prediction by david brooks on chris matthews show just now:

54-46

bush beats dean

ever notice that it's always the fighter who's fighting for peace, when the ones fighting back are always terrorists?

yah, we're feeling a lot safer now. we're in jail.

on the capture of saddam: seems there's some controversy surrounding a report that PUK actually captured saddam, and was holding him for the the right time to offer to the Americans - perhaps when the polls had george below 50 maybe?

anyway, posting some things to clear it up, since it was TPM who raised the possibility that it's bogus.

the original wire story

profile of yvonne ridley (the source of the story)

earliest reports of saddam's capture

i report, you decide

on edit: adding a post from DU

At first he says:

So, I've had a slew of readers write in to ask, Is there something to this story?

In a word? No.

Then he says:

Let me be clear: I'm not saying there's nothing to this.

Pardon? Asked is there something to this he says NO, then says I am not saying there is nothing to this? Hmmm, that is a good start!

So let's look at what we have in the rest of the article.

He points out that a name is wrong, saying that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is being called the Kurdish Patriotic Front.

So, on a hunch, and to verify whether a person who thinks NO doesn't mean NO is actually checking his facts, I went to google. Guess what I found:

"The world is watching. Those that do not attend will lose out," Qubad Talabani, the Washington representative of the Patriotic Front of Kurdistan, one of two Kurdish parties from northern Iraq, said in an e-mail.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~konews/10-11-02-us-add-more-oppo-groups.html

This is from a web page that calls itself "Kurdistan Observer"!

Marshall would probably say, howver, that this page is not an "official source", and that the name is not quite the same. Well how about this:

The third round of the northern Iraqi peace talks ended Wednesday
in Ankara, but the major issues under discussion remained
unresolved. The two opposing parties, the Kurdish Democratic
Party (KDP) and the Kurdish Patriotic Front (KPF) made no
progress with respect to the distribution of Habur border gate
revenues, the rates of representation in local administrations,
election dates and the disarmament of Erbil.
http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/CHR/ING97/01/97X01X16.TXT

Notice the source for that document. Who should we trust as to whether there is any such organisation as the Kurdish Patriotic Front? A blogger with an over inflated ego, or the Turkish government?

So what did Marshall have to say?

What's this group, the Kurdish Patriotic Front? Good question. As far as I know, there is no such group.

Well, Mr Marshall, if you had taken two minutes to type "Kurdish Patriotic Front" into Google you would have seen that there are four hits for that name, including the above linked Turkish Government site.

Thank you Mr Marshall for proving that self-important bloggers shouldn't be trusted any more than any other source!

Now, the final "proof" Marshall presents is the PUK denial that they were actually responsible for the capture.

Now lets consider the context of this for a moment. What we have is an accusation that the Kurds captured Hussein, held him in secret, and then negotiated a secret deal with the US to hand him over.

Now tell me, just how stupid does Marshall think we are? Does he really expect us to believe that within DAYS of this secret deal having been made, and before much of any of the supposed "payment" for Hussein's hand over could have been received (although three Kurds WERE promoted to the IGC), that the leader of the PUK would expose the deal and thereby embarass Bush? You know the man who wants to punish the French and Germans for not agreeing with him?

Does Marshall SERIOUSLY expect us to believe the Kurds would THROW AWAY the deal, losing anything they may have gained in the process, not to mention no longer having Hussein, JUST BECAUSE A REPORTER ASKED THEM?

Marshall should rethink his position, and stop acting like a fool.