{"article":{"id":59917,"heading":"Iraqi let Baghdad fall for payoff","author":"ziggy","created":"2003-05-26 20:05:31","modified":"2013-11-11 00:22:41","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:22:41","article":"http:\/\/www.upi.com\/view.cfm?StoryID=20030525-082954-2864r<\/a>

Report: Iraqi let Baghdad fall for payoff

By Elizabeth Bryant

United Press International

From the International Desk

Published 5\/25\/2003 8:40 AM

PARIS, May 25 (UPI) -- A senior member of Saddam Hussein's government handed Baghdad over to U.S. troops in exchange for a pay-off and a safe exit from Iraq, Le Journal du Dimanche claimed Sunday.

Citing a senior Iraqi source, the French newspaper reported that Soufiane al Tikriti, head of the Special Republican Guard in Baghdad, ordered his troops not to defend the capital against attack by U.S. and British forces, and particularly to hold fire against coalition helicopters circling over the city.

In exchange, Le Journal claimed, Tikriti was paid several hundred thousand dollars and, along with 20 family members, was ferried in a U.S. aircraft out of the country on April 8.

Baghdad fell in about 48 hours, the newspaper observed, with very little fighting.

\"Soufiane al Tikriti was the man of the Americans in Baghdad,\" the newspaper wrote. \"He signed onto an agreement guaranteeing that the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Special Republican Guard would not fight.\"

Citing their Iraqi \"source,\" Le Journal reported Tikriti had come into contact with U.S. intelligence officers via a close associate, Ezzedine al-Majid, living in London.

According to the newspaper, the Pentagon sent notice to reporters that Tikriti had been killed as he fled the capital in a white Toyota Sedan.

Tikriti's disappearance \"interested nobody,\" Le Journal said, because he was not among the 52 most-sought-after members of Saddam's government.

An official reached at the U.S. Embassy in Paris said she had not seen the article. \"We would not be commenting from here, in any case,\" she added.

Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International

\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"It's not clear if this story is true. But what is clear is that there was strong resistance fighting in the south of Iraq -- even in small towns, and where the Pentagon actually expected greater support, not resistance. And then, all of the sudden and in total break of pattern, the Americans had no trouble rolling into the capitol city. That suggests that a deal of some sort like the one talked about below did in fact happen. With time, we will know the truth. -ziggy","numcomment":6,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/05\/59917.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":59956,"heading":"And your point?","article":"I know YOU assholes would have preferred a bloodbath on both sides. You would have complained about that also, wouldn't you?","author":"Horius","parent_id":59917,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-05-26 23:28:19","modified":"2003-05-26 23:28:19","fileurl":""},{"id":59958,"heading":"Horius","article":"The point is asshole that if this story is true it's just antother example of how different the reality of this war was compared to how it was portraid on the corporate media. You know like the staged rescue of private Lynch. Its just an \r\nexample of spinning this debacle to make the Bush regieme look good. ","author":"wavemaster","parent_id":59917,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-05-27 00:38:00","modified":"2003-05-27 00:38:00","fileurl":""},{"id":60068,"heading":"Horius","article":"Horius, \r\n\r\nMembers of the anti-war movement, liberals (gasp!), leftists, greens or whomever you care to address can easily seek to know the truth without falling into your neat little ideological framework. Preferred a bloodbath on both sides? What are you smoking? Maybe you just watch too much Fox news and can't realize that people with different opinions are not always, therefore, traitorous anti-American folk. \r\n\r\nGrow up. Read the writings of America's founding fathers. You have much to learn.\r\n","author":"lick bush","parent_id":59917,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-05-27 15:49:48","modified":"2003-05-27 15:49:48","fileurl":""},{"id":60136,"heading":"spin?","article":"I would have even more faith in the military and this countries leadership if this story is true. I support their effort in finding alternative routes to end the possibility violent situations peacefully. So should we all. Why would would they spin a story that demonstrates their initial plan of action to perfection? To topple saddam with the least amount of fighting and bloodshed possible.\r\ncouple of hundred thousand and a plane trip is pretty good deal for tens of thousands of lives. So why is this story being spun? It doesn't make sense to me.","author":"deb","parent_id":59917,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-05-28 01:17:51","modified":"2003-05-28 01:17:51","fileurl":""},{"id":60139,"heading":"It was a good strategy","article":"It lessened the bloodshed of civilians while preserving\r\nthe pretext of renegade terrorists for the next invasion.\r\nOsama Ben Who?","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":59917,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-05-28 01:29:54","modified":"2003-05-28 01:29:54","fileurl":""}]}