What kept Saddam from "spilling the beans" all those oportunities he had"

[seriousstan]

The 2003 invasion of Iraq, codenamed "Operation Iraqi Freedom" by the United States, officially began on March 20, 2003.

Saddam 'caught like a rat' in a hole
Monday, December 15, 2003

Like here....

Feb. 25, 2003
Saddam's Message For America
Tells CBS News The American People Are Not Iraq's Enemy


CBS) In an exclusive interview with CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein insists the American people are not his enemy and urges dialogue, including a debate with President Bush, to avoid war.

Saddam also denies his Al Samoud 2 missiles are in violation of U.N. mandates and indicates he will not destroy them, as chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has demanded.

The wide-ranging three-hour interview, Saddam's first with an American journalist in a decade, covered the Iraqi leader's feelings on his own people, the American public, Osama bin Laden, and what his own fate might be. He spoke at length on the key issue of the Al Samoud 2 missiles.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/25/iraq/main542025.shtml


or here 5 days after the war had begun....

The Enemy is Trapped: Saddam's Message to Iraqis

By the time the camera switched on to the olive green fatigues and black beret favoured by Saddam Hussein in moments of crisis, the Iraqi leader had achieved a milestone. Day five of America's war on Iraq, and he was still alive, and still in command.

He sensed it, and the Iraqi people did so too. An invasion once seen as a walkover for US and British forces showed no sign of a speedy ending, with the incoming troops meeting unexpected resistance, and suffering unexpectedly high casualties.

By the time the Iraqi president was intoning the Koranic verses that are a ritualistic opener for every speech, the fighting had already outlasted the ground phase of the 1991 war between America and Iraq, following the invasion of Kuwait.

"We are going to inflict on them the heaviest of casualties. Yes, the enemy has been trapped on our sacred soil of Iraq which the people are defending," he said. "I want to make the enemy tired and fatigued to the extent that the enemy won't be able to continue to fight."
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-25-2003-37955.asp

or here Monday, November 17, 2003

'Saddam message' calls for more strikes on US forces

newly aired message purportedly from ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein called for more attacks against the US-led coalition forces on Sunday, a day after the US-handpicked Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) unveiled a plan which sees the end of occupation next year.

In an audio tape broadcast by Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel, a speaker claimed to be Saddam warned the coalition troops "to leave Iraq in order to save their lives."

The voice, which sounded weaker than that of Saddam before the war, called on Mujahdeens to continue to strike the US-led coalition forces and increase their attacks.

Denouncing the US-led coalition as an "evil alliance," the speaker said in Arabic language that the Americans and the British "are frustrated in Iraq... They have no way to continue their occupation."

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/17/eng20031117_128384.shtml

or here May 1 2003

Arabic newspaper says it has received Saddam message

Dubai: An Arabic newspaper said yesterday it had received a handwritten letter signed by Saddam Hussein in which he urges the Iraqi people to resist US troops that took over Iraq and ousted his regime earlier this month.

The message to the Iraqi people is dated April 28, coinciding with the 66th birthday of the former Iraqi strongman whose whereabouts are unknown, according to Abdul Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Atwan told AFP by telephone the letter, received by fax from an undetermined location and signed "Saddam Hussein", would be published in the newspaper late in the day.

The one-page message contains a reference to "betrayals" that led to the US military victory, an appeal to Iraqis to cast aside any differences, and a warning that US-installed leaders will not bring them freedom.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/30/1051381998144.html

[kentuck]

1. Maybe he did?

It's just that the NY Times and CBS were not allowed to interview him...

[seriousstan]

2. Dan Rathers was CBS.

[kentuck]

3. But that was pre-invasion...

What access did anyone have to Saddam after the capture. Perhaps he thought the info would protect him?

[seriousstan]

4. I cited 3 examples after the invasion. I could have found more. Yet never a peep.

[kentuck]

6. Do you think he had nothing to give?

If he did, why didn't he talk?? I don't know.

[badgerpup]

5. Why do I have this feeling...

...that once the coroner pronounces him dead, the top is going to just come popping off a really BIG, NASTY can of worms about who did what to whom for how much? :tinfoilhat:

:party: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :sarcasm: