Eef, Haf. Haf, Eef. You guys have a lot in common.

Two titans of prevarication met for the first time this weekend as former Taliban mouthpiece Abdul Salam Zaeef and former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf. The two were introduced at a cocktail party in Damascus in what onlookers described as "a real Kodak moment":

Sahhaf taps him on the shoulder and says, that's not an olive in your martini, it's a poison bomb placed by American mercenaries. Zaeef turns around, sees who it is, and looks all stern and says, we are still in firm control of this party and will overrun the catering truck momentarily. Then they both crack these huge grins and say at the same time, "I love your work." Then Sahhaf jinxed Zaeef who couldn't talk until someone said his name.

After hugs and exchanges of autographs, the two spent hours talking, and today issued a joint statement that they were forming a band:

Today the glorious and holy Taliban and Ba'ath Party have joined together to form the mightiest musical force ever seen in the history of the world! Already we are more popular than the Beatles, have released two albums, one of which went double-platinum, and are playing sold-out arenas across the Great Satan --- tickets available at ticketmaster.com. Also, we didn't know that there was already a band called the Proclaimers, so sorry about that. Does anyone know if Information Ministry is taken?

Sources close to the band report that negotiations are underway to sign Scott Ritter on as drummer