The cell was surprising clean for an Iraqi prison cell. There was a desk, a television and a private toilet and sitting on his bed waiting to be executed there was a man. He wasn’t scared or bitter; he just sat on his bed with a contented look on his face. This man knew something that the guards didn’t. Everyone in the prison assumed that this man was to be executed that day at 06:00 but this man was certain that he would be saved at the last moment. This happened in all the American spy films. The hero saved the day, the hostage or even the world at the very last moment. He wasn’t sure what the exact time was but he did know that it was early morning. There was no light in the cell but there was always some form of light that crept in from the compound. He laid himself down on his bed and imagined an imaginary interview with a television or radio journalist and he also wanted to talk to his God.
My name is Ali Abbas Salman but you know that already and I’m telling you a story that you already know Sir but I’ll tell it anyway to pass the time. I’m waiting here in my cell to be rescued by some representatives from NATO.
In one hour or so I am to be executed if they don’t come and pick me up. So I hope they don’t plan to be late. It’s not going to be a public execution which makes things easier. They can just file a report to the authorities that the execution has been carried out. I then can hop on a plane and go back to New York where my family is waiting for me. I agreed to being captured and held here under the American covert act of Rendition. I am doing this to keep my family safe and to ensure peace in my former homeland Iraq. I know that I am in no danger because I have absolute trust in the American military and government.
On December 13th 2003 I was captured, imprisoned and handed over to the Iraqi authorities. I was subsequently given a trail, condemned to death and then found guilty. Please don’t try and work this process out. It’s called justice and not every country has the same perspective on their view of justice
My story began in the autumn of the Christian year 1999 I was a lecturer at The University of Baghdad I liked my job I was well paid. Me and my family lived in a nice house in a nice area of the city. My beautiful wife Adara had borne me three lovely daughters and a fine handsome young son. We had waited a long time to be blessed with children and then one day you My Lord God smiled on us and my beautiful wife Adara became pregnant and then three times more I thank you My God for every one of my blessings.
My strange adventure began when one day when as an experiment and after long nagging conversations with Adara I grew a mustache. My wife was right this new addition to my face did look good on me and I received many compliments from my colleagues and students alike. It was early on a Monday morning I was just getting ready to take a class and the phone rang in my office. It was the school secretary asking me to come to the principal’s office immediately. In Iraq you never keep a man like the President of the University waiting. He was a man with many friends and they were all in the right high places. These friends could make a man disappear without trace or question. I had seen this happen, as had so many others. It always felt like a blessing to see or hear it happening to someone else, this meant that it was not happening to you. There was no delay or apologies to my class I just went straight to his office. This was the day my life changed. In the principal’s office were two soldiers from The Republican Guard, they were friendlier than I imagined they would be, but nonetheless they were very menacing. The larger of the two very large men then spoke
“That will be all Dr Al-Mudaffar”
The Principal just stood up and left, then there was just us in the room and the smaller man spoke to me
“We are going to give you a job Mr.Salman. You understand that this is not a job offer; this is just something you will do. From this day your wife Adara is a widow who will be looked after handsomely by the Republic and your children will be without a father”
I could feel my heart thump loudly in my chest. I knew that I was going to be executed for some trumped-up charge to save the life or reputation of some politician. I could feel the blood rushing from my face but I knew that there was nothing I could do I was just glad that my family would be safe. The smaller man spoke again.
“We’re not going to kill you Mr.Salman. We are just going to take you to the Palace to meet His Excellency the President. You are going to serve your country as a stand in for His Excellency in times of great danger. There is of course no real great danger to our beloved leader but we have to take precautions sometimes in order to protect him from fanatics, Western American terrorists or counter revolutionaries”
Then not another word was spoken I was taken from the university to a waiting car and driven to the palace. I saw his Excellency I wasn’t allowed to talk to him or be more that twenty meters for him. I was strip searched then given a bathrobe and told to stand in the Great Hall. From a distance I could see our great leader he looked at me nodded and then I never saw or spoke to him again.
