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Baghdad did not fall -- it was handed over

Fri May 16 02:13:30 2003
208.152.73.171

Baghdad did not fall -- it was handed over

The Arabic media is rife with speculation that the Saudi regime
brokered a secret deal between the White House and Iraq's ruling
party.

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By Jalal Ghazi

April 14, 2003 | Arabic media are speculating that a "safqua" --
Arabic for a secret deal -- was arranged between the United States
and Iraq's Baath regime to hand over Baghdad. Although nobody can
pinpoint the exact terms, there are three clear outcomes. First, the
lives of many American and British forces as well as most senior
Baath officials were spared. Second, Baghdad itself did not turn into
the blood bath widely anticipated by military experts. Third, the war
was shortened dramatically, saving the region -- especially Saudi
Arabia -- from catastrophic consequences.

The following clues, gleaned from Arabic and U.S. media, suggest why
the fall of Baghdad was premeditated.

1. None of the seven rescued POWs was hurt. On the contrary, all
seven were found in good condition. All were found dressed in pajamas
rather than the standard uniforms for prisoners of war, indicating
that they were being treated as guests rather than as POWs. Usually,
Arabs give pajamas to guests who sleep over in their houses.

Arab reports point out that POW Jessica Lynch was similarly treated;
she was kept in the cleanest room in an Iraqi hospital until she was
rescued on April 2.

In both cases, American forces were tipped off about the location of
the POWs by unknown Iraqi citizens. Kuwaiti prisoners, by contrast,
who were captured during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait more than 12
years ago, are only now being discovered.

To date, none of the seven war prisoners has spoken directly to
American TV reporters, unlike U.S. soldiers injured in the fighting,
who became instant media sources. We are told the seven POWs were
taken to Kuwait for medical treatment and intelligence debriefing.

2. American tanks rolled into Baghdad with very little resistance
while Basra, nowhere near as heavily fortified as Baghdad, sustained
almost three weeks of fierce resistance.

The fall of Baghdad was so sudden that it left many of the Arab and
Muslim volunteers who went to Iraq to fight the coalition forces in
total disarray. Initially given weapons and uniforms, thousands of
these volunteers -- who came from Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Indonesia,
Malaysia and elsewhere -- wound up having no one to tell them what to
do. Al-Jazeera reports that some are now still fighting U.S. forces
while others are actually attacking Iraqi civilians.

3. Baath forces refrained from destroying a single bridge in Baghdad,
which could have blocked U.S. tanks access to the city, at least
temporarily. Moreover, only a handful of Iraq's oil fields were set
on fire, leaving the vast majority intact almost in accordance with
Bush's demands.

4. None of the senior Baath officials has surrendered to date, with
the exception of two high-level scientists. Instead, tens of
thousands of Baath operatives managed to disappear without a sign of
internal divisions. This strongly suggests that the departure of the
Baath regime was ordered from the most senior levels and was highly
organized. It also explains why most of the Iraqi forces, including
the Republican Guards, were nowhere to be found when U.S. forces
entered Baghdad.

5. Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Al-Douri, a
high-level Baath functionary, was quoted in both American and Arabic
media as saying, "The game is over," and that he had not been in
contact with Saddam Husssein for weeks. When asked why he used the
word "game," the ambassador replied, "The war is over." Meanwhile,
al-Jazeera reported that Al-Douri has been allowed to travel to Syria
and that he may be asked to represent the new Iraqi government at the
United Nations.

While Arabs all over the Middle East now routinely talk of the deal
that saved Baghdad, they also speculate that the same deal may have
saved Saddam. Unlike the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan,
which preoccupied U.S. forces for months, the hunt for the dictator
no longer appears to be the top priority for U.S. forces in the wake
of Baghdad's fall.

Where could Saddam be if he is still alive? Some Arab media experts
speculate he may have sought refuge in Mecca, the most sacred Islamic
place in the world. No non-Muslims ever lived in and very few have
even set foot in this holiest of Muslim cities.

If it turns out that Saddam is indeed in Mecca, it would be one
further clue that the architect of the "safqua" or deal between the
Baath and the United States was Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah -- a
trusted intermediary of the Bush family and the only Arab leader
invited to President Bush's Crawford ranch.

For the Saudis, as well as for many other Arab leaders, the deal
offers the one hope of sparing the Middle East the consequences of a
bloody and prolonged war of resistance in Iraq. For the Americans,
the deal offers a chance of stabilizing postwar Iraq and its
neighbors, leaving the door open for what Bush calls the road map to
peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

© 2003 Pacific News Service

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About the writer
Pacific News Service associate Jalal Ghazi monitors and translates
Arab media for New California Media, a project of PNS and WorldLink
TV.

Tom Atlee * The Co-Intelligence Institute * PO Box 493 * Eugene, OR 97440

http://www.co-intelligence.org

http://www.democracyinnovations.org

Read THE TAO OF DEMOCRACY *
http://www.taoofdemocracy.com

======================================================
THE REAL REASON WE ARE AT WAR!


TIME MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 13, 2000 - Page 34
FOREIGN EXCHANGE

SADDAM TURNS HIS BACK ON GREENBACKS

Europe's dream of promoting the euro as a competitor
to the U.S. dollar may get a boost from SADDAM HUSSEIN.
Iraq says that from now on, it wants payments for its
oil in euros, despite the fact that the battered
European currency unit, which use to be worth quite
a bit more than $1, has dropped to about 82 cents.
Iraq says it will no longer accept dollars for oil
because it does not want to deal "in currency of the
enemy."

The switch to euros would cost the U.N. a small
fortune in accounting paperwork changes. It would also
reduce the interest earnings and reparations payments
that Iraq is making for damage it caused during the Gulf War,
a shortfall the Iraqis would have to make up.

The move hurts Iraq, the U.N. and the countries receiving
reparations. So why is Saddam doing it? Diplomatic
sources say switching to the euro will favor European
suppliers over U.S. ones in competing for Iraqi contracts,
and the p.r. boost that Baghdad would probably get in
Europe would be another plus.

-By William Dowell/ New York City

====================================================================

The Euro And The War On Iraq
FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/iraq_reason.htm


An Untidy Freedom
( 09.05.2003 21:26 )
Amir Butler writes that the only predictable effect of the fall of Saddam has been the giddy triumphalism and smugness of the pro-War commentators.

Whilst there was never much doubt that America would win the war, there remains doubt about the promise that, without Saddam, the Iraqi people would soon transform Iraq into a Jeffersonian democracy; a shining beacon of liberalism and secularism that will transform the entire Muslim world.
Read more | Politics
http://atrueword.com/index.php/article/articleview/54/1/1/