You all remember that Iraqi Information Minister that would constantly be on TV and stupidly deny that we were over there and fighting, etc.  Below is a story from Reuters about a new website dedicated to some of his best(and worst) desperate lies.  Its kinda amusing:


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Iraqi minister becomes Internet star



LONDON (Reuters) - He became a celebrity of the Iraq war with his outlandish denials and boundless optimism.
Now Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has become a star on the Internet.

Fans have set up a website (www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com) dedicated to Sahaf, featuring his more outrageous quotes and a collage of photos.

Donning his trademark beret and cheeky smile, the jovial minister is pictured in various poses before he disappeared this week as U.S.-led troops tightened their grip on Baghdad.

Sahaf became a cult figure on television with his daily briefings, appearing from behind a sea of microphones as he condemned the American "infidels" and often flatly denied what viewers around the world saw unfolding on their TV screens.

In one of the great moments in PR history, Sahaf confidently boasted that Baghdad was safe and the invaders would be slaughtered, even as U.S. tanks rumbled down streets nearby.

"The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad," he told reporters, despite Iraqi troops blatantly running for cover on the other side of the river.

Listing his "all time greats", the Sahaf website includes: "God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis" and "Our initial assessment is that they will all die".

Set up by five American Internet and media entrepreneurs, the website also suggests actor Sydney Pollack should play the minister in a Hollywood movie.

Internet message boards have also been packed with debates over the celebrity minister's unconventional PR techniques.

One writer imagined Sahaf explaining a troubled economy: "We do not have economic problems! These infidels, the waste of maggots they are, are deceiving us with facts and their charts! This graph they showed us was upside down!," the posting read.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=JXKR34MCWK2O2CRBAEOCFFA?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2546098

From the front page of the site:

Due to overwhelming support for  welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com. We will be bringing it back on a brand new web server that will be dedicated to the task of serving this comical view of history's funniest straight man. This should be up in 24 hours from now.



Note: from the webmaster
The site was so popular that 4000 visitors per second showed up from around the world and overwhelmed this shared server for over 8 hours until we turned it off in self defense. It basically put a 100 other businesses out of business for a day.  If we had known it was going to be this popular we would have put it on it's own server from the beginning.

What started out as a private joke to be shared by a small group of friends has turned into a hit. Check back in 24 hours or so while the internet routers figure out where the new web server is that replaces this old one. The site consists of lots of bandwidth hogging pictures and animations that you'll love once you see it on its new home server.

wow thanks Rice for the heads-up.

I had no idea it would go down like that because I went to it last night an it was still up.

Heehee  ;D  He's very good.  Betcha a dollar they get Dustin Hoffman to play him...

In all seriousness though, how would you like to have been in his shoes? It must have been the most hated job in Iraq! I have to admit that his press conference at the Palestine Hotel was hilarious though.

So...wonder where he is putting in his resume and apps?

"In an age of spin, al-Sahaf offers feeling and authenticity. His message is consistent -- unshakeable, in fact, no matter the evidence -- but he commands daily attention by his on-the-spot, invective-rich variations on the theme. His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources. He is a Method actor in a production that will close in a couple of days. He stands superior to truth."

-- Jean-Pierre McGarrigle

early reports indicate "The King Of Spin" himself committed suicide shortly after Baghdad fell to the Coalition last Wednesday.


http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,937425,00.html

...guess thats why he never reported to work the next day. ;)