A London based Iraqi opposition group said Thursday that the Iraqi regime has recently moved families of a number of senior Iraqi officials and security officers to recently reopened shelters around Baghdad. Iraq Prospects Organizationâs events director said in a telephone call with Albawaba.com that sources which have left Iraq in the past few days confirmed to her that âfamilies of senior officials and security officers were moved to shelters in Baghdad.â According to her own resources the organization coordinator, Ebtihal Al Husseini, pointed out that shelters in the Al Mansour and Al Aâmiriyyah areas have been reopened to receive these families. âThese moves were taken to help the regime monitor the movements and whereabouts of these officials,â claimed Al Husseini, citing her sources as saying. She indicated that the shelters were put under tight security measures. The opposition coordinator ruled out that the Iraqi regime aimed at protecting these families. She conveyed they were most likely held âas hostages by the regime, which has lost confidence in everybody and wanted to ensure that they would not revolt against it.â
If true, and it sounds reasonable, it means that Saddam is getting very paranoid about the reliability of his staff.
In recent weeks, newspapers throughout the world said a palace coup would be welcomed in most Western capitals. Qubad Talanani, the Washington spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two ruling Kurdish parties, was recently quoted as saying there was "a good chance" that a coup would take place once Saddam's downfall was imminent. A coup was always the CIA's preferred option for getting rid of Saddam but his control of Iraq is so complete that plotters risk certain death if any hint of their activities are discovered, The Telegraph newspaper wrote earlier this week.
The more the world press talks about a coup, the more paranoid Saddam gets. My evil plan is working. |