"Saddam's Secrets"

A new book is out that says Saddam wanted to fool Iran into believing he had WMD. To do that, he wanted to make the U.S. believe he had them, too.

Oops, that appears to have worked for those in the U.S. who wanted to believe it.

But there are other nuggets of info, detailed in the story by NBC News, about Saddam and body doubles, and plots to overthrow him. Saddam told all this to an American interrogator, George Piro, who had access to Saddam for five hours a day for seven months.

Here’s the link:


Saddam’s secrets

Report Card

A progress report on Iraq is expected to be issued today. Some news is expected to be good. Some news, not so good. Washington Post

There’s a meeting this afternoon at the White House to discuss a threat of a terror attack from al-Qaeda this summer. This story was reported on Tuesday night. Why wait at least two days to meet about it? ABC (video) What the Homeland Security chief meant by his “gut feeling.” MSNBC (video) A government report says Al-Qaeda is as strong as it was before 9/11. CNN Is the media making too much of this threat? Was this story of a terror threat placed to divert attention from something else? What are your thoughts?

A former Surgeon General under Bush says politics trumped science when talking to the public about stem cells, sex education, and the health of prisoners. New York Times

After eight days and at least 106 dead, “the operation is over” at the Red Mosque in Islamabad. Guardian What’s next for Musharraf? BBC

Jesus! The Vatican says Protestant and Orthodox faiths are “not proper churches.” In a statement that has the blessing of the Pope, the Vatican says it’s “difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to them” and Roman Catholicism is “the one true Church of Christ.” (London) Times

Remember UNMOVIC? The U.N. group that correctly asserted Saddam didn’t have WMD? The U.S. and U.K. got it shutdown. Newsweek


“A First Date” has a different feel to it depending on which video-sharing site it comes from.