The cell phone circus

It just keeps getting weirder. First we heard they'd arrested one of the leather-jacketed guards (who couldn't have possibly shot the video since they were IN the video) then later announced the suspect was a government official.


It's challenging to analyze this three ring circus, but here's a college try.

First, we were told the American guards confiscated all cell phones and other electronic devices before allowing the Iraqi participants into the hanging chamber, therefore anyone later caught using a cell would have known the risk. They'd surely get caught.

In searching for a 'harmless mistake' option I came up with this--the culprit planned on keeping the video as a souvenir, but friends convinced him to release it. That might make sense if a guard was involved but it falls apart quickly with a government official, since they would have access to copies of the real thing. Perhaps an official might consider the risk if they believed it could be blamed on a guard, but that seems a longshot.

Another possibility is profit motive. How much did the TV station pay for exclusive footage? Maybe somebody saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a quick buck off Saddam's hide and took it. Thing is, that doesn't make sense with the high-ranking government official theory, either. Why take the chance and show up his own government for a few bucks?

My initial suspicion drifted towards Mowaffak al-Rubaie because of his obviously fictitious statements to the western press that were immediately shown to be false by the cell phone account. But that seems to answer itself, doesn't it? Then again, he's currently "unavailable for comment", rather sinister.

Factoring all of the above and taking the square root we're left with a compelling case for a planned operation. And, while I realize this farcical event belies the belief in even a half-baked conspiracy, believing in such leaves the observer with a sense the whole thing isn't just one big rudderless blimp. In retrospect maybe that's why Bush didn't watch, Blair was on vacation, and Maliki wants out. I for one still hope there's a method to the madness.

NEWS 1/4/07

Now it's a mix of guards and officials, just to throw everyone off. Apparently we're expected to believe our troops only searched and confiscated cell phones of selected individuals, not everyone. It's beyond belief to think the security was that pathetic after all the disinformation they went through to pull off the execution.