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S/Su Dec 17 -

BOLO P.O. JAMIL HUSSEIN -

I see by the crawling ticker at the top of the IraqSlogger page that Jordan & Co are pulling out all the stops to find the phantom police captain Jamil Hussein. Do I think they'll have any luck?

I don't want to be a Debby Downer,
but... I'm not very optimistic.

I suspect that the phantom Iraqi police captain is actually a Syrian Ba'athist intelligence officer whose mission it was to spread disinformation and confusion. I expect that "J.H." has gone back across the mountains by now and is already in Syria. Just a guess.

The entire region is interlaced with old trading routes and backroads caravan trails which may not appear on any official map, but are known to locals who live along the way like jackal runs.

Now that his legend has been blown, why would he stick around?

But I wouldn't want to discourage those who are so determined to get to the bottom of things.

...