My job was simple I was given a room I ate alone for security reasons and for most of the day I was just confined to wandering around the palace rooms that was not being used by the family. At least three times a week some weeks more I was summoned to the barracks. They gave me a clean uniform and I was put in the back of a limousine. I would be driven to a school, a hospital or any other buildings I would get out of the car and a dignitary with a bowed head would give me some flowers or a rolled up parchment I would take whatever I presented with and then just look at the crowd. I would salute and then get back in the car again. I was never allowed to talk and no one ever dared to ask the President a question I just had to be there.
As a stand in Saddam Hussein I was shot at many times. Our motorcade was rocketed once and I was actually struck by bullets on several occasions. The last time was quite serious. I was shot in the chest and my shoulder however the real Saddam Hussein appeared unscathed on the palace balcony that same evening to assure the people of Iraq that their beloved leader was unharmed. I was treated by the president’s private physician and I was back on the road again two days after the bullets were removed.
I didn’t know if my wife Adara or my children were alive or dead I just had to pray that the state had kept their word and was taking care of them. The general in charge of security told me that I should under no circumstances tell any of the servants who I was or who I was claiming to be. This meant that I in fact couldn’t and subsequently didn’t talk to anyone. I was just alone and nobody knew who I was or who I use to be. The soldiers who guarded me changed all the time so that this meant that only a few elite trusted military personal knew that the man in the back of the limousine was not always the President.
I spent two years playing Saddam Hussein thinking that every time I left the palace I might be assassinated every day felt like it was going to be my last day. It was in March 2001 that I decided to try and escape. I prayed that no harm would come to my family but I just had to leave. I knew that if I could get to a safe country then I could send for my Adara and the children.
One day while being driven back from a Presidential appearance I accidently overheard a careless soldier inform the driver that the following Wednesday The President had been invited to inspect the troops at the Military installation that had newly been set up on the Turkish Border.
The Turks and The Iraqi’s had never been the best of friends so the Presidential Guards would be reluctant to chase anyone over the border to Turkey. It also occurred to me that a Turkish border guard would love to arrest and detain the president of Iraq.
My bid for freedom day arrived and I was driven to the base. I could see the Turkish flag flying proudly just a few meters from the base. I was taken to every corner of the installation and every man stood to attention and saluted me. Before I got back into my car I raised my hand as a gesture for my guard and driver to wait for a moment. I then walked over to one the side gates. On one side of this gate was Iraq and on the other side Turkey I pointed to one of the sentries and mimed the opening of the gate. He looked confused. I then decided to point two fingers to my head and then did the same opening the gate mime again. In the meantime a Turkish Jeep pulled up by the gate. The sentry ran to his hut and came out with a key. My guards were shouting to me
“Your Excellency, your Excellency”
The sentry quickly opened the gate and I walked through with my hands held high up in the air. I was detained and then asked very politely to get into their jeep. The soldiers just looked on shocked. The Turkish soldier thought that I was Saddam Hussein and he treated me with all the courtesy and respect that a visiting dignitary should receive.
He drove me to the main Border headquarters and then summoned his superior officer. I was asked to sit in an office and offered some tea and food whilst I waited. When the officer did finally arrive I was able to tell him the truth and ask for political asylum.
I knew that I would be a man that people would want to talk to. The officer was a kind man and after hearing my story he could understand why I wanted Political asylum. He also upon my request contacted the Turkish Consul in Baghdad to ask someone from the consulate to contact my wife to tell her that I was alive and where I was. I also asked for political asylum for my wife and children and an escort to the consulate building, where they would be safe. The officer relayed my message to the consulates office and he was told that everything was in hand. The Turkish government would grant temporary asylum to my family if I truly were who I said I was.
The next day after a good night’s sleep in a Turkish jail cell I was on my way to Ankara with a military escort. As far as everybody present at the base was concerned His Excellency President Saddam Hussein had just temporally and for his own private humanitarian reasons crossed over the border to Turkey. The Palace was immediately informed and the efficient machinery of The Iraqi Special was set in motion. The president was fuming he wanted to know how this could have happened. There was a warrant signed out for the arrest of Adara and any member’s of my family.
