Saddam uses stand-in look-alikes: German report

Agence France-Presse | September 26, 2002

[HAL9000]

BERLIN, Sept 26 (AFP) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has at least three doubles who stand in for him at official events and has not appeared in public personally since 1998, German public television channel ZDF reported Thursday.

ZDF said in a summary of a report to be broadcast later Thursday that research by a German medical expert had shown that the Iraqi leader had avoided all public functions for the last four years.

Instead, he had replaced at them by people who bear a striking physical resemblance to him.

Saddam also skips meetings of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, the legislative and executive body he chairs, by sending a look-alike instead, the channel said.

The medical expert has used identification techniques accepted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to distinguish between the real Saddam and his stand-ins, according to ZDF.

[AAABEST]

He's always surrounded by people who look just like him, in nearly every photo I've seen of him in the last 12 years. Where have these guys been?

They're called sniper bait.

[RightWhale]

Only 3 look-alikes in a country where everybody looks like Saddam? Keep the moustache black and be ready to express your personal opinion of everything loudly at any moment, and that's it.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Let's see... jobs I would not want to have. Hmmm.... I guess Saddam Hussein standin would have to right up near the top of the list. LOL.

[AzJP]

Duh, so Bush is gonna' bomb Iraq while the real Saddam is watching CNN in his villa in a far away recluse.

.....'course we don't know that the talking head on tv is really George Jr.

m

[smith288]

Man, talk about a huge life insurance policy.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

has not appeared in public personally since 1998,

Didn't he make some big speech recently commemorating the anniversary of the attack on Iran? What about those photos of him shooting his rifle in the air? Are we supposed to believe those were body doubles?

I have a hard time believing this story.

[EternalHope]

Don't forget the widespread stories two years ago that Saddam had cancer and needed drastic treatment to control it.

He was avoiding public appearances at the time to keep from appearing weak. Might give people the wrong idea...

[Drango]

Janet Reno sorta looks like him, or does he look like Janet Reno?

Sorry, my bad, I was thinking of Madeline Albright.

[Billthedrill]

I can think of worse gigs, but most of them involve checking for mines by stomping your foot with your fingers in your ears...

[Corin Stormhands]

Rats! I knew they shouldn't have released that Kevin Kline movie...

[colorado tanker]

Hmmm. If Gerhard Schroeder is a Saddam stand-in, that would explain a lot.

[martin_fierro]

I had a point here, but got carried away & forgot what it was.

[tractorman]

Daschle sure looked like Sodamned yesterday.

[livius]

Maybe evolution, so we're going to have to rearrange those photos...

[Hatteras]

Maybe Saddam's stand-in met with Osama's stand-in and it was all just a big faux pas? Have your machine call my machine...

[LisaFab]

He's always surrounded by people who look just like him, in nearly every photo I've seen of him in the last 12 years.

I've always thought that too! I think it's just a product of in-breeding as it doesn't seem to be prudent to have one's doubles exposed in public.

[Wright is right!]

The lady they had on ABC's "CrimeTime Live" who used to be Saddam's mistress said there was only ONE standin double.

Michael

[Judith Anne]

Wouldn't it be funny if his standin double ordered him arrested and took over...?

[AZLiberty]

Wouldn't it be funny if he was already pushing up mushrooms? How do we know that the "real" Saddam is still alive?