A new conspiracy theory has gained currency in Egypt in recent weeks, according to which it was not Saddam Hussein, but rather his double who was executed. Also, it was not his two sons 'Uday and Qusay who were killed during the war, but their doubles.
The book Saddam Was Not Executed and 'Uday and Qusay Were not Killed - The United States' Lies and the Double Game, by Egyptian researcher, author, and journalist Anis Al-Daghidi (363 pp), was published in early January 2007. In it, the author claims that Saddam Hussein was never captured, and that it was his double that was executed. [1]
Mahmoud Nafi', a columnist for the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya who rejects Al-Daghidi's claims, presented further details on the contents of the book: "The first thing that Al-Daghidi focused on to prove that it was not Saddam who was executed but his double was the mole on his forehead or on his temple. The 'real' Saddam Hussein did not have such a mole, and thus the Saddam who was put on trial was his double, Mikhail Ramadhan, whose real name is Makhluf Ramadhan…
"In addition, Saddam's hair was thick, whereas the hair of the double we saw in court was thin…
"The Iraqi-Iranian doctor Muhammad Asasidi who conducted scientific research on Saddam… made a computer-aided comparison of the ear of the 'Saddam' who was caught and tried, and photos of [the real] Saddam's [ear] when he was the Iraqi vice-president - that is, before he had a double… and found that there was a clear difference between the ears…
"Some Iraqis who are capable of distinguishing among Iraqi dialects say that they can recognize the original Saddam [even] without a picture, since Saddam's dialect is that of Iraqis from the central region, whereas his double spoke the dialect of the southerners.
"Another proof is the difference between Saddam's handwriting and that of his double, as can be seen from their way of writing the letters 'ta' and 'ya'… and in the way they write the diacritical marks…" [2]
The Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram wrote that in his book, Al-Daghidi called the death of Saddam Hussein's sons an enigma, since there is no information on Saddam's response to their death, or on how they died, and why their bodies were not delivered to their mother. The book claims that 'Uday Hussein's double was a certain Latif Yahya. [3]
Similar claims were made by a lecturer in statistics and mathematics at Cairo University, 'Adil 'Abd Al-Qadir, who said that, based on a mathematical theory, "the Arab mujahideen managed to liberate Saddam from his prison, and he was not executed. The person who was executed was not Saddam, but rather the double 'with the mole'…" [4]
[1] Al-Rai' (Kuwait), January 17, 2007.
[2] Al-Gumhouriyya (Egypt), January 25, 2007.
[3] Al-Ahram (Egypt), January 18, 2007.
[4] Al-Rai' (Kuwait), January 14, 2007.
