[TheConservator]

I think Saddam is now seriously off his rocker (I mean even more than before).

1. There was a report on O'Reilly tonight that the two men who were found with him had kidnapped a local doctor, and drove him blindfolded to Saddam. The doctor confirmed that Saddam was physically ok. Then, the two men told the doctor that Saddam was not talking to them, and that if the doctor did not give Saddam something to "awaken" him, the doctor would be shot. The doctor gave Saddam a large dose of adrenaline.

2. The description of the hole is pretty grim. I.e., not something Saddam would voluntarily consent to.

3. Some of the reports I read of the spider hole suggest that it was almost completely walled in--to keep him in??

4. It seems confirmed that Saddam had no communications equipment, etc. in the hole with him, and did not appear to be taking any significant role in leading the continuing opposition to the American presence in Iraq. He was "out of it."

5. Although armed, Saddam did not resist at all when captured.

6. Surprisingly, Saddam is now reported to be talkative, albeit uncooperative. Indeed, some of the things he has been quoted as saying are quite bizarre--like the water remark quoted above.

Speculation--Something (maybe the bombing on the opening night of the war??) caused him to become significantly loopier than he originally was. That is why he disappeared shortly after the war started. And why the Baathist's had the Saddam double do that speech at the beginning of the war. And why the Iraqi war machine seemed so totally uncoordinated. And why Uday and Qusay were found (and killed) together but without Saddam.

[Sabertooth]

That is why he disappeared shortly after the war started. And why the Baathist's had the Saddam double do that speech at the beginning of the war.

The televised speech was not a double, though it may have been prerecorded.