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Fake Saddam Interview Put Out By MEMRI

by CounterPunch (reposted)
A bizarre "interview" with imprisoned former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was circulated yesterday by MEMRI TV, a non-profit in Washington DC that specializes in translating and circulating mainly Arab-language materials, selected to display the Arab world in a poor light, to the advantage of Israel.

Releasing its translation of the purported interview, supposedly conducted over the phone to the imprisoned former dictator by Al-Fayhaa TV on on March 28, 2006, MEMRI TV trumpeted the news to its customers that "Saddam Hussein issues a Calls to Cut Off Nose and Ears of Former Iraqi VP 'Izzat Al-Duri and Declares: It Will Make Me Happy if Iraq Turns Into Ashes, Iraq is Not Worth Two Bits Without Saddam Hussein."

Saddam is allegedly reacting to a taped message issued by his former vice president and loyalist 'Izzat Al-Duri, who addressed the Arab League summit in Sudan.

Saddam Hussein: "All 'Izzat Al-Duri ever wanted was to address the Iraqis as their leader, even if just for a few short minutes. Everybody remembers that he once addressed the Iraqi Women's Union without my knowledge. Do you know what I did to him?"

Interviewer: "We don't know. Tell us."

[...]

Saddam Hussein: "The first thing I did when they brought him was to spit in his face."

Interviewer: "Why?"

Saddam Hussein: "I said to him: 'You despicable man, I spit on your owl's face. How do you address these glorious women without me knowing about it?'"

[...]



"The only one who makes speeches in Iraq is the supreme leader - meaning me.


Interviewer: "You're in prison. How can you give speeches?"

Saddam Hussein: "That's a good question. You watch the court sessions. How many sessions have there been so far? Fifteen sessions?"

Interviewer: "Seventeen."

Saddam Hussein: "I give a speech at every single session."

[...]

"If I don't give speeches, I get heartburn.

"I call to punish 'Izzat Al-Duri, because he burned my heart."

Interviewer: "Why, because he published a statement without your permission?"

Saddam Hussein: "He gave a speech without me knowing it. The punishment that I want for him is to cut off his tongue and ears."

Interviewer: "Why cutting off his tongue and ears?"

Saddam Hussein: "To make him the same as all the renegades whose tongues and ears I cut off. And if 'Izzat Al-Duri continues giving speeches in sign language, like the deaf do, I demand that his hands be cut off. And so on and so forth, until 'Izzat Al-Duri is finished, and we get rid of this degenerate."

MEMRI TV circulated this as "Special Dispatch No. 1127" to its customers and it was instantly seized upon by Laurie Milroie, now somewhat fallen in status, but once riding high as an "Iraq expert" and a prominent propagandist for the US-led attack of 2003.

Milroie rushed out the "interview" at 12.57 EST, March 28,to her e-mailed Iraq News, under the breathless heading "Saddam Interview (Stunning), MEMRI TV".

Then, just over 5 hours later came a second, crestfallen communiqué:

From: "Laurie Mylroie" <sam11 [at] erols.com>
Date: March 28, 2006 6:05:06 PM PST
To: "Laurie Mylroie" <sam11 [at] erols.com>
Subject: Saddam Interview was Hoax

A knowledgeable US government official has informed "Iraq News" that that remarkable interview with Saddam Hussein, published by MEMRI TV, is almost certainly a hoax.

Had the credulous Mylroie and editors at MEMRI TV been familiar with the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they might have wondered about such choice lines attributed to Saddam Hussein as "You despicable man, I spit on your owl's face."


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http://counterpunch.org/news03292006.html
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