The Dec. 15, 2003 front page headline of the Denver Post blazoned "WE GOT HIM...U.S. soldiers pull Saddam Hussein from hole in ground." Underneath the headline was a large color photograph of a mangy, bleary-eyed man purported to be Saddam Hussein.
I myself am not persuaded that the man in the photo is in fact Saddam Hussein. I will agree that he does look like Saddam, but everything else falls apart after that point in my estimation.
I know that it will be argued that a DNA test accomplished within just hours after his capture has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man in custody is in fact Saddam Hussein.
That would be an acceptable argument if countries who are not so strategically and politically motivated to claim Saddam is in custody such as the United States, were allowed to do their own independent DNA verification tests. This has already been thoroughly ruled out since the U.S. government has declared that the man they have in custody will remain isolated in secluded captivity for months, or even years.
There are many like myself who privately question why Saddam would have chosen to hide himself in a reeking, mice and insect infested little pit with only two supposedly worthless body guards wandering around aimlessly above ground when it is documented fact that he has spent millions upon millions of dollars to construct some of the most high-tech underground hideaways in modern times and still supposedly had his elite republican guard under his command.
The questions continue with, "why was Saddam hiding in the most dangerous and heavily searched area of Iraq?"
The argument that he was there to lead the insurgency falls apart under the substantiation that the man in captivity did not have so much as a smidgen of intelligence information with him in his hideaway, not even a map. We can also discount that it was because of Saddam's much acclaimed ingenuity that he didn't need to have anything written down to run his covert war since the reports about the cognizance of the man in captivity was rated on par with a "very disoriented" derelict.
Why is it that before "this" Saddam's capture it was repeatedly claimed that Saddam's apprehension or death would bring about the beginning of the end of any resistance, but then after his supposed capture this intelligence analysis was reversed?
Almost immediately after "this" Saddam's capture it was announced that the organized Iraqi insurgency was not only expected to continue, but to even increase!
Why was it also announced after "this" Saddam's capture that past reports of Saddam having body doubles were greatly exaggerated and that they had no close up photos of such doubles, yet in the early 1990's newspapers around the country published a rouges gallery of close up photos of almost a dozen of Saddam Hussein's look-alikes?
Just two days after "this" Saddam's capture the Dec. 17, ‘03 Denver Post reported in an article which headlined, "Iraq insurgents suffer losses," that reports were being made that Saddam Hussein had been seen by Iraqis in the city of Fallujah. So certain and adamant were these Saddam Hussein witnesses that it was reported in the paper that "some people swore on the Quran at the mosques they saw him."
Interestingly, a major sweep for insurgents was launched into Fallujah just after these reports of a Saddam sighting were made.
Do I personally believe they saw the genuine Saddam Hussein? No, I believe he is residing safely and comfortably for now in the southern portion of Iraq. I do believe what they saw was another of Saddam's body doubles.
The Dec. 26, ‘03 Denver Post article which headlined "Top TV show of 2003 had to be Hussein's check for cooties" stated, "There's no doubt about the year's best television show. It was that brief, silent video of Saddam Hussein getting checked for, what - lice, strep, tiny WMDs? Who cares? After a year filled with TV images of destruction and death, here was Saddam, collared and submitting to a doctor's cootie search.
It recalled that memorable sight from Baghdad in April of the statue of Hussein getting pulled from its pedestal, then toppling to the ground.
But here was the fiend in the flesh, getting poked with a tongue depressor: What TV image could have been more gratifying?"
Two critical points are unknowingly made in this brief mockery of "this" Saddam's capture. First and foremost is the motive for perpetuating such a lie, if it is indeed one as I believe. It is to gratify people. Soldiers and their families are gratified, Iraqis who were fearfully straddling the fence of whether or not to support the U.S. against Saddam are gratified. Intelligence agents expecting a greater openness with Iraqi information are gratified, globalists looking to unite countries under a truly post Saddam venture are gratified and of course the George Bush re-election committees are gratified.
A pretend Saddam Hussein in hand is just as valuable in many ways as the real one hidden away somewhere in a tunnel. The contingency plans would be simple. If the real Saddam does resurface the whole deception can be proudly presented as a brilliant national security ploy to flush out the genuine article. If Saddam should disappear into the sand forever, then the truth will be buried with all the other countless "need to know only" files.
The other inadvertent point made in the Denver Post article was that the video shown of the captured Saddam was "silent." It is interesting that one of the ways the captured Saddam's authenticity could have easily been proven to the world has been withheld. There would have been no threat to release some innocuous audio along with the video for voice analysis by global intelligence agencies.
Unlike the elusive DNA, voluminous recordings of Saddam Hussein's voice have been preserved over the last two decades. Unfortunately these same recordings can easily be used to construct a phony tape in the future. The opportune moment to prove that the genuine Saddam Hussein is in custody by this method has passed.
It is fascinating how people will acknowledge the incredible acts of subterfuge by their own governments in the past, but are reluctant to believe such manipulations might be perpetuated on themselves by that essentially same government.
