Talk:Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

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Removed from article[edit]

Removed from article. If someone has more exact information to add, then there is no reason not to put it back. As it is now, it adds nothing but a sense of incompleteness, I think -- Egil 05:04 Apr 11, 2003 (UTC)

=== Timeline ===

  • ???? - ???? : Ambassador of Iraq to Sweden
  • ???? - ???? : Ambassador of Iraq to Burma
  • ???? - ???? : Ambassador of Iraq to UN
  • ???? - 1990 : Ambassador of Iraq to Italy
  • 1991 - 2001 : Foreign Minister of Iraq
  • 2001 - 2003 : Information Minister of Iraq

I've removed the following, it seems un-encyclopedic, at least as long as the significant of it (if any) it is not explained:

al-Sahaf does not have a moustache, which is special for an Iraqi man.

I don't agree. There is no POV here; the article simply reports the existence of the nickname, which is widely used and known in the English-speaking world, regardless of whether it is "racist". Also I think there is no longer any dispute that many of his public statements were untrue. -- VV 03:55, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Using Google to search for "comical ali", I asked for all occurrences which were NOT .us or .com sites, and it still comes up with 14,600 hits. RickK 03:59, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Comical Ali is a redirect. I don't see your point. --Jiang

"Al-Sahaf is probably most known for his daily press briefings in Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War, where his lies, fantasies and colourful description of his enemies reached further heights as the war progressed and earned him the nickname Comical Ali (an allusion to former Iraqi Defence Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid's alias, Chemical Ali). "

Wikipedia is not calling him that, only asserting the fact that others have done so. that is NPOV. We dont assert that people are calling Powell "Comical Powell" because this is not the fact. I don't think this came out of the US government - it was from the internet pop culture. --Jiang 04:53, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Video link[edit]

I've removed this from the page:

The link is 404. If anyone can find another copy of it or something similar, it would be good to have. --Ben Brockert 02:15, May 25, 2004 (UTC)

Put it in again. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 16:59, 2004 Aug 14 (UTC)

Is there actually a clip of him speaking while US tanks/humvees drive by? I've seen numerous claims of this, including this article (which cites a heresay source) but I watched every video of him on YouTube and did an exhaustive Google Image search, but found nothing. There was only one outdoor clip of him and no vehicles were seen. This should probably be removed if it's just an urban legend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.174.5.130 (talk) 04:07, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comical Alis Nickname in Wales[edit]

During the Iraq War, he would have been known in Wales as "The Liar of Baghdad".

Draig goch20 23:34, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sahhaf or Sahaf?[edit]

The title says Sahhaf, but in the article it says Sahaf, which is correct?

The "correct" version is written in Arabic, not Roman letters. There is no single way of transliterating Arabic letters to Roman ones. So either is correct.–Quadell (talk) (bounties) 18:50, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Baghdad Bob[edit]

OK, so the British nickname Comical Ali has been explained for US readers, but we Brits get no explanation of "Baghdad Bob". Why Bob? Why is it funny? (Don't answer here or on my talk page please, put it in the article! :)) --kingboyk 13:55, 1 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bob is, generally speaking, regarded as the sort of name given to an oaf, fool, or general moron. His statements earned him that status, and thus he was named Baghdad (location) Bob (mental capacitcy). -USMA2010

I think many people named "Robert" would disagree there. The comedy comes from both the fact that Bob is a short, common American name and the alliteration that occurs. This brings it into conformity with other names like "Axis Sally" and such. —BassBone (my talk · my contributions) 09:14, 10 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting to note that whilst the British nickname is funny the American one isn't.217.43.102.22 22:37, 31 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Well I think it is funny that ewe Brits will puff on a fag and call your fags puffs.

I F**king Love This Guy![edit]

Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf I salute you!

Live long and prosper!

Yeah! He definitively was a beacon of humour to all of us. But today, there's just despair in Iraq.--Keimzelle 23:53, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I'm considering removing the word "parody" from the following link:
I don't think it's a parody site, I think the makers (just like User:86.131.108.180, User:Keimzelle and I) really are fans, in a twisted and ironic way. — PhilHibbs | talk 16:38, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wasn't he right?[edit]

His statement about Americans being burnt in their tanks and going to surrender is becoming more and more true. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.68.44.148 (talk) 16:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

It's true.. haahah. Who's laughing now? ;)

Well now it is true. He has never been proven wrong about anything.

You morons were saying? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.80.85.229 (talk) 21:51, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The statement in the article about no US tanks in Baghdad is false. The US claimed to have taken Baghdad airport, so he went there himself and reported from there that there were not any tanks or americans there. (Besides a burning tank). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.228.252.55 (talk) 14:28, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Oh dear, how's that prediction working out for you? 100.14.206.251 (talk) 19:17, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

al-Sahhaf's academic career[edit]

I can't tell where I read of that, but I believe the following to be correct:

  • that al-Sahhaf studied English literature (English fiction, to be precise)
  • that he studied in England
  • and that he has a brother whose is a M.D. in a Ireland or Northern Ireland hospital.

