THE ROVING EYE The Baghdad deal
By Pepe Escobar
BAGHDAD - Much of the world was surprised. After the spirited resistance in the south of Iraq, how could Baghdad possibly have fallen in only two days?
An Asia Times Online investigation in Baghdad, Tikrit and Najaf has yielded a clear certainty among Iraqis, both Sunni and Shi'ite, as to the answer: The Pentagon and the Ba'ath Party leadership made a safqua ("secret deal" in Arabic) for the (almost) bloodless fall of Baghdad. Crucially, this safqua may have included a package of American green cards for top Republican and Special Republican Guard commanders and their families.
"Shaku maku"? ("What's new"?). "Makushi"? (No news). In the answer to this popular exchange in Baghdad slang, makushi has been replaced by safqua.
Mohammed al-Douri, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, was the one who pronounced the famous last words "the game is over" - referring to the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. And a game it might well have been. (Al-Douri, according to al-Jazeera television, has enjoyed safe passage to Syria, and might even end up the UN ambassador of the new Iraqi government).
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