COMICAL ALI: 'DEATH' OF A LEGEND

New York Post ^ | 4/16/03 | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON - It could just be more of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf's trademark disinformation, but there were reports yesterday that he committed suicide.

Two Iranian newspapers reported that Saddam's notorious spinmeister, whose outlandish briefings on the state of the Iraq war earned him the nickname "Comical Ali," hanged himself shortly after the fall of Baghdad last week.

[ambrose]

This is how they're reacting to this story over on the DU:

scarletwoman (3242 posts)
Apr-15-03, 07:06 PM (ET)
Reply to post #11
13. I suppose people will think I'm crazy,
but this news has started me crying...
Who knows what kind of man he actually was -- maybe he did terrible things, maybe he helped Saddam's regime imprison, torture and murder people. But what brings me to tears is the image of the comi-tragic nobility of this man; who, until the bitter end, stood unbowed before his countrymen, attempting to rally to them to resist the foreign invaders of their homeland.

Yes, there was the clear ridiculousness of his futile efforts, but there was also the sublime. A man facing the end of everything he had served and believed in, a man who no doubt fervently wished that his useless fictions were true -- who stood there in unflinching denial of that which he simply would not and could not abide.

So, I mourn him. As I mourn all the uncounted dead in this atrocity that our country has so willfully wrought. All humankind is my family, and a life ended in sorrow and despair grieves me no matter that that person is unknown to me.

Farewell, Ali. You did what you could, you stood fearless before the juggernaut and refused to accept its power over you.

Allah akbar, as-salem alaykum...
sw


Flubadubya (1939 posts)
Apr-15-03, 07:26 PM (ET)
Reply to post #13
15. Well scarletwoman...
I'm not at all surprised at your reaction to this. That's the way sensitive, caring people feel about these things. I think it is quite admirable and am glad that you expressed how you felt. Now, if only about another 3 or 4 billion people could be that way.
Remember the line from the BeeGee's little tune that went something like this:

"I started a joke, that started the whole world crying..."

Thank you scarletwoman, thank you very much.

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Top



scarletwoman (3242 posts)
Apr-15-03, 07:42 PM (ET)
Reply to post #15
17. Thank you for your kind words.
It bothers me, it hurts my heart, to see people trivialising a life -- any life.
I'm not a Christian, but I respect the teachings of Jesus: "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to Me."

sw


arikara (455 posts)
Apr-16-03, 01:51 AM (ET)
Reply to post #13
20. I don't think you're crazy at all.
I feel sad too and hope it isn't true. We don't know what type of person he was/is, but he certainly was one of the few bright spots to come out of this terrible tragedy. I like to think he had a huge sense of humor and I have found a lot of goodness in people with humor.

[Support Free Republic]

---

"THANK YOU!"
	Keep Our Republic Free Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[this_ol_patriot]

You can't make stuff up like that. I never go there but if this is a honest sampling from DU they either have a bunch of basement trolls over there or someone has been breeding idiots for the last 60 years.

[Asclepius]

... So, I mourn him. As I mourn all the uncounted dead in this atrocity that our country has so willfully wrought. All humankind is my family, and a life ended in sorrow and despair grieves me no matter that that person is unknown to me ...

This woman needs a date real bad.

[optik_b]

I'm gonna miss Baghdad Bob. He was so funny. So emblematic of the arab style of news and trash talking.

[Hugin]

I don't believe it for one minute. He collected $200,000 from the reporters at his last press conference, telling them he needed to pay for their minders, and if they didn't fork it over immediately they would be deported. Then he held a very quick conference, and split in the middle of it. Sounds like a guy getting ready to blow town, not commit suicide.

[Simmy]

I don't believe them as well. After all, a dead man doesn't need $200,000.

If he is dead, he would be greatly missed. He would be perfect on SNL or as the head of the Democratic Party. :-P I hope (and believe) these reports of his demise isn't true.

[kattracks]

Right, and I'll bet Baghdad Bob thought this one up himself.

[Rome2000]

Thats where rats belong alright, "underground"

[JoJo Gunn]

Catch it while you can. Threads don't last long over there. Corrosives in the sewage, etc.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID61/23945.html

[Joe Boucher]

He didn't commit suicide, someone committed suicide for him. Hopefully some of our special ops boys.

[Caipirabob]

This woman needs a date real bad.

She wouldn't budge if it meant she had to miss "Oprah!"

[cajungirl]

At last an issue we can all get together with DU over,,we all loved Bag Bob,,we are united in a way we never were~~last nite the Syrian ambassador was doing a pale imitation of Bob, he may be in training to be the replacement. Actually I hope Bob is alive, someone that deluded and certain of his delusions shouldn't have to die. And if he is just a spinmeister, well he is the spinnner of all times. He was a gem and gave me many laughs.

[Bernard]

And on the way out, he handed $5,000 to the guy backstage and said, "Get this to Ray's music emporium. I have to leave now, do you know of another way out?"

[driftless]

Thanks for posting this load of drivel from DU. Actually everything on their site is drivel. By the way, people should know that the comments of the person who calls herself "scarlet woman" reflects the view of someone who is a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist as are a sizable number of posters on that far-radical-left forum. Many of their posters are not only anti-war but fervent disciples of radical-leftist politics and haters of everything that is considered normal, pro-American thoughts and actions.

[JustPiper]

Al-Sahaf was said to have hanged himself last Wednesday, hours after U.S. forces took control of Baghdad.

The last time we saw him, he was running into the hotel giving a brief Disinformation chat. What day were the journalists killed? Anyone remember?

[Lawgvr1955]

"The unnecessary use of force in the apprehension of Baghdad Bob has been approved".

[SamAdams76]

"If it were up to us, this poor man would still be alive. And so would "Chemical Ali" and all the other members of the Saddam Hussein government who were so brutally murdered by the evil George Bush. Who are the Iraqi people going to look up to now for leadership? Down with Bush!"

"I'm still waiting for that new war plan."

[Lawgvr1955]

Your statement that I am alive is far from the truth. I tell you this, I am dead. Yes, with the complete Iraqi victory over the Infadels, my life's work was complete. I committed suicide at the walls of Baghdad. Praise Allah, I am with my 72 virgins, as we speak.

I raise my shoe at you who say I took two hundred thousand of your worthless American dollars at the last press conference. A curse on your mustache. You are a serpent whose head should be severed. I am dead I tell you. Dead.

Oh, by the way, don't look for me in Syria. I am not there. I can assure you, I am not there.

Baghdad Bob.