dahlbergcentral

And Now, the Al-Sahaf Talking Doll

Mon Apr 21, 7:46 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – People who joined the cult-like following of Iraq (news – web sites)’s wartime spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf can now buy a talking doll and hear him say things like “our initial assessment is that they will all die” as often as they want.

The Connecticut company Herobuilders.com built the doll and also sells others that make fun of Iraq war allies President Bush (news – web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The company made the “Iraqi Dis-information Minister Action Figure Doll” of the former Iraq Information Minister al-Sahaf, who disappeared from Baghdad after the invasion of U.S. troops whose presence he had bizarrely denied.

TV viewers around the world took a liking to his often colorful statements that became the butt of television talk show jokes in the United States. A Web site, www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com, drew 4,000 hits a second after its launch a week ago.

The doll says, “There are no Americans infidels in Baghdad, never. Our initial assessment is that they will all die. I am not scared and neither should you be. They’re not even within 100 miles of Baghdad.”

There’s a joke to be made here, but I can’t seem to find it.

Public Humiliation No Cause for Divorce?
Mon Apr 21, 8:36 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) – Does your wife make your life hell, humiliating you in front of friends and family, insulting you day after day and even berating you for not giving her pleasure in bed?

Italy’s highest court has ruled that this is not exceptional, and if you divorce your wife you must still pay her alimony, according to a report in the daily Il Messaggero.

The Court of Cassation has ruled that Antonio Giulia, a Naples magistrate who left his wife after 10 years of such treatment, was nevertheless at fault for ending the marriage and should pay up, the paper said.