Iraqi Information Minister

[Mark Heide]

Here's a link to his most famous lines:

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/#quotes

Good Luck

Mark

[IrishHand]

I actually linked that site a couple weeks ago. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[BruceZ]

Leno had a skit with him saying "the Americans are all trapped, they are not in Baghdad", and then the statue of Saddam fell on his head. Hilarious.

[MMMMMM]

(excerpt)
"The Iraqi information minister who became a global celebrity with his flare for outlandish lies and hyperbole has a new job in the media waiting for him.

An Arab TV channel – Al-Arabiya – is offering a position to Muhammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who became known as "Baghdad Bob" and "Comical Ali" for his entertaining way of stretching the truth.

"We see no problem in having Mr. Sahhaf join us," Ali Al-Hedeithy, the head of Al-Arabiya told Agence France-Presse. "First of all, Sahhaf is not on the list of the 55 Iraqis most wanted by the Americans, and he won international fame. We would be happy to have him on our team."...

...Sahhaf has not been seen since U.S. forces took control of Baghdad April 9, putting an end to Saddam Hussein's 24-year-rule, and as WorldNetDaily previously reported, there were claims he had committed suicide.

Now there are new reports that Sahhaf is alive, and even tried surrendering to American forces – only to be rejected.

The London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat cites a Kurdish official who claims Sahhaf had been at his aunt's house in Baghdad for the past four days, and wanted U.S. troops to arrest him so "they can protect him."

Adel Murad of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan says they refused since Sahhaf was not on the "most wanted" deck of playing cards."(end excerpt)

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32303

This guy could even have a career waiting for him at SNL a la Father Guido Sarducci;-)

[andyfox]

I want to hire him for my customer service department, handling only those customers who have received poor or no delivery.

[Dr Wogga]

....how can anyone reading this, take anything reported by an Arab TV channel even remotely seriously, when they offer a blatant liar - as proven over and over again via split screens provided by a host of news services throughout the world - a job to continue to stretch the truth? I mean how can we possibly get along with people whose cultural indoctrination, quite obviously, just doesn't accept western values or principles? Their culture continues to be one of generally accepted double-speak, duplicity, and out and out fabrication

[Cyrus]

Actually, only the glare of TV and the lack of gadgets makes Baghdad Bob any different than all of History's propaganda doctors. Denying something exists when the evidence of that something is all around has been practiced since long before Dr Goebbels.

Baghdad Bob just didn't have access to the phony footage, the computer-generated images, the edited statements, etc, and all that makes today's spin doctors so smooth. Baghdad Bob was simply the poor man's Ron Ziegler.

Still, one has to admire the sheer chutzpah of the man ! A website is the least we can do to honor Baghdad Bob. As to his career prospects ? I think Bob has a great future as consultant to retailers. Or cheating husbands.

[andyfox]

Let's not forget that we had, in succession, the presidencies of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon, all pathological liars. The only two presidents who have been elected to and served out two consecutive terms in my life time are Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both masters of double-speak, duplicity, and out-and-out fabrication.

Now can anyone, reviewing the recent history of the United States, take anything its president says seriously? Our leaders are much more able and subtle liars than this guy.

Lying is not restricted to one culture.

[MMMMMM]

It's in large part a matter of relative sophistication.

We have better liars, while they have more obvious liars. Also their public seems far more eager to believe obvious lies. Also, on average they are less informed and less trained in critical thinking than Westerners, and so more readily swallow government propaganda. For instance, Baghdad Bob was believed by quite a number of Iraqis and Arabs in other countries, but no Westerner could take him seriously.

Also, after Baghdad fell so easily, I read many reports of incredulity in the Arab street in many countries, who felt greatly let down by Al-Jazeera, since Al-Jazeera had given them the impression that things were quite different than they actually were. These Arabs who had been exclusively watching war coverage on Al-Jazeera got the impression that the collapse of Baghdad was nowhere nearly imminent, and essentially felt that Al-Jazeera had been lying to them by continually broadcasting events from the war which gave the false impression that Iraq was putting up a good resistance.

[Mark Heide]

IrishHand,

I must have missed your link, since I've been skipping all the politics lately, unless they are truly hilarious.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

BruceZ,

There was another Leno joke that had him saying," There are no Americans in Baghdad." Then they show the Iraqi Information Minister with about 20 rifles pointed at him after he makes the statement.

Mark

[Dr Wogga]

...U.S. presidents caught lying have been publicly villified and there have been well-publicized and numerous legal and political hearings. You cannot make a good case that any of these presidential liars have been rewarded publicly.

No such arab conscience dilemma. No consequences to be paid. Lying: accepted. Further, because it was lying about the west, you get bonus points - or so it seems /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

No, let's just give the baghdad bobs of the world some perks BECAUSE he lied. Big cultural differnce I'm afraid. I doubt we'll ever get along with the arab world in our lifetime