I knew that this was going to happen that’s why I asked the Turkish Consulate to move with such haste. In Iraq the Presidential office issued an immediate press statement stating that His Excellency had been suffering from heatstroke and had not left his Royal Car. It was in fact a treacherous security guard who slightly resembled His Excellency had tried to defect to Turkey. The statement also pointed out that this traitor had been captured and had been harshly dealt with. The statement was sent out and now everyone in the palace was waiting to hear the World’s reaction to the story.
There was a slight pause in signing and then executing the arrest warrants for my family. This extra half day break in legal proceedings gave the Italian Consul in Baghdad time to send a car to The Turkish Consulate to pick up my family and take them secretly to the safety of the Italian Embassy.
I was given permission to use the commandant’s telephone I wasn’t allowed to possess a phone of my own and my first call was to the NATO headquarters in Izmir. As a teacher of politics and modern history I knew the right people to get in touch with. The receptionist put me through to an adjutant and he put me straight through to the colonel. I told the colonel that I was one of the men who impersonated Saddam Hussein and I could prove it.
I had possibly vital and classified information regarding the Iraqi government and military installations. I could give the NATO Command information that would probably save lives, money and resources if another invasion had to be undertaken. I just needed safe passage and residence for myself and my family to the United States.
A car accompanied by a military escort pulled up outside the border headquarters and the commandant came to my cell to collect me. I had been treated so well so far by the Turkish authorities. The commandant knew who and what I was and he was well aware of the danger I might be in whilst traveling through Turkey. The intelligence service of Iraq had very long arms and once it locked onto a target it never missed.
I was flanked by four shaking soldiers as I was escorted into the waiting car. We then drove to Izmir where I was met by a man called Richard Burns who to my surprise although American he spoke perfect Arabic. He was also, like me a lecturer in Politics I felt immediately at home and for the first time in two years, relaxed. He invited me up the NATO Embassy building where I was offered a change of clothes I was still wearing Saddam Hussein’s army uniform. I accepted this offer and a shower and later on that day we ate together. I asked about my family and I was assured by Mr. Burns that they were safe and being looked after.
The next day after all the pleasantries were over I was driven to NATO headquarters to be interrogated I was told that this was going to be an informal interview but I was not so naïve as to believe the word of an American diplomat. I was held at the base for I think for three weeks but I can’t be certain. This is because each day was the same as the last day. I was asked the same questions over and over again and if my answers differed from the previous day and then the whole process had to start from the beginning again. I wasn’t in any position to make demands or broker a deal. I was just there to answer their questions. My only real concern was still for that of my family’s safety.
Then one day a smiling officer came into my interrogation room. This time there were no more questions. He had some documents in his hand that he wanted me to sign. These documents were a confirmation of my final statement and there was another document which was a contract between me and The American Government. The contract was read out to me in English and then once more in Arabic. I had a choice sign it or be sent back to Iraq along with my family. I knew that sending us home to Iraq would have been the same as giving us all a death sentence. I couldn’t allow my family to be put to death for my actions so I signed the contract and it was witnessed by two guards and the colonel.
The contract wasn’t too harsh; it just stated that everything I had told them was the absolute truth to my knowledge and signing the second contract meant that I and my family were to be grated leave to live in America. The other contract had a clause stating that I now worked for United States Government and that I could be called upon by the government to serve my new country and its allies. I gladly signed both contracts I could not see how a middle-aged academic like me could ever be called up to fight for his country.
We were given a new identity, a home; start up money and work. I could never work as an academic again because I had to keep a low profile to stay anonymous. This was fine with me; we were to be free in a free land. We would never more have to be careful of what we said or who we spoke to again. This was America and we were safe and protected.
