Saddam fled Baghdad villa minutes before US strike: ex-official

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/fri/nov7w19.htm

AMMAN (AFP) - Saddam Hussein fled from a villa in Baghdad's Al-Mansur neighbourhood where he was set to meet four close aides on April 7, only 15 minutes before it was bombed by US forces, according to a former Iraqi government official.
Saddam was due to meet with his number two Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, defence minister Sultan Hashem and intelligence chief Tahir Jalil al-Habbush al-Takriti, the former official told AFP.

The source, who was speaking from a location outside Iraq and outside Jordan, said that Saddam fled because he feared he had been betrayed by his intelligence chief.

The Iraqi leader, who was ousted by US forces on April 9 but is still at large, had been holding regular meetings with his four cronies since March 19 in different secret locations.

On April 7 they were due to gather at the Al-Mansur villa near Al-Sa'ah (The Hour) restaurant which was owned by the Iraqi intelligence services, he said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was organised by "Saddam's nephews", he said.

"Saddam had been using them as messengers for the past few months and they would deliver his messages to his close aides in person," he said.
<snip>

Let the spin begin in overdrive...
Hmmm. Speaking from a location outside Iraq AND outside Jordan???

[Maple]

1. And now the Maxwell Smart gambit

'Missed him by THAT much, 99.'

[RevolutionStartsNow]

2. LOL

And remember this summer when we were hot on his trail? Drat, missed him again!

[Minstrel Boy]

4. "Just to let you know,

your villa is surrounded by 300 Marines."

"I find that very hard to believe."

"Would you believe 100 Delta Force?"

"No."

"Would you believe 50 Navy SEALS?"

"No."

"A Toby Keith fan waving 'Get a Brain Morans'?"

[frank frankly]

6. you know, Minstrel Boy

you are a funny funny funny dude.

ying!

[Minstrel Boy]

9. thanks! you know, the funny thing is,

I write satire for a living, and I'm up against an awful deadline now at 2:30 AM, yet still I come over here and post this shit. :)

[dArKeR]

3. 'his four cronies'? Arroyo, Musharraf, Blair and Howard!

The world has 80% full of crony leaders which can be easily proven by a moral journalist.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

5. ..and they were there stashing their WMD's at the time

yeah, right

[Bozita]

7. Saddam's intell is better than ours.

Coulda been a tease.

Is so, ...

[T Bone]

8. Saddam's intel probably was better

Thousands of Iraqis on the ground who speak all the languages of Iraq AND English too. And looking for a way to help when their basically disarmed country was attacked by the world's largest superpower. Regardless what many of them may have thought of Saddam, Bush tends to unite people in underdog situations. He has a real knack for it.

[Dead_Parrot]

10. Could his intel have been any worse than ours?! n/t

[Emillereid]

11. We missed Saddam Hussein, but who did we kill?

If I recall they did bring dead bodies and body parts out of the rubble. Did we ever bother to find out who or to compensate the families or, heaven forbid, apologize?

[Noordam]

12. :kick:

:kick: