news, one US soldier died when a convoy was struck by a
roadside bomb north of Baghdad, said US military sources. Three more US
soldiers were injured, two seriously, in an explosion in Saddam's
hometown of Tikrit, about 160km north of Baghdad, they said.
Meanwhile, extreme doubts have arisen throughout Islam that the
released pictures by US occupation forces of the "captured Saddam" are
of the Iraqi leader. Thousands of Iraqis, who knew Saddam, are claiming
that it is one of Saddam's many known "doubles". Saddam Hussein's oldest
daughter told Al-Arabiya television network her family doubts the
pictures are that of her father. In a phone interview, Raghad Hussein,
35, told the Arabic-language channel, "This is not our father"! She
added, "This is not how he would act." Raghad Hussein has been granted
political asylum by Jordan.
Other Arabs and Muslims throughout the world expressed similar claims.
Muslims as far away as Sri Lanka expressed their doubts that the real
Saddam Hussein has been captured. Abu Haniffa, the president of the Sri
Lanka Traders' Association said, "Some of our people think the pictures
could be part of a US ploy or Saddam's own strategy to create a double
and flee attempts to capture him."
It has been known for years, by both the Iraqi people and intelligence
agencies, that Saddam Hussein utilized at least 5 doubles to hide his
whereabouts during his rule of Iraq. George Bush and US occupation
forces, themselves, were "fooled" when they thought that they had
"bombed" and killed Saddam Hussein in March of this year. After a
massive missile attack and bombing of a building where Saddam Hussein
was, according to US intelligence sources located, George Bush claimed
the Iraqi leader was blown up. A few days later the Qatar based
Aljazeera news service broadcast a video showing Saddam alive and well.
This incident totally fooled and embarrassed the Bush Administration.
Falih Abdul Jabbar, a sociologist and researcher at London University
in England, says the Iraqi public had long known Saddam employed
look-alikes. He says the public had become adept at detecting which
Saddam -- the real one or a stand-in -- came to official ceremonies.
Falih Abdul Jabbar said, "People noticed that when the other guy, or
'the second Saddam,' was there, they could detect this very easily by
looking at the bodyguards, who seemed careless, sometimes even laughing.
They wouldn't do that in the presence of the real Saddam."
He continued, "Another observation by the public was that Saddam was
very well-known among the Iraqis to be a camera-monger. He loved the
camera and to be in close-up shots. And they notice that when the other
guy, his 'spare part,' was his replacement, the cameras would take
faraway shots, rather than zoom in. They would then deduce this was not
the real Saddam."
In an effort to learn more about Saddam's use of doubles, the German
public television station ZDF asked a forensic specialist to make a
scientific study of some 30 films of the Iraqi leader. The expert,
Dieter Buhmann of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Saarland
University in Homburg/Saar, found that the pictures reveal there are as
many as three Saddam doubles who regularly took Saddam's place.
Buhmann says he found the doubles by looking for pairs of pictures in
which Saddam's pose was essentially the same. Using a computer graphic
program, the scientist marked each picture to highlight such features as
the length and width of the head, the size of the eyelids and nostrils,
and the forms of the ears and chin. By then overlaying the two pictures,
he was able to calculate how closely the features matched, indicating
whether the person in the pictures was the same man or not.
La Voz de Aztlan has conducted an independent analysis of the many
pictures of the real Saddam, his doubles, and of the one that US
occupation forces say is that of the captured Iraqi leader. We invite
you to see and conclude for yourselves whether the American public, and
that of the world, is being scammed by the "mother of all hoaxes". See
for yourselves and believe your own eyes! The analysis is below :
Analysis of Saddam Hussein's Real Pictures, his Doubles and that of the
Supposedly Captured Iraqi Leader -
-
The above is the US occupation forces' just released photograph of
who they claim is Saddam Hussein. Notice four "tell tale" details
that raise serious questions concerning who this man really is.
First, notice the dark birthmark just above and to the left of this
man's left eye and especially its position and size. Secondly,
notice his right side of his hairline. Thirdly, notice the shape of
his chin. Furthly notice the size and shape of his left eye. Now
compare these details to two pictures of the real Saddam below:
Do you believe these are the same men??? Now look at the three
photographs of known Saddam Hussein's doubles below. The first
Saddam Hussein even "fooled" Kofi Annan of the United Nations but
look at this Saddam's refined nose and compare it to "bulbouse nose"
of the captured Iraqi alleged to be the Saddam Hussein.
From:
Reuters
BERLIN (Sept. 26) - A German television network said on
Thursday it had made a scientific study of 450 photographs of
Saddam Hussein in Iraq and concluded there are at least three
doubles posing as the Iraqi president.
The ZDF public television network,
working with a German coroner, said it took the photographs
and film clips of Saddam which it had in its archives and used
facial recognition technology to determine that men said to be him
were look-alikes.
"In the film sequences since 1998
only the doubles appear," said Dieter Buhmann, a Homburg
coroner. "He himself has not been seen again."
But in the program, ZDF said that the
original Saddam reappeared on Iraq television on Saturday. It
also quoted what it said was a former Iraq intelligence
official describing how he had recruited doubles for Saddam.
"It was a practice started for
security reasons because Saddam traveled a lot at the time and
had contact with the public," said the former intelligence
official, now living abroad in opposition.
ZDF said in the program, and on its
Web site (www.heute.t-online.de), that "a scientific
investigation proved the 65-year-old ruler allows at least
three doubles to replace him at official appearances."
ZDF said it was difficult to tell
which were the doubles and which was the real Saddam Hussein.
Minor details such as the size of the ears, hands and shape of
the shoulders gave the look-alikes away, ZDF said.
"They have apparently undergone
surgery to appear to look like the statesman," ZDF said. "The
doubles have mastered Saddam's gestures and perfectly mimic
Saddam, with only tiny details separating them from the real
Saddam Hussein."
09/26/02 18:21 ET
Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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