Friday, February 26, 2010

How Social Networking Was Used To Capture Saddam Hussein



From Slate:


Staff Sgt. Eric Maddox did not want Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri on his chart. As a special-operations interrogator in Tikrit, Maddox had been building link diagrams similar to those created by Col. Jim Hickey's intelligence shop, adding names as he gathered information from detainees. As much as al-Douri, the red-headed confidant who many considered Saddam's second in command, was a highly wanted man—the King of Clubs on the Army's deck of cards—Maddox was convinced that he had long ago parted ways with his boss. Like Hickey's men, Maddox believed the path to Saddam depended on tracking down much lower-profile players in and around Tikrit. There was only one problem: The top command—Maddox's bosses' bosses—didn't agree, and wouldn't be pleased to see a link diagram without big names like al-Douri represented. To avoid conflict, Maddox made two versions of his charts: The one he and the analysts actually worked off of, and the one they displayed prominently any time someone important was around.

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My Comment: I posted a similar story a week or two ago .... this posting from Slate has more information.

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