CIA unit's wacky idea: Depict Saddam as gay (2003)

[sabra]

Source: WP

During planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA's Iraq Operations Group kicked around a number of ideas for discrediting Saddam Hussein in the eyes of his people.

One was to create a video purporting to show the Iraqi dictator having sex with a teenage boy, according to two former CIA officials familiar with the project.

“It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera,” said one of the former officials. “Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session.”

The idea was to then “flood Iraq with the videos,” the former official said.

Another idea was to interrupt Iraqi television programming with a fake special news bulletin. An actor playing Hussein would announce that he was stepping down in favor of his (much-reviled) son Uday.

...

The agency actually did make a video purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from “some of us darker-skinned employees,” he said.

Read more: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/05/cia_group_had_wacky_ideas_to_d.html#more

[joeybee12]

1. Your tax dollars at work...n/t

[TheEuclideanOne]

9. Geez, who is writing their material? The guys from Southpark?

[happygoluckytoyou]

20. yeah, that's the ticket, name him Kenny Hussain, then kill him !

[Enrique]

2. this part's interesting

“Saddam playing with boys would have no resonance in the Middle East -- nobody cares,” agreed a third former CIA official with extensive experience in the region. “Trying to mount such a campaign would show a total misunderstanding of the target. We always mistake our own taboos as universal when, in fact, they are just our taboos.”

[apnu]

3. Indeed that is interesting.

"We always mistake our own taboos as universal when, in fact, they are just our taboos." There is wisdom in that statement.

[No Elephants]

37. It's also bullshit.

[OnyxCollie]

4. What about the psyops used here

to convince the public that Saddam was a threat?

Nary a peep.

I'm still surprised when I ask my political science professors is they have heard of the Pentagon pundits; All but one of them have.

[marshall]

5. Didn't Bush the elder purposely mispronounce his name as psy-op?

Instead of the traditional "sod-uhm" he pronounced it "sad-uhm", with the first syllable rhyming with "bad" and "glad". I remember reading that it was similar to the Arabic prounciation of the word for "dog", and dogs are considered nasty vermin.

[Robb]

22. The word for dog is "khalib"

Any mispronunciation on Bush I's part was aimed squarely at us, and probably meant to sound like "Sodom."

[marshall]

29. I did some further research, and the word wasn't

"George H.W. Bush, deliberately mispronounced Saddam Hussein’s name. Putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, experts say the first President Bush also converted the meaning of the name in Arabic, from sa-DAM, which means one who confronts, to Sad-um, which means a barefoot beggar."

from the website
http://dailyuw.com/2002/10/2/the-news-media-name-iraqs-leader-from-saddam-to/

[No Elephants]

40. I don't think that is correct, either.

"Barefoot" in Arabic sounds something like "hahfee," but I will try to remember to check with an Egyptian friend tomorrow.

[name not needed]

27. Kinda like how he used to refer to Mao Tse-Tung as "Mousie Dung"?

[No Elephants]

38. Transliteration is tricky, but Sid damn would be closer than sod uhm.

Bush's mispronunciation was to associate Saddam with "sad," as in "lame." It had nothing to do with any Arabic word.

[crikkett]

6. Saddam Hussein was depicted as Satan's gay lover in several South Park episodes

Hmmm. Does that mean there's a link between CIA and South Park?

:tinfoilhat:

[rayofreason]

17. Loved those episodes! n/t

[dmr]

24. Don't forget: "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants"

(along with Stevie Nicks held in captivity)
:rofl:

[crikkett]

7. Did the CIA just admit to faking Osama Bin Laden tapes?

Hmmm.

:tinfoilhat:

[Mugweed]

13. It appears that they freely admit to faking video evidence

I've seen the differences in the facial bones in the first video tape of Osama denying he had anything to do with 9/11/01 and the following Osama video tapes in which he claims to have been a part of it. The latter were fakes made by the CIA and now the CIA is tangentially admitting that they do this on a regular basis. These days they don't even use video and just release an audio cassette. That's why 9/11/01 isn't even listed as the reason Osama is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm. There is no evidence linking him to that.

[Newsjock]

14. I think you have just hit upon the actual Nugget O' News in this one

n/t

[Nihil]

32. Yep.

Not that any of the sleeping public would a) notice or b) care anyway.

:shrug:

[snooper2]

35. The truthers are going to go crazy with that

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

They can fake stuff! They can put stuff on tv screens in Iraq they can put CGI planes on CNN!

[No Elephants]

46. By George, you've got it! Nice catch.

[MisterP]

8. they did the same darn thing with Sukarno

I also remember the posters of Hussein as Billy Idol

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. "... create a video {showing} ... sex with a teenage boy,..."

I'll bet they were surprised at how many high-ranking Republicans wanted to be in the video. Either role was fine.

[Divine Discontent]

11. they probably make all kinds of lewd tapes at taxpayers expense, such oddness from these folks.

[NorthCarolina]

12. Hmmm...sex with young boy's. Wonder how that idea popped into their heads...

:think:

[crikkett]

16. I've read that pederasty is common in the Middle East. n/t

[rayofreason]

18. It is said that in Kandahar...

...birds fly with one wing - and use the other to cover their ass!

[Robb]

23. Well, it's not "said" in Kandahar.

Colorful, but not local, saying.

[No Elephants]

47. But only when Dr. Rekers visits.

[NorthCarolina]

26. So, the Muslim and Catholic faiths have more in common than one would think.

Commonalities upon which these two opposing religions can build an inter-faith bridge to one another. :sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

43. Please see Replies 41 and 42.

[No Elephants]

41. There used to be a big age difference between men and their brides, but it's much less common now.

I don't believe that man on boy is any more common among Arabs than it is here, maybe much less so. I think someone is spreading that for a reason.

Arab men are more about macho than are Hispanic men. While male kissing as a greeting throws us for a loop, Arab Muslims stone gays, or even worse. I find it very hard to believe they do that, but are perfectly fine with man on boy.

[snooper2]

36. Well, it's widely known that that Taliban had a preference for young boys

nt

[No Elephants]

42. Things can be widely believed, yet false. Please see Reply 41.

[Solly Mack]

15. k/r

[Crowman1979]

19. Just another reason to disband the CIA.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. The Post has redeemed itself!

:eyes:

[tanyev]

25. "He's so gay!" That's the plan?

Who put junior high boys in charge of the CIA Iraq Operations Group?

[No Elephants]

44. Wonder how much it cost taxpayers.

[Aristus]

28. Another winning idea from the Completely Idiotic Assholes...

:eyes:

[Wapsie B]

30. I'm so happy they're cutting social programs to fund idiots like these.

:eyes:

[Arkana]

31. Well, I suppose it's no dumber than the plots the government came up with

to kill Castro in the 60s.

[Lurks Often]

33. Playing Devil's advocate here,

what if it had worked? How many lives on both sides would have been saved?

Granted it was a very long shot, but probably not a very expensive one. This was a low risk, high return gamble that failed.

[daleo]

39. They wanted this to spark a civil war in Iraq, deposing Saddam

Which would have caused massive casualties, just like the civil war that actually happened after the Bush invasion.

So, I don't know that it would have mattered.

[No Elephants]

45. "High return?" Really?

[Lurks Often]

49. if it had worked as planned, then yes.

The removal of a dictator who committed genocide on his own people removed from power for the cost of making and distributing some gay porn. I'd consider that a high return (or high pay off).

[marshall]

34. Rumors of being gay didn't hurt Arafat

http://out.com/detail.asp?id=22719

<>

[Blue_Tires]

48. same ol' CIA