What has been presented thus far proves nothing, except that there is another way things can be viewed regarding the reported capture of Saddam Hussein.
For myself these thoughts only lend to support a conviction I have derived from studying the Word of God. There has been no acceptable alternative to my understanding of the prophecies for Iraq and its Chaldean King in these last days as found in Chapters 50 & 51 of the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah than the one I have expounded on over the past 13 years.
Twice before in the past it was proposed to me that perhaps my understanding was wrong when it appeared Saddam Hussein was defeated and could never again rise up to the place of raging vengeance prophesied of for the last day's king of Babylon, Iraq.
Twice Saddam Hussein proved his resilience. I believe the world is in for a rude awakening when Saddam makes his final appearance.
In Jeremiah 50:17-20 God gives a flowing prophecy against the king of Babylon, Iraq from the time Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Jews until they would return to their land of Israel in these last days. He promises that the last day's king over Babylon, who is likened to Nebuchadnezzar of old, will be punished in his land.
In verses 24-25 God speaks of a snare that will be sprung unawares upon Babylon and its leader who has contended against Him.
In verse 28 God tells us this is the day that He is going to take vengeance for what Nebuchadnezzar did to His ancient temple.
In verse 31 God calls the end time king over Iraq the "most proud."
In verse 32 God prophesies the most proud will eventually stumble and fall and no one will raise him up.
But first we are told in verses 43 & 44 of Ch. 50 that the king of Iraq will hear a fearful report of a great assembly of nations coming against him without mercy. He will panic like a lion about to drown and he will launch an unprecedented assault that will at first cause the attacking forces to flee.
Jeremiah 51:25-30 reveals to us that the retaliation against Iraq from the nations will leave it looking like a "burnt mountain."
We are told in verse 31 that the king of Babylon will still be in Iraq and alive at this point in time.
In verses 34-35 God once again connects this prophecy against the last day's king over Babylon, Iraq with Nebuchadnezar of old.
This prophecy has never been fulfilled in history.
Saddam Hussein's self identification with Nebuchadnezzar would take another whole message to list. He has contended directly against the God of Heaven by his attempts to mock the prophecies of God at his rebuilt Babylon. His last act at Babylon, just before the 1990 Persian Gulf War broke out was to begin rebuilding the blasphemous Tower of Babel. One of Saddam's greatest expressed desires was to do to modern Israel what Nebuchadnezzar did to the Jews of the past.
While God refers to the last day's king of Babylon, Iraq as "the most proud" "who contends" and a "lion," Saddam's name translates to mean "One who confronts" and Saddam has declared himself to be the "lion" of Iraq. Although Saddam is known to have weapons of mass destruction, no assault against his country has threatened him enough for him to order their use. Something will one day soon cause the massive prophesied assault of countries against Iraq. This time they are to come from her north. We contend that this attack will cause Saddam to unleash his most deadly arsenal of weapons.
The retaliation described in the Bible against Iraq is expressed in terms we would identify in our modern age as nuclear.
Saddam is my only viable candidate. I do not foresee another Chaldean king rising up in Iraq who has ancient roots going back to the destruction of God's Temple. I do not anticipate the arrival of a new Iraqi king who will once more liken himself to Nebuchadnezar, nor do I anticipate another build up of secretly hidden weapons in Iraq that can cause the nations to flee for their lives.
God reveals in Jer. 50:43-44 & 51:31 that this king will not be a prisoner of his enemies when the final showdown begins. I am therefore left with only four possibilities.
1.) The Saddam Hussein now in custody is a look-alike.
2.) The Saddam Hussein now held in custody is somehow going to escape and re-establish himself and his control within Iraq.
3.) There is another unknown Chaldean man who will shortly rise up and take the place of Saddam Hussein as king over Babylon and will carry the battle on.
4.) I have erred in my understanding of God's prophecies for Iraq in Jeremiah 50 & 51.
I have already stated my case as to why I stand by choice #1.
Numbers 2 & 3 do not fit well in my estimation, but are always distant possibilities.
Number 4 is another possibility I will have to apologize for and correct if God ever shows me another understanding for His prophecies which I have as devotedly as possible studied and researched by His prayerful guidance. For now I have been shown no acceptable alternative to the interpretation of Jeremiah 50 & 51 and have no greater revelation to stand on. I can only state that we are at the very close of the age and things are going to continue to go from bad to worse.
At any moment Jesus could call His Church to heaven as is prophesied in I Thessalonians 4:15-18. All that is going to matter at that moment is whether you had believed in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and your going up, or you had rejected the sacrifice He offered of Himself on the cross for you and you are left behind. What awaits you then will be a time of tribulation unknown since ever man walked the earth.
If you still reject the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and die you will from that time on for eternity be tormented in the Lake of Fire.
As a fellow human being I receive no pleasure in stating this fact, but Jesus never held back the plain truth of this matter and I can do nonetheless.