--Keimzelle 23:53, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"comparable to a similar watershed event that came out of the Arab-Israeli wars several decades earlier"[edit]

Which was...? Don't make allusions like that without explaining them! 81.158.1.11 02:26, 31 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is actually true in the 1967 war there were two influential officers close to Gamel Abdel Nasser. When the war was going on one was declaring absolute victory over Egyptian Radio. The other was honest and as a result gained in personal influence... Anwar Sadat RichardBond (talk) 01:14, 24 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Check out Time with King Hussein on the cover. In there it talks about how the war had been over for a month and the Egyptian media still were reporting it as not over. I agree make it much more exact, because I believe it was only the 67' war that was to that degree. But that would be a citation to use.

To further add on the point above, the following statement is inconclusive "Thus the quick fall of Baghdad was to some a total surprise; Syrian television did not broadcast images of the events. Many in Arab countries who were interviewed later were incredulous and were forced to conclude that al-Sahhaf and their own media had been lying all along"

For those of you who have not visited the Middle East, you will be surprised to find the number of western news channels that are aired here. BBC, CNN, CNBC are all accessible for free by anyone who has a satellite dish and a receiver. The view of Al-Sahaf for someone living in the Middle East was probably the most comical; watch Iraqi TV and you will see Al-Sahaf taking in absolute defiance, one click of the remote button, and we saw the real picture of American forces bulldozing there way into Iraq. Having said, that there might have been a minority that were naive enough to actually buy into Al-Sahaf's claims. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Irhabee (talk • contribs) 11:30, 25 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nicknames[edit]

Is there any reason why 'Baghdad Luxury' is given in the introductory parapgraph, whlie 'Baghdad Bob' and 'Comical Ali' are mentioned later on in the text? Shouldn't they all be in the same place? And where did the 'Baghdad Luxury' nickname come from and what does it refer to? 86.153.216.204 22:31, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use rationale for Image:IIM.jpg[edit]

Image:IIM.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 19:14, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"He denied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."[edit]

If no proof of the existence of any was found, is his (not shown to be wrong) denial a relevant information? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.107.3.110 (talk) 15:20, 15 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I checked the reference (#5) for this; the article does not address the issue of Iraq having WMDs. Instead, it says he claimed that Coalition forces could use chemical weapons in the near future. I have corrected the article's text to reflect what the source actually says. SusanBroil (talk) 10:27, 30 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Photo needed[edit]

Article needs a photo of him during one of his 2003 briefings. --HectorMoffet (talk) 10:09, 20 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Balancing the discussion of al-Sahhaf's accuracy[edit]

By this edit an editor has removed text that I added in which, citing a well-known magazine as the reliable source, I included the information that some of the statements of "Baghdad Bob" had turned out to be true. The editor deleting the information stated that it was "POV".

I note, however, that the article states, in the introductory section no less: "He is best known for his grandiose and grossly unrealistic propaganda broadcasts prior to and during the war...." This statement is very clearly opinionated. To balance it, NPOV requires that we include documented evidence of the points in which al-Sahhaf turned out to be right.

There would be a good case to be made for rewriting the introductory section. The term "propaganda" is quite loaded -- does Wikipedia state that Colin Powell's speech to the UN was propaganda? In the meantime, however, we should at least include a factual presentation that undercuts the Bush administration's derision of al-Sahhaf. JamesMLane t c 03:17, 25 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Atlantic might be a source, but maybe not unbiased. It's not an unbiased "News Magazine", as we have seen from its recent association with Scientology.
However, my main objection to your edit is the reference to suicides. Certainly there have been suicides, but the type and cause and reason for the American military suicides, and what al-Sahhaf talked about are two different things.

"I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly."

Your text implies al-Sahhaf's editorial was correct and that simply isn't the case. In general, your edits show bias against the Iraqi war. I was, myself, against the Iraqi war in the strongest way. But Wikipedia is not my nor your soapbox. Text must be unbiased.
Again, suicides of "coalition troops" and the suicides suggested by al-Sahhaf are not of the same nature, and your text suggestion / implication is inaccurate, not supported by fact.
Honestly, is there anyone left who actually does support the Iraq war? All the same, Wikipedia is not de facto Liberal Media, it is not a soapbox, it is an unbiased source of factual information. You bring up Colin Powell, but this article is not about Colin Powell, so the comment is irrelevant. If you are trying to suggest that Saeed al-Sahhaf's primary purpose was not "propaganda", well, I just want to smoke a little of what your smoking so I can have a few laughs, but this is not the place to push that agenda. =//= Johnny Squeaky 03:30, 25 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Deceased?[edit]

The German version of this article claims his death (dated to March 5th) with a reference presumably in Arabic that I can't read. Is this true? Hobbitschuster (talk) 18:20, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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