The Italian Consuls car had taken Adara and my children to Saddam International Airport and they caught a plane to Rome. After two days in Rome they took the fifteen hour flight journey to Washington DC. They were allowed to greet me when I got off the military plane from Izmir. It was so good to see them all again I think that we all cried tears of joy, we were together as a family again.
I told Adara about the contracts that I had signed but I left out one important clause. I also had to agree to being subjected to, if the need arose to Extraordinary Rendition. This condition also stated that I had to agree to any reasonable requests made to me by the Government which would ensure the safety of The American people. The words American People now also referred to Adara and my four children.
We were secretly relocated in New York and my wife took English courses and soon became quite proficient in English. I with the help of local Social Services and State department got a job at Holy Pita an Arab restaurant on Manhattan Island. I washed up I made deliveries I translated the Menus and I served tables. There was very little I didn’t or couldn’t do in that restaurant. It was a family restaurant and they made my family a part of their family.
Life was good I worked hard and while the children were at school Adara worked part time at Costco. We were happy and then on 19th March 2003 fate decided to play a joke and change my life again. Like everybody else I had seen and read the news. The Iraq war had begun, again. They would soon topple the Government and then democracy would return to the region. This was the simple message relayed to the masses outside the Middle East. I knew through my own studies and life that the Middle East had never had any Democracy to return to. The most they could hope for were relatively free and fair elections and then pray for the best.
None of this mattered to me or my family; we were free and living in a free country. This was our home now and everyone over there could get on with things themselves. They didn’t need my help, support or sympathy.
I first heard the news that I was going to be dragged back into the intrigues of American and Iraqi politics two days after the fall of Baghdad. I received a call from The NSA office in New York. My wife Adara cried when I told her that I had been called up on active service to serve our new country. I was able to dry her tears by telling her that the mission was perfectly safe. The government just needed to talk to me and that I would be coming back. I was doing this for her, my children and both my countries.
A very big black car pulled up outside the restaurant the next day to collect me. I thought to myself at the time, that as a secret organisation, they were not very discrete. The car took me to the airport and then I had my first trip in a helicopter as we flew from JFK to Ronald Reagan airport.
The whole journey plus security checks took just over two hours and then there we were pulling up in restricted parking area right by the steps of The Pentagon. It was a magnificent building and I felt honoured to be there to serve my country and benefactors’
An elderly looking gentleman in a very nice suit greeted me in the foyer. He shook my hand warmly and bad me to follow him. We went into a lift and I could tell that we were going into a basement. It must have been a few floors down because it took a quite a while before the doors opened again.
When we came out of the lift my companion led me to an office, he knocked waited for a moment and then opened the door. The elderly man waved his hand as to say
“Please go in”
I smiled and went into the office and as I did so my escort turned and walked away. I saw a pot of coffee so I helped myself and as I sat down the door opened slowly and I saw a familiar face. It was the smiling officer who had given me the contracts to sign and he was accompanied by another man in a very nice suit. This man introduced himself and thanked me for my service. He then informed me in the form of a request that I knew I could not refuse that I would be going back to Iraq. If everything went to plan then I wouldn’t have to be in Iraq for very long but it was vital that I resumed my role, once more and for the last time as Saddam Hussein
The smartly suited man explained to me the predicament the American army and its allies were in. He told me that shortly after the initial invasion of Iraq by the Allies. American intelligence operatives had discovered the exact whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. A young American lieutenant had been chosen, in secret, to go into the palace and capture President Saddam Hussein. The feelings in the War Office were that if they could capture Saddam quickly and efficiently then The Allied Forces could bring this conflict to a swift ending. The lieutenant was backed up by an entire battalion; there had been heavy artillery fire in and around the palace. It was to be a covert helicopter drop off, a snatch and then everyone including the President would be flown safely back to base.
