Saddam's Briefcase Yielding 'Intelligence Windfall'

Newsmax.com ^ | 12/15/03 | Carl Limbacher

[truthandlife]

Less than 48 hours after he was taken into custody, U.S. military officials say that Saddam Hussein's capture has already produced an "intelligence windfall" of new information on Iraq's insurgent movement.

Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Brig. Gen. Mark Hurtling said, "Intelligence stemming from Saddam's arrest has led soldiers to capture several other top regime figures and uncover rebel cells in Baghdad."

The new information came from a briefcase of documents that the deposed Iraqi dictator was reportedly carrying when he was caught, according to MSNBC.

Hurtling told reporters that, based on the find, U.S. officials now believe Saddam was indeed playing a role in leading the anti-American insurgency.

The new information contradicts accounts from former Clinton administration officials who said on Sunday that the Iraqi dictator was likely too isolated to direct continuing attacks on U.S. GIs.

The documents in Saddam's briefcase are said to have provided U.S. military officials on the ground with "a clearer picture of the insurgent command and control network in Baghdad and confirmed the existence of suspected rebel cells."

[Atlas Sneezed]

Watch for all those media folks to report future (and presumably much less frequent) US casualties by terrorist attacks as "despite the capture of Saddam Hussein, attacks continue."

[HenryLeeII]

If he's directing a non-regular force, without recognizable uniforms, command structure, etc., doesn't that just make him another terrorist? POW status would imply too much stature for him...

[Darksheare]

Clinton administration says?
*Guffaws*
Since when has anything those morons said panned out?

[rabidralph]

I wonder if Registered knows what was in Saddam's briefcase? Was it an American Tourister or a Ballistic?

[Lazamataz]

This can't be true. Katy Couric said that there's no way Sadam could have been running any operation.

Please refer to her by her new Islamic name.

She is hereby known as Al-Qaetie Couric.

[OrioleFan]

True.

[Mo1]

The new information contradicts accounts from former Clinton administration officials who said on Sunday that the Iraqi dictator was likely too isolated to direct continuing attacks on U.S. GIs.

The Clinton People are puting out that informaion? ... FIGURES

[aristeides]

I don't think the fact that Skorzeny's SS folks in the Battle of the Bulge pretended to be Americans and thus forfeited their status as lawful combatants meant that regular German troops were not treated as lawful combatants and given POW status, even German officers in command who presumably knew about the conduct of Skorzeny's people.

The Germans sometimes talked of treating Allied "terror bombers" as terrorists, but I don't believe they ever did, officially, at least. Captured airmen were certainly kept as normal POWs in POW camps.

Same goes even for RAF personnel who had been flying in support of the resistance in occupied countries.

[Grampa Dave]

[Protagoras]

Fox news analysts on tv right now saying just the opposite of this report.

Hard to tell, everyone has an opinion.

[Polybius]

I believe that in order to have POW status, you need to be captured in uniform to be considered an enemy combatant. If you are wearing civilian clothes, you are NOT a POW.

The Rules of War do not require you to wear a uniform 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you are not, at the time, actually engaged in combat. If so, any U.S. off-duty soldier captured while on liberty or in a rear recreation area in civilian clothes or buck naked in a shower could be denied POW status with a legal excuse to back it up.

That's not a good precedent to establish.

The Hague Convention codified the qualifications for belligerent rights as follows:

**********************************

REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND
SECTION I
ON BELLIGERENTS
CHAPTER I
The Qualifications of Belligerents

Article 1.
The laws, rights, and duties of war apply not only to armies, but also to militia and volunteer corps fulfilling the following conditions:

To be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;

To have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance;

To carry arms openly; and

To conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

**********************************

In the first point, Saddam is in the clear. He is the leader.

However, if Saddam is connected to any car bombing where the driver posed as a civilian or in any bombing that attacked civilian targets, such as the Red Cross compound, then Saddam would have violated some or all of the last three conditions for qualification as a legal combatant with POW rights.

[Grampa Dave]

Kudos for this:

Al-Qaetie Couric

[ThinkingMan]

Thank you so much for your service- I hope you guys know how many people here are praying for you and support everything you are doing. God Speed and Merry Christmas!

[polemikos]

Please refer to her by her new Islamic name. She is hereby known as Al-Qaetie Couric.

That's Al-Qaetie Couric bin Hasbeen al Ib Eral

[xkaydet65]

Or never trust the briefcase. Remember British major Meinertzgarden losing a briefcase before the battle of Beersheba in 1917. It contained documents showing a british attack north of the city, while the Australian Light Horse went south and east into the Sinai and came up from behind, and took the city in one of history's last cavalry charges.The scene was nicely displayed in the Ausiie film about the Light Horse.

Of course Meinertzgarden didn't let himself be captured by the Turks to cooroborate the intel. I don't think Saddam sacrificed himself to plant false info, but taking things with grains of salt, even in the desert, is a good precaution.

[VRW Conspirator]

Yet, I haven't seen a one of them interviewed. I just keep hearing news people say that "former Clinton officials say . . ." with no names or attributes. I find that unprofessional and disturbing.

Ooooo! The keen eye of a veteran freeper. Run rats run.

[Lazamataz]

Kudos for this: Al-Qaetie Couric

Curtsey.

[Armed Civilian]

The bottom line is, this capture scared the H$!! out of the dum's. This is their first worst nightmare. The second is the capture or finding of OBL during the Dum's Nat'l insurgence or I mean convention.

[Grampa Dave]

You are welcome and thanks for the great one liner. Somewhere I have a photo shop file where al Qaetie Couric is a hand puppet with McAwful as the puppeteer.

[Beck_isright]

"The new information contradicts accounts from former Clinton administration officials who said on Sunday that the Iraqi dictator was likely too isolated to direct continuing attacks on U.S. GIs."

Shouldn't that read that the Clintons are too isolated from reality to realize that W will go down in history as one of the greats and Bubba will go down as another mistake by the voters.