Baghdad Bob: He Stood Superior to Truth

We have them surrounded in their tanks!

"In an age of spin, al-Sahaf offers feeling and authenticity. His message is consistent — unshakeable, in fact, no matter the evidence — but he commands daily attention by his on-the-spot, invective-rich variations on the theme. His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources. He is a Method actor in a production that will close in a couple of days. He stands superior to truth." - WeLovetheIraqiInformationminister.com

Absolutely right. We all loved the Iraqi Information Minister. Baghdad Bob - actual name Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf - was the comic relief during Gulf War I. If you were anywhere much over the age of five back in 2003, you remember him, or at least Saturday Night Live parodies of him.

If you weren't around then, here's a selection of his trademark lunatic counterfactual art:



Bob wasn't a war criminal. He wasn't among our deck of 52 most wanted Iraqis. We didn't want him for anything, really. After he was captured we allowed him to leave Iraq and live the rest of his life in peace.

His life is coming to an end now, according to reports in Swedish news media. RIP Bob, and I really mean that.

And, in the fullness of time, was Bob really wrong about everything?

Check out The Eerie Prophecies of "Baghdad Bob" for a sobering re-think. Consider especially this one:

"How can you lay siege to a whole country? ... We are in our country, among our kith and kin ... Faltering forces of infidels cannot just enter a country of 26 million people and lay besiege to them! They are the ones who will find themselves under siege."

Today, twelve years later, as we send yet more U.S. troops back to Iraq, who looks more prescient, Baghdad Bob or Donald Rumsfeld?