You're wrong about the "A real intelligence op should try to accomplish concrete things".

A great deal of intelligence operations ( I am thinking KGB) involved this sort of subversive activity.

Did you people even read Salam's web page? AND the pre march archives? If hes a Baathist or CIA intelligence agent then hes the worst one in history. Salam Pax regardless of who he really is has managed to bring up even more hatred For Saddam and at the same time pray that the bombs we are dropping never reach his house. This guy is so in the middle its rediculous. I was hoping to never see one of these "is salam real!?!" on command-post.com as its been over done elsewhere on the net, frankly im dissapointed in you.

After reading the first of Warren's brilliant conclusions, namely that the only reason a guy now around 30 could have been studying at a Viennese academic institution is that his father must have had a job in the same city (check the map for large cities within easy reach from Vienna, where any kind of Iraqi representatives could have been stationed in any function ;) ), and that that job could have only been at the OPEC ("probably former head of the mission"), I decided that the entire construct falls under "idiot conspiracy theory" :(((

Btw., Salam himself has offered the full name and contact information of a friend in Vienna by now. Am I the only person to notice it?

Roger Simon and I continue the debate. I'm familiar with the KGB (and their disinformation specialists, the Czechs' "Department D"), and it still doesn't fit.

"Idiot conspiracy theory" is too harsh, but the reasoning here does have conspiracy theory parallels.

Hmm, looks like CP doesn't do comment URLs. Here's the post and debate:

http://rogerlsimon.com/archives/00000135.htm

Warren underestimates people's apathy and overestimates their ability.

The truth is, having the means, motive, and opportunity to think far enough ahead to actually form and promote an agenda is a rare, rare "gift."

The vast majority of the populace is either ignorant, apathetic, just plain stupid, or too busy pursuing their immediate goals to worry about long term ones.

I think Salam Pax is a well-crafted hoax.

If Salam Pax is real, he'll be have talking to a journalist in Baghdad, "exclusive" interview, to set up his cashing in on the celebrity, the 15 minutes of fame, the trip to NYC for the Today Show, the movie rights, etc.

Which, if klaatu will READ instead of shooting off mouth, he will find that Salam has done with an interview with an Austrian journalist.

I tend to agree with the privileged-bourgeois-narcissist-don't-disturb-my-comfortable-life angle. I knew this type in Eastern Europe; scions of the the former political class and apparatchiks, they could easily talk out of both sides of their mouths, criticizing everybody without really taking a position on what they were for.

The key to me is when Salam talks about war being too high a price to pay for liberation -- he does this a couple of times, at least. His obsession with things like the price of CDs before the war was also a dead giveaway, as far as I was concerned. I doubt that most Iraqis could afford the luxury of such concerns on the eve of war.

He's obviously very bright, and might someday make an excellent technocrat or businessman. But his moral equivalence leads me to take him less seriously than I otherwise might.

David Warren is pretty reliable and when he is wrong - the Road Map - he corrects himself. So I would rate his impression as more likely than not.

In any case Salam represents a Baathist point of view and should at least be taken with that grain of salt. He may not believe in the regime of Saddam but he does believe that socialism/communism is the cure for all economic ills.

To quote Seinfeld's Elaine: "Fake, fake fake fake."

This guy was having a good laugh at the stupid Americans as he waxed rhapsodic about how horrible his little life was in pre-Liberation Iraq.

No one would ever get away with free open postings on the wide Internet in Iraq under Saddam without being "disappeared" into a mass grave at some point. The english was too clean, his views to metropolitan and slanted towards a sympathetic western audience to be just some random affluent westernized Iraqi with a free and clear Internet connection to post whatever he wanted on a blog read by tons of sympathetic people.

Fake fake fake fake.

Tim:

How do you know that?

you all should read the salam pax interview published by the austrian magazin format,

tim

you all should read the salam pax interview published by the austrian magazin format, its great

tim

"No one would ever get away with free open postings on the wide Internet in Iraq under Saddam without being "disappeared" into a mass grave at some point."

Which is why he had a pseudonym and firewalls.

"The english was too clean, his views to metropolitan and slanted towards a sympathetic western audience"

All explained by being a privileged son of officials who lived for some time in the West.

"to be just some random affluent westernized Iraqi with a free and clear Internet connection"

What I've heard is that only Baath party functionaries got to have internet at all. Probably you had to be Baath to even get access to activities which would allow you to become "affluent westernized Iraqis." That's how it worked in the Soviet sphere and China.

I think Brant nailed it: "scions of the the former political class and apparatchiks, they could easily talk out of both sides of their mouths, criticizing everybody without really taking a position on what they were for."

Which doesn't make Salam evil, just confused and ambivalent and very honest about his mixed feelings. What I liked about his blog was its honesty. He said over and over he wasn't speaking for anyone but himself, he was just sharing his impressions and feelings. Like any other blogger, I might add. People seem to want him to be an icon of herioc resistance to suit their own emotional needs. But he is just himself.