Haltickling
2nd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2001
- Messages
- 4,353
- Points
- 0
There was quite an interesting report on German TV today: A morphologist compared all news report videos and pictures of from the last several years, and found out with his specialized computer identification program that Saddam uses at least 3 lookalikes for public appearances. The same computer program is used by the FBI, and even uniovular (identical) twins can be discerned by it. The most striking facts are different ear-shapes and forehead measures, and seen in split-screen comparison, the discrepancies are quite easy to spot.
Now, it’s not unusual that unpopular rulers hide behind dupes. The interesting fact is: The ersatz Saddams even appeared during official State business, like with the ‘Revolutionary Command Council’, in receptions for other Arab presidents and ambassadors, as well as at meetings of the Arab League.
And: The real Saddam (identifiable from earlier pictures when the use of copies wasn’t really probable) had vanished from the public since 1998. Only in very recent TV reports (during the last few days), the original Saddam can be seen again, obviously in bad health. This also correlates with intelligence information that he’s suffering from cancer. OTOH, the recent videos were broadcast by Iraqi TV only, and we don’t really now whether they are really up-to-date. And we all know that TV images can be doctored quite easily.
If you want to take a look yourself, go to http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0,1872,1000000,00.html
and click on the small header ‘Bildergalerie’ below Saddam’s pics. I don’t know how long this gallery is up, so I suggest to go there today (9/26) if you want to see it¸ the page gets updated daily.
Just thought you might be interested…
Now, it’s not unusual that unpopular rulers hide behind dupes. The interesting fact is: The ersatz Saddams even appeared during official State business, like with the ‘Revolutionary Command Council’, in receptions for other Arab presidents and ambassadors, as well as at meetings of the Arab League.
And: The real Saddam (identifiable from earlier pictures when the use of copies wasn’t really probable) had vanished from the public since 1998. Only in very recent TV reports (during the last few days), the original Saddam can be seen again, obviously in bad health. This also correlates with intelligence information that he’s suffering from cancer. OTOH, the recent videos were broadcast by Iraqi TV only, and we don’t really now whether they are really up-to-date. And we all know that TV images can be doctored quite easily.
If you want to take a look yourself, go to http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0,1872,1000000,00.html
and click on the small header ‘Bildergalerie’ below Saddam’s pics. I don’t know how long this gallery is up, so I suggest to go there today (9/26) if you want to see it¸ the page gets updated daily.
Just thought you might be interested…
