I thought the CIA was confident that Qusay was dead? Does anyone else remember this?

He's only delaying the inevitable.

Tikrit is a good place for him. If we have to get a little "rough" taking him out, much better to do it in Tikrit than in Baghdad.

'scuse me while I pat myself on the back for this earlier post:

Wild speculation:

Northern Iraqi troops will continue a tactical retreat to Tikrit.

The "Special" (or short-bus) Republican Guard in Baghdad will retreat North to Tikrit with any remaining government officials, including Saddam.

The last big battle will be in Saddam's home town of Tikrit, where every man, woman, and child will fight us. It will be bloody, and it may be where we finally see the chemicals.

Complete speculation, but I've been seeing this for some time.

Posted by phred at April 6, 2003 09:41 PM

We should find the convoy of Benz's and drive them around Baghdad, with coalition flags flapping from the antennas.

Alright boys, we're headin' for the hills...every man for himself!

My speculation was that he had his WMD stashed in Syria somewhere...He just goes into hiding and becomes Bin Laden type of terrorist raising hell on the Iraqi Occupation forces whenever he gets the chance....making him a mystical hero to the arabs...He seems to much of a survivor type to make a giant last stand...

Ben, every Government agency from the DOD to the janitors at the office of whatever agency oversees the Helium Reserve has been asked about Sodomey and his boys, the answer has always been a confident 'how should I know?
Doesn't matter, if he did go to Tikrit, well, the Fourth Mech is just about ready to take a little drive.

JackRyan - not a bad hypothesis, but Saddam has lived in the lap of luxury. He cannot live in a cave, he does not have the same cult of personality as bin Laden.

I don't think he'll get quite the legendary status of bin Laden, either - he has a nation whose secrets are going to be exposed under new management...

If that video of him on the street was real at all, I really felt I was looking at a man who was saying goodbye to Baghdad. He knows his number is up. If he manages to get away, he'll seek exile - but he'll retire.

My bet is still Tikrit.

I just don't buy this! Tikrit is a small place - 30,000 people http://www.world-gazetteer.com/d/d_iq_sd.htm

Running to Syrian is much more likely.

Ah, but will the coffins be pushed into a river by Angry Peasants along the way?

Why would he have trouble adjusting to hardship in Tikrit? He grew up in hardship in Tikrit.

He's been living in luxury for some years now, but I don't think he'll find it a hardship to rough it in his hometown. Until some troops come knocking at his door.

Sounds like it is time for Sod'im to stick his head between his legs and start kissing...

FWIW, Fox interviewed someone today (whose name/title I cannot remember) who was actually taken inside Saddam's underground Baghdad bunker back in the 80's.

His most vivid memory was of his ears popping as they neared the end of a very long elevator ride. It had to be at least 15 or more stories underground, with enough space, supplies and equipment for a dozen people to live comfortably at least 3 months.

Phred...

Excellent point about the saying "Good Bye" thing...I also think that the Tikrit scenario is very plausible except that when all the dying starts he won't be around to participate. He won't whip out the slime until the last possible moment in hopes of some international outcry stopping us dead in our tracks....

Tikrit is a very unlikely place for Saddam to make a last stand.

No offense but this is not a story from any serious source. One might as well be reading the national Inquirer.

Why are people posting stories from totally ridiculous sources. did anyone bother to read the other articles from this moslem Indian paper or ever look at the supposed original source "the mail?"

I take a lot of these posts with a grain of salt..but they do make for interesting discussions...My instincts tell me that this seems like it was to easy in that none of the wild cards came into play (Scuds into Israel, WMD,
Turks-Kurds, etc). A lot of the wild cards were neutralized by spec ops, good planning, etc....but I'm still holding my breath..

Here's a wackier theory, courtesy of Debka and another blog: Saddam's in a Syrian resort. I attempt, partially unsuccessfully, to say it's probably not true here.

I agree that the original source of this story is rather suspect. That is the reason for the title "Saddam rumored..." and the reference to The Mail as a tabloid. Before I posted the story I did some checking on Press Trust of India (PTI). It is a national wire service with sharing agreements with AP and other respected sources. I also checked Google News and found this story had been picked up by multiple outlets used by Google News. I am skeptical of this story as well but the truth is that possibly only Saddam knows whether Saddam is alive and, if so, where he is. This story is at least believable, it doesn't say he was picked up by an alien spacecraft. Since the story was distributed by a legitimate news service I considered it newsworthy. If the administrators disagree and decide to remove it, I certainly would accede to their judgment.