Saddam confesses to stealing billions before ouster

[karnac]

BEIRUT (AP) — Saddam Hussein has acknowledged depositing billions of dollars abroad before his ouster and has given interrogators the names of people who know where the money is, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said in remarks published Monday.

The U.S.-appointed council estimates that the Iraqi dictator seized $40 billion while in power and is now searching for that amount deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries, Iyad Allawi told the London-based Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat.

"Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad," Allawi told Asharq al-Awsat. "Investigation is now concentrated on his relationship with terrorist organizations and on the money paid to elements outside Iraq."

Allawi said Saddam, who has been questioned by American interrogators since his capture this month, gave names of people who know where the money is deposited and also know the location of arms and ammunition depots used by insurgents in attacks against the coalition forces and the Governing Council.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-29-saddam-money_x.htm

[JasonDeter]

1. Proof that saddam is about the dumbest human on the planet

He could have gotten plastic surgery and disappeared into the masses and lived like a king the rest of his life. And what does he choose? To live in a hole in the ground. Amazing.

[karnac]

3. What do you expect?

Delusions of grandeur is common among all dictators. That he would expect to survive and prosper and win against all the forces amassed against him. To the end. The majority Shia. And our ill-conceived presence. Good for Iraq. bad for us.

[GRClarkesq]

21. For Saddam money was nice but it wasnt about the money

Wanted to be Saladin or some other nonsense.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Interesting

for another reasonm the Dubai AP piece also mentioned the WMDs and
taht he is telling us where tehy are...

Of coure I had to laugh

Dubai is not known for a free press and yes they even screen all that goes out to the AP...

Since it is that friendly anybody care to read the editorial secition of the dubai papers? I bet they are neutral towards us, this week.

[Bozola]

4. How could he!

We had that money earmarked for Halliburton!

Sure, right, whatever you highly credible interrogators say.

[maggrwaggr]

5. and we're believing what we're being fed here because ....?

Unless I see the videotape of him actually saying this, I refuse to believe anything anybody tells me about what "Saddam says".

They'll tell us whatever they want to tell us, and nothing more.

[Shadder]

9. Some fools may believe this

But not me. Sounds like more of the same old bullshit lies that we have come to expect from this bunch of thugs. I mean, come on what did you thing that they would say? This sounds like what I expected from.

The problem that I have is I've reached the point where I will not believe anything that these idiots say. If they were to come out and say that the sky is blue I would have to look outside to verify it for myself.

[LiberalFighter]

23. Why is it US military's business to find the money?

Why is the US military so interested in finding the money?

Why was it necessary for Saddam to give the names of people that knew where the money was stashed? Wouldn't Saddam know himself? It would be stupid to give the money to one of your "trusted" allies to stash without knowing the whereabouts and have the ability to retrieve it when necessary. If the money was given to "trusted" allies to hide it would most likely be difficult to retrieve the money.

Under the Saddam regime didn't the money basically belong to Saddam? Especially from the sale of oil?

Bush must be jealous that Saddam was able to do that but he can't do it yet.

[okieinpain]

25. you're right, 10 years from now they will drag out this same story

and say the same shit. anybody that they don't like will be found with child porn, some recipe for home grown chemical powder, and 100 grand.

[freethought23]

26. This story is from the Chalabi puppet government....

An utterly worthless source.

[niyad]

6. the man supposedly had 750,000 (greenbacks??) on him, supposedly has

billions stashed, and we are to believe he was living in a HOLE? somewhat less then credible, one thinks.

[karnac]

7. I've never been to the moon

Therefore, nobody has either.

[Bozola]

8. piffle

A ham sandwich is better than nothing.
and nothing is better than complete happiness,
thus, a ham sandwich is better than complete happiness.

[karnac]

10. Exactly!

So endeth the lesson.

[daleo]

11. An honest trial would be fascinating

To see how much of these claims and counterclaims held up under real rules of evidence. However, such an eventuality seems highly doubtful. I suspect that Saddam will die in a plane crash or something of the sort. Probably, a certain number of U.S. soldiers will also die in this event, thus 'proving' that it was not the doing of the U.S. government.

[louis-t]

12. Gee, I wonder what it would take

to get Bush to admit he stole billions and was responsible for the deaths of thousands. Probably pentathol.

[LiberalFighter]

24. I rather use other methods.

Maybe stick limbaugh's ass over bush's face. But most likely use the same methods that his daddy's CIA have used.

[specimenfred1984]

13. Suddenly GOPricks Believe What Saddam Says

Unless they don't like it, then they won't believe it. And, of course, he'll be plenty mentally unstable when he starts talking about where he got chemical weapons.

I hope THE SADDAM SHOW is the pinnacle of propaganda and we can start moving on from here, these lying media whore lapdog pukes are really starting to screw up the US permanently.

The WMD lies and conspiracy have already set the US back about 5-10 years in the credibility dept, along with the 1000s of other BS warmonger crap lies but, there's still a shred of hope left, namely with us Dems and other anti-monkeys.

But, that credibility/hope is going down the drain fast. Notice how quickly the world banned US beef; the world doesn't believe a word the US says anymore.

End of rant.

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. So can we have our $87 billion back?

Now that we found all this money stashed in foreign accounts, can't Iraq pay to rebuild itself? Doesn't that money belong to the Iraqi people? Shouldn't they decide who get the big lucrative contracts? Or maybe they can just rebuild the place themselves and save billions in the process?

[0007]

16. Silly, it don't work like that.

You've been reading those books again, I see, :P:!!

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. I promise

I'll burn my almanac tomorrow.

[eablair3]

15. how can one believe any of these reports?

Saddam is in custody. They are only going to tell what they want to tell about him. They have lied in the past many many times. I just take this kind of stuff with grain of salt.

But, I don't doubt that Saddam stole billions. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. He had all those palaces, homes, antiques, etc, etc. And, the money to build and acquire all that had to come from somewhere. It doesn't seem like any great revelation.

But, it is good for propaganda purposes.

[IndianaGreen]

18. If Saddam is a POW, any confession would be inadmissable

Would we like to see our GIs tortured until they confess to whatever some future enemy wants them to confess to? Hey, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[pinto]

19. Iyad Allawi, former head of INA, an MI6 led Iraqi opposition group...

Next will be leaks about Saddam's "funding of al-Qaeda", so broadly hinted at in this planted piece: "money paid to elements outside of Iraq"....

And, cleverly, the article fails to mention Saddam had 30 years to embezzle $40B...they imply he went out the back door with the loot as US forces came in the front. Not news.

other info:

http://www.clandestineradio.com/dossier/iraq/ina.htm

[pinto]

20. BTW: Allawi's the guy that shut down al Jazeera Baghdad office...n/t

[grasswire]

22. on CNN....

....Anderson Cooper said that other members of the governing council said they had never heard anything about this. It was clear that this info was only from ONE person.

More disinfo. Why would he reveal his secret accounts? Pfffft.

[pinto]

27. Yeah, Chalabi is keeping mum, and he's related to Allawi. Infighting for $