Canada Free Press -- ARCHIVES

Because without America, there is no free world.

Return to Canada Free Press

Cover Story

The Second Saddam

By Judi McLeod
Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Toronto, ON-- When it comes to the 2003 capture of the "Butcher of Baghdad", there will always be doubting Thomas's to claim that the Iraqi dictator is one of his own stand-ins.

The "That's not Saddam!" chorus must have hit "I told you so" mode when news hit that raw DNa data can be--and actually was--manipulated at Cellmark, the world's largest DNa testing firm.

Cellmark did the data work in some of the United State's most high profile cases, analyzing data in the murder investigation of JonBenet Ramsey and the O.J. Simpson case.

Last November, Cellmark fired one of its analysts, Sarah Blair, charging that she electronically manipulated data during analysis--not once but 20 times.

Though Blair, who denies the allegations, did not alter the outcome of the tests, she overrode procedures designed to ensure the accuracy of the tests by substituting data in the known specimen, or control samples, according to Cellmark.

This came as a shock to the forensic community, which has always believed that raw data cannot electronically be manipulated.

"I have not heard of anything like this before," Lawrence Kobilinsky, an associate provost at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said at the time.

You don't have to be a fan of science fiction to wonder how much Saddam would pay to have a forensic test to say someone else is the real Saddam Hussein. Would it be worth $10 million, $50 million or $200 million for him to save his neck from the hangman's noose?

Whatever did happen to Saddam's doubles? For years, Iraqis and intelligence agencies have known about Saddam's step-ins. as far as is known not one of them has ever come forward. No Second Saddam has ever appeared on Larry King.

It doesn't help that recent photos of Saddam depict a man with jet-black hair. Does the world's most famous prisoner get bottles of hair dye delivered along with his preferred poetry?

The same captured Saddam, positively identified by Iraqis who knew him, is nearly 70 years old. He has been imprisoned, spent months on the lam, holed up in a rat's hole, and has had both sons and a grandson killed. Does the Saddam in BVDs look anything like a man who has gone through all that as he nears his seventh decade?

More than the Doubting Thomas League would say, "No Way!"

add to this unsolved mystery that no one has heard any details of the DNa analysis on Saddam from the corpses of sons Uday, Qusai and grandson, Mustafa.

With kidnapping for ransom or political demand being somewhat of a cottage industry in Iraq, how is it possible that not a single one of the kidnappers has ever demanded, "Free Saddam!"?

Perhaps NewScientist.com, the world's leading online science and technology news service, got it right in pointing the finger of blame at the KGB government of Russia. Did the Russian government find common cause in the old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"?

Maybe Saddam is hiding it out with Osama bin laden in Yamantau, in the Russian Urals, the only place on earth where the United States can't get to him.

But if that's the case, who is that strange dude in the BVDs whose trial is coming up in another two months?


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement