At the time it was widely reported in the Arab press that a Kurdish peshmurga, either from the KDP or PUK had captured him, somewhat earlier.
http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/dates.htm
>...Saddam Smoking Gun: Dates in December?
Liberty Think
One spoor that has created the greatest suspicion in my mind about the capture of Saddam is the CIA picture of two soldiers holding the styrofoam plug that concealed the "spider hole."
You'll note the clump of dates hanging from a date palm in the background.
I've lived in date growing regions long enough to know that dates begin to come out early in the summer and are ready to pick in July or August. If left unharvested, dates slowly ripen from a firmness like that of ripe apples to a softer, ever more sugary consistency. Left alone they will drop off the tree as big sugary globs that birds and wildlife will prey upon, leaving piles of pits. And that's what you should find in December hanging from a date palm - nothin'.
I called an Iraqi friend of mind and asked him if, to his knowledge, there was any variety of dates in Iraq in which the tree held on to its fruit so very late in the season. His answer was an unequivocal, "No."
This jpg was posted on La Voz de Aztlan today under the title "The Saddam Hussein Capture Hoax."
Dates also appear in this AP photo published in the Altanta Journal-Constitution
The Denton Record-Chronicle tells us that "A bountiful date harvest is one of the few good things about being in Iraq during the searing month of August."
More info on Date palms here and here.
Also check out: (CNN) Col. Hickey tells his troops to keep quiet about Saddam capture.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/12200datesindecember.html
http://www.aztlan.net/husseincapturehoax.htm
-- Michael Pugliese