I think Rumsfeld should openly bait him, taunt him, and make that a regular feature of his press conferences until we know one way or the other. The more noise we make about Saddam being dead (and his family seeking exile) the more demoralizing it is to his loyalists.
I also think Rumsfeld should call him “chicken” and make squawking noises. (I’d pay good money to see that.)
Assuming the ruling junta never divulges Saddam’s fate, how exactly will his body doubles survive the immediate postwar interregnum?
Scrivener - since the cry wolf “He’s DEAD!” reporting from day one, none of his supporters - or the Arab world at last - will trust anything Rumsfeld says or does.
It’s cry wolf, I’m afraid. Even if it was a genuine mistake.
Saddam Hussein didn’t show up for his television address to the Iraqi people today because he was drunk. Or more likely, doped up. It has long been rumored that Saddam has a heavy drug addition. It kinda makes sense. Why else, at this juncture of his decline, would he announce a personal appearance on TV and then not show up?
I think the most intriguing clue that Saddam is dead is that his personal bodyguard, who is with him at all times, is now assigned to another Iraqi official.
My guess is he’s dead. It would have been too valuable, propaganda wise, to set up some situation, like being photographed holding a newspaper. And too easy. Why not?
Does it matter? Ah, theres the rub. It would be great if the whole Iraqi resistance would collapse. Trouble is, a system built around a tyrant can be sustained by simple expedient of replacing the tyrant with another. It may seem a job nobody would want, given the prospects for very early retirement, but humans is very strange monkeys when it comes to grasping for power, however transitory.
Further, it could have unanticipated negative effects. The utterly unexpected resistance we are experiencing is, I think, not a matter of people fighting for Saddam but against us. No doubt that troubles them as well. They might be even happier to fight us if they aren’t fighting for Saddam!
I wonder if, after lots and lots and lots more Iraqis are dead, we’ll get information that Hussein is dead, and was killed in that first strike. Then people could point and say “look at all the unnecessary carnage! He was dead, and you kept on with the war!” Thus making us look even worse.
