Is the USA Framing Moqtada al-Sadr? You Bet!

You probably saw, or at least read about, voices chanting the name of Moqtada al-Sadr as Saddam was hanged. You might have heard that a "secret" video of the execution was filmed on a cell phone (the official Iraqi government video was much tamer) and spread on the Internet "like wildfire".

Now I hear from Juan Cole that there are rumours circulating in Baghdad that al-Sadr is gay. Far worse, a small group of Sunni's have now defiled the Golden Mosque in Samarra (bombed earlier by the USA, or so I believe), an act which is deliberately provocative to al-Sadr and his followers (err, weren't the US troops or their Iraqi patsies supposed to be guarding it?).

Even the US mainstream media is openly talking about a "surge" aimed at ousting al-Sadr. It sure looks like he is the new Face Of Evil for the US media, and the USA is working to turn Iraqi support away from him as well.

As Josh Marshall says, Saddam's execution "appears to have been managed and organized at every stage to maximize sectarian divisions in Iraq." Michael Rostum at TPMCafe has more:

Clearly, the location of Saddam Hussein's execution was one of the most secure settings for an execution ever constructed. So, why are we finding on the move about this planet a bunch of viral, unrestricted and uncensored videos of what is probably the most controversial execution ever carried out?

Newsweek provided an interesting interview with Ali Al Massedy, the "official videographer" tasked with producing the official record of the execution. He usually does this job for Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Presumably, they brought him in to shoot the film so that there would only be one version of the execution, and the government would then be able to tightly control its distribution. Ali says as much:

Ali said the videotape lasts about 15 minutes. When NEWSWEEK asked to see a copy, Ali said he had already handed the tape over to Maliki's chief of staff. "It is top secret," he said. He would not give the names of officials in attendance, though he estimates there were around 20 observers....He also said that government officials had not decided whether or not to release the videotape.

Well, I guess they decided. It was so top secret that they let multiple men out of that limited group of 20 bring in cellphones with video functions, and then allowed them to record the execution. I bet you couldn't smuggle a gun into that execution chamber. But apparently you could smuggle a cell phone with a video camera into those gallows, and stand out in plain sight 15 feet from the platform and shoot that video of this "top secret event" to your heart's desire.

And just as our fair president raced to wake up Saturday morning and issue a statement about what had been done in Iraq, several of those 20 attendees raced home or to their offices to upload videos of a hanged Saddam Hussein so everyone in the world could see this secretive execution carried out.

What a sham it has been. Pretending at the time of Saddam's capture that now was the time for a trial, and pretending at the time of his sentence that now was the time to order his execution, and pretending at the time of his execution that now was the moment he had to hang, and then pretending that it was a secret act carried out with discretion to avoid antagonizing any of Iraq's population.

Here we are seeing 21st century psychological operations. It's hard to know who is directing this internet traffic, but it can be concluded there were elements within America's government and/or military, working in concert with Iraq's current scarecrow power-holders, who wanted as many people as possible in the world to see Saddam hang. And from that rope hanged not just that bearded old man, but whatever was left of our culture that hasn't been degraded by the 7 years of 'leadership" we've been dragging around with us.

Now Iraqi PM al-Maliki has demanded (or should that be "promised"?) an investigation into who took the phone video, and who shouted "Moqtada!". Seems to me the answer is pretty obvious.

Cheney wants a failed state where money does all the talking. Al-Sadr is getting too powerful, so he must be brought down.