# Pre-war rumors about Saddam **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 1, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334 "2004-11-01T15:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/1 "2004-11-01T15:25:42Z")
This is probably more of a General Question, but since everything related to the Iraq War turns into an argument anyway, I’m putting it here in Great Debates. We’ve had lots of arguments about WMD. We know that there were none, etc. But I’m curious about some more minor things we were told about Saddam, and how true that is. Before the Iraq War, here’s a few things people knew about Saddam: 1. He had many doubles, who were surgically altered to look exactly like him. Everyone took this very seriously. For example during the early days of the invasion, after Saddam made a surprise appearence in Baghdad, in many newscasts I heard the musing that perhaps it was just a double. To me, this whole thing seemed ridiculous, but I’m no expert in Iraq, so I just shut my mouth. 2. Saddam wrote a copy of the Koran in his own blood. Even if Saddam was so religious, is this even possible? That’s a lot of blood. 3. Saddam shredded people in a giant paper shredder. This obviously sounded a bit stupid, but it was never really debated, so it became common wisdom. I don’t think anyone has ever found this giant paper shredded, although I just might have missed it. So, are these three things as erroneous as I thought? If I’m wrong I’d love to know it. But if I’m right, then why did people believe such silly things? And what other anti-Saddam innuendo has been discredited? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/2 "2004-11-01T15:43:03Z")
It’s now archived, but there was a great article called ‘Tales of the Tyrant’ in the May 2002 issue of THE ATLANTIC. It said that 1 and 2 were true; the doubles weren’t that numerous but they filled in for him at low-priority events. Since you were not allowed to ask the dictator any questions or get close to him at all (he even had his pool water tested to make sure he wasn’t being poisoned) a guy smiling and waving from far away was good enough. The Koran wasn’t all his blood; a few ounces were added once a month or so for a few years to be mixed in with some regular ink. It was on display at the huge new mosque, the one with the minarets that looked like missiles, IIRC. 3 I’m not sure of. Wouldn’t put it past him, but I don’t think there’s hard evidence for it. There’s plenty of proven methods of torture out there already. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/3 "2004-11-01T16:47:20Z")
[Latif Yahia: “I was Saddam’s Son”](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1559703733/qid=1099327958/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-7869565-3692917?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/4 "2004-11-01T17:50:50Z")
Aha! Found a mirror site with the [article.](http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/atlantic-bowden-saddam.htm) > [@](#): > > Because his world view is essentially tribal and patriarchal, destiny means blood. So he has ordered genealogists to construct a plausible family tree linking him to Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad. (This ancestry is an honor he shares, perhaps, with everyone in the hated West. See “The Royal We,” by Steve Olson, in this issue.) Saddam sees the prophet less as the bearer of divine revelation than as a political precursor - a great leader who unified the Arab peoples and inspired a flowering of Arab power and culture. The concocted link of bloodlines to Muhammad is symbolized by a 600-page hand-lettered copy of the Koran that was written with Saddam’s own blood, which he donated a pint at a time over three years. It is now on display in a Baghdad museum. > > and a good paragraph: > > If Saddam has a religion, it is a belief in the superiority of Arab history and culture, a tradition that he is convinced will rise up again and rattle the world. His imperial view of the grandeur that was Arabia is romantic, replete with fanciful visions of great palaces and wise and powerful sultans and caliphs. His notion of history has nothing to do with progress, with the advance of knowledge, with the evolution of individual rights and liberties, with any of the things that matter most to Western civilization. It has to do simply with power. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/5 "2004-11-01T20:25:58Z")
[Saddam’s shredder is a myth.](http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3314/index.php) > [@](#): > > I suspected the often quoted UPI story about a human shield “pastor” who “was shocked back to reality”, and claimed to have proof of Saddam shredding people, was a lie, so I contacted the Assyrian Church of the East, asking for confirmation. The e-mail I sent to Bishop Soro is below, I received this reply from the Bishop: > > From: [ABSoro@aol.com](mailto:ABSoro@aol.com) > Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 08:17:47 EST > Subject: Re: Can you confirm this story? > > Johnny: > > The only thing that I can confirm is that Kenneth Joseph, IS NOT a pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East nor has he been associated with the Assyrian Church in any shape or form. > > Bishop Soro > Secretary General of Interchurch Relations > Assyrian Church of the East Also see [here](http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,1155399,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/6 "2004-11-01T22:37:11Z")
Very interesting guys. Thanks for the replies. In summary, 1 and 2 are likely true to some degree. He may have had doubles, but still no evidence yet that they were surgically altered to look like him. Someone else, it seems, wrote a Koran using some of Saddam’s blood. No giant paper shredder, though. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-war-rumors-about-saddam/272334/7 "2004-11-01T22:45:10Z")
> [@Avumede](#): > > …but still no evidence yet that they were surgically altered to look like him. The guy whose book I linked to, Latif Yahia, did have plastic surgery.