So when the area was thoroughly checked and all seen threats dealt with, the young Lieutenant led a small group of soldiers into the palace’s main building and into the President’s office. The whole incident was filmed luckily but through a private secure link. Saddam Hussein stood up to greet the soldiers he put out his hand to shake hands with the Lieutenant. The young officer blurted out the words
“Not on this side of Hell. You monster! This is for 9/11”
He then opened fire with his machine gun and a gun with that ferocity at close range doesn’t just kill, it destroys. When the Lieutenant had finished firing, one of his subordinates, Sergeant Meldgaard, a veteran of Desert Storm reminded the young officer of the “Order Of The Day” was to capture the palace and take into custody any members the Government and all clerical staff. The officer in charge had possibly just killed the Iraqi President.
When the area commander and the chiefs of staff saw what had happened, an order came from the Pentagon to seal the palace. No one came in or left the Palace or the surrounding compound.
At the same time The Pentagon released film footage of Saddam Hussein was released to the media showing Saddam Hussein and his forces somewhere in the Iraqi desert being bombarded by the Allies. A medical crew was called to the office to take charge of the bodies. Once outside the palace the bodies were loaded onto the back of a truck. They were taken out to the middle of the desert burned and then buried deep in the sand.
Every man who had been in the room with the lieutenant was taken into custody. All those involved with the shooting were released five days later and then transferred to other units. Each of the men was told by a superior officer that they had actually witnessed the killing of a Saddam Hussein lookalike and they were given my name.
The unarmed President of Iraq had been gunned down by a fanatical American soldier and now there was nothing to do but ask me to go back to Iraq and pretend to be him again. This is not something that I wanted to do but I had to.
I was given instructions by the NSA to speak as little as possible to any officials I might meet. I just had to go to Iraq be captured and then after a short mock trial and mock execution for the world’s media I would be allowed to go home again. I could never under any circumstances tell anyone who I really was by doing so I could put the lives of many military personal and innocent civilians in danger. There was also Adara and the children to consider. If the Iraqi government knew my real identity then they could feasibly find my family in America and have them killed. I knew that if I put the American government into a difficult situation then they wouldn’t lift many fingers to save one Iraqi family
I said yes to their request and the next day I was flown to a base outside Tikrit. I stayed there in relative comfort until December 13th 2003. This was the day that I was captured I was in fact, put down a hole the night before in Ad-Dawr and then in the morning American troops found me, picked me up out of the hole and then took me back to their base again. The whole operation of my discovery and capture was of course filmed and shown around the world. I stayed at the base under interrogation until they handed me over to the interim Iraqi government on June 30th 2004. The Iraqi government had me for a few hours before giving me back to the Americans again. This time because everyone knew that I actually had been captured they were able to openly take to Camp Cropper
The rest of this story you can read anywhere except of course, you won’t be able to read about my role in this conspiracy of deception I was tried and convicted I was told by my legal council that I had to speak in court in order to defend myself. I tried to say as little as possible Saddam Hussein and I had similar accents but I knew that my speaking voice was a lot more refined than his. He was an uneducated soldier I was University Lecturer. I was found guilty and sentenced to death. This death sentence didn’t worry me because I knew that the Americans had a plan worked out to get me out of this prison and back to my family
Well my Lord, Allah, we won’t be speaking to each other for a while. I know that today it is Eid al-Adha and the supposed day of my execution. I also know that some other poor soul, if the need arises, will take my place today on the gallows and I will be secretly taken from here by the Americans. My day of atonement will not be today.
Ali then just laid on his bed reading and waiting for the door to open and a friendly face say
“Come on, hurry, let’s go”
Ali did eventually hear the rattle of keys. The door did open and two men came into his cell. The two men were solemn but still very referent as they spoke to the man in the cell
“Will you come with us please Sir?”
The news of the execution of Saddam Hussein was covered by the world’s media. There were videos taken and shared of the eagerly waited event. He was now dead and the world could rest easy again. In an apartment in New York a middle aged woman was alone and quietly crying. She wiped her tears and desperately tried to compose herself before her family came home. Adara had to think a way of telling her children that their father was not coming home. All that Adara could say to her children was
“You’re father was a brave man who died fighting for his country and for his family”
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