Is plucky, Baghdad blogging, man of mystery, Salam Pax really Robert Fisk!?
Scroll down to read this observation:
“At that press conference there was a gentleman who asked an extremely important question which was answered by Sanchez with “that is speculation. Next question.” I later found out that the man in front of me was Fisk and the question he asked which we all want to be answered was: why was the decision made to attack 1 with a force that would have been capable of annihilating a city block? Why did they opt for killing them when they knew their importance as sources of information on all sorts of things and the wish all Iraqis have that they be put thru trial?
Fisk started the ball rolling, sanchez was asked the same question at least 5 times in different ways and with it the question of how to prove this to the Iraqi people. And what do we get? Meaningless militareses. Beyond disappointing.”
Hmmmm……extremely important question eh?
- Qusay and Uday[↩]
“beyond speculation”
?
meaning known very well, or not at all?
Hard to figure the irony quotient here Geoff, but seems like a fair question to me.
The irony angle is that the blogosphere has long been specualting over the identity of Salam Pax.
Robert Fisk enjoys a certain reputation amongst his colleagues for self-promotion – ergo, two and two make….an ironic joke.
This is not to say that Salam Pax is Robert Fisk, or that Robert Fisk is wrong to have put the question to General Sanchez or that…….explaining irony is much harder than doing it. Maybe I should blog on serious topics? This amusing stuff has it’s perils. I note that the strange bod doing the Tim Blair parody site has me pegged as a Paddy McGuiness clone. And I’m really quite good-looking.
And the Iraqis really have been robbed on this one haven’t they, Geoff or Paddy or whatever your name is? OK, they’re dead, and there may be relief in that; but no satisfaction. Seeing the bros powerless and publicly humiliated should have been the go for the locals’ sense of just desserts and closure.
I won’t argue that capturing them wouldn’t have been preferable. OTOH, at least two approaches were made, and the troops were fired on heavily each time. And the house was a fortress, and possibly tunnelled–both commonplace in those parts. So no, they couldn’t chance an escape, and no, they weren’t worth the life of one soldier.
I think they offed them because they were too scared of trying to capture them alive and letting them escape in the process. Media would have loved that. Can you imagine? Poor platoon leader would have been in a quagmire then by crikey.
As for Mr Fisk et al, it’s a bit like the old tree falling in a forest thing. If we can’t hear him squawk is it actually good news?
Is it just me, or could the picture of dead Uday be almost anybody with a beard? And why pick a compare photo which covers his head and ears? Just asking.
No I don’t think it’s just you Chris. There will, I’m sure, be a host of sightings of the brothers Saddam. Look at the Elvis thing…..
It seems ther Iraqis are unsure, going on this report in today’s NYT, from the Zein Barbershop in downtown Baghdad:
…half the men present exulted that their former oppressors were dead, while the others dismissed the images as forgeries because the dictator’s sons were elsewhere when the attack occurred. In Spain, in fact … At least one member of the Iraqi Governing Council, all of whom were invited to see the bodies, advised the Americans that they should shave the men since having them look more like themselves would be more reassuring … Neither brother had ever worn such thick beards, evidently part of their disguise. Both also appeared to have gained weight … An American military spokesman refused to address suspicions that Uday had committed suicide. The day before, however, the commanding general said that a complete match to Uday’s dental records was not possible because 10 percent of his teeth were heavily damaged … The pictures of the two bodies were closely scrutinized in the barber shop, the customers a mixture of Muslims and Christians and all under 30 …” In a few days they will show us another fat body with a beard and say it’s Saddam,” said Zohair Maty, a 30-year-old laborer. “Everyone says they are in Spain.” Of the seven men in the store, three were convinced they recognized Mr. Hussein’s sons and four were still doubtful. The men looked too fat, one said … The barber wavered. “From the features on their face, I would say it is them,” he said. Then, zeroing in on the face of Qusay, he added: “His ear doesn’t seem like it’s the same. If it had been me I would have shaved their beards before showing them to the public to convince them.” There was some grumbling that the sons of a president should not die this way, even if they had oppressed all Iraqis. One suggested it was a sad thing any time Muslims are killed by outsiders. “I hope they are not dead,” the barber said after a while … (my emphasis)
Apparently the definitive identification was done by Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, Saddam’s former Security Chief, who identified Qusay by the titanium peg in his leg, fitted after the 1996 assasination attempt. But I assume that fitting a titanium peg is entirely possible, post-mortem….
Or was that Uday?
yes, that would be Brer Uday.
I think it was the Guardian, whose journalists confirmed the existence of Salam Pax. No doubt on this end anyway.