welovetheiraqiministerforinformation.com

aine

5 days and counting since the last official comments by the Iraqi Minister for information:

"I NOW INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE TOO FAR FROM REALITY."


he now has a website dedicated to his, em how to put this....to his wonderfully descriptive turn of phrase!

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/


my personal favourites include.....

"We are not afraid of the Americans. Allah has condemned them. They are stupid. They are stupid" (dramatic pause) "and they are condemned."

"The Americans, they always depend on a method what I call ... stupid, silly. All I ask is check yourself. Do not in fact repeat their lies."

"blood-sucking bastards"


Also the word show seems to be incredibly offensive in Iraq...either that or something was lost in the translation!

"We will welcome them with bullets and shoes."

Britain "is not worth an old shoe"

mike65

Amazingly (or maybe not) one of his children is a doctor
here in Ireland he's at a Dublin Hospital. I wonder if he thinks his old mans showing him up...

Mike.

sanvean

... apparently he says he's a good man - in that he was a good father - and that he is fully willing to accept responsibility for his actions, whatever they may be. which doesn't really explain why he's done a runner (although, i probably would too. not that i'd support and be a member of a brutal oppresive regime, mind).

does anyone know whether he was directly involved in any of the torture, murder, etc etc that the ba'athist party commited?

Originally posted by mike65
Amazingly (or maybe not) one of his children is a doctor
here in Ireland he's at a Dublin Hospital. I wonder if he thinks his old mans showing him up...

Mike.

Yes I read that, in one of sundays papers, and he is described as an Iraqi exile!
I presume that means there was a falling out with Sadam, or with Al Sahaff the dad.
Guess his phone calls are being monitored now....
mm

Sand

From reading Lara Marlowe piece in the Times today it seems he first showed up in the 60s, reading out who Saddam hung that day. If hes survived purges and court politics since hes either pretty loyal or a wonderful actor.

He being the information minister, not his son whose residence in Ireland is news to me.

dathi1

Lara Marlowe, Irish Times, April 10th 2003

should have told Mustafa that the war hasnt even begun yet.

SkepticOne

I don't think he will be popular in Syria. Apparently, Syrian newspapers reported the official Iraqi line as fact, i.e., US forces had been driven out of the airport, were not in the vicinity of Baghdad, were being beaten etc. Hence the bewilderment when TV pictures appeared with US tanks driving past known Baghdad landmarks.

Hobbes

LOL -> http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1402

sanvean

i think i heard somewhere this morning that he commited suicide, but apparently the americans think that maybe this is a ploy in order to divert attention from his attempt to flee to syria. but you know, maybe they were talking about someone else.

so yeah ...

Sposs

yea from todays reports it looks like he committed sucide what a terrible shame.

daveirl

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dathi1

Maybe he was forced just like allende (fell out a window) because as a cult figure internationally he could garner support for a new national movement in Iraq..just speculating.

Sand

LOL - I dont know how popular hed be in Iraq....He was the guy telling you your relative had been hung this morning for crimes unspecified after all.

Assuming he beat any legal problems though hed have made a fortune endorsing products in the West - the guy is practically a legend in some circles.

PHB

Theres absolutly no chance whatsoever that he would be able to avoid the legalities of ya know, being part of an oppressive tyrannical regime who like to have their fun with beatings and what have.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by PHB
Theres absolutly no chance whatsoever that he would be able to avoid the legalities of ya know, being part of an oppressive tyrannical regime who like to have their fun with beatings and what have.

With the money he could make on the talk show circuit he could buy a very good defense team.

Éomer of Rohan

What would they charge him with? Incitement to violence?!? Personally I think this guy is the best to come out of Iraq. Bring him over here - he might be able to run political spin classes for the ineffectuals like Mandy or even the masters like Blair.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Éomer of Rohan

Well, being Minister for Information, I was reckoning that he had a good chance of not being involved in any of the 'war' crimes or the mass murders and so on. Mind you they probably would have had Joseph Goebbels shot at Nuremberg even though he did not take part in the war or in the 'final solution' (to the best of my knowledge and that of all the sources that I have read). Speaking of which, I can't help but draw the parallels between the two - after all, with several Soviet Armies invading Berlin it was Goebbels who stood and defiantly announced that they had thrown their enemies back to the Volga....then the Don....then the Dniepr....then the Oder-Niesse. All the while that tiny formation called Chuikov's 8th Army must have sneaked through the vast armadas of Aryan men.

PHB

Comparing him to Goebbles is fair since even though he didnt take part on the "final solution" he was bloody well aware of it, knew exactly what they were doing, and didnt do a thing about it, infact helped it along by propaganda, just like this minister for information.
He is just as guilty as everyone else

Éomer of Rohan

Goebbels propaganda never mentioned the final solution nor did it say 'we should exterminate all Jews' - we do not know if Goebbels knew or not - after all, the German people generally didn't know. The same may or may not be true of Comical Ali.

cerebus

Originally posted by aine
Also the word show seems to be incredibly offensive in Iraq...either that or something was lost in the translation!

"We will welcome them with bullets and shoes."

Britain "is not worth an old shoe"

I don't think anone answered this...?

I believe it is considered an insult in many parts of the Middle East to show somebody the soles of your feet. Maybe it relates to that?

I had it explained to me ater I commented on the mad rush to jump up and down on the head of Saddam when they took down that statue in Baghdad a couple of weeks back - not sure if you remember, but it seemed to be a popular thing to do. Seemingly the act of putting the soles of their shoes on Saddam's head was very insulting...

Duffman

Originally posted by Man
Yes I read that, in one of sundays papers, and he is described as an Iraqi exile!
I presume that means there was a falling out with Sadam, or with Al Sahaff the dad.
Guess his phone calls are being monitored now....
mm

tbh, I can't see any public interest value in reporting about his son.... don't think it's justified at all... poor guy :eek:

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by cerebus
I don't think anone answered this...?

I believe it is considered an insult in many parts of the Middle East to show somebody the soles of your feet. Maybe it relates to that?

It's the feet in general. In most Middle Eastern/Asian cultures, the feet are seen as the dirtiest part of the body (coming into contact with the ground etc. etc.) and as a result shoes are even worse (if you're ever in those parts of the world, do not walk into someone's house without taking off your shoes ).
So it would be seen as a great insult to hit someone with your shoes.

PHB

Oh that absolute crap, Goebbels was in on all the top meeting and he knew exactly what was going on.
Hence why he killed himself and his kids at the end because he knew he was just as guilty as everyone else.

Éomer of Rohan

PHB you ought to read your history. Joseph and Magda committed suicide and murdered their children out of devotion to their Fuhrer - after all it was he who gave them and many of his friends cyanide capsules as 'going away' presents - and as to the children, what could they possibly have done or known?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Éomer of Rohan
PHB you ought to read your history. Joseph and Magda committed suicide and murdered their children out of devotion to their Fuhrer - after all it was he who gave them and many of his friends cyanide capsules as 'going away' presents - and as to the children, what could they possibly have done or known?

No. Hitler wanted Goebbels to continue fighting the war and lead the government. Goebbels defied Hitler and committed suicide after killing his children.

Éomer of Rohan

The leadership of the government even from early on was between Bormann, Himmler (who was eventually discredited) and Albert Speer - Goebbels was not a consideration. Then Doenitz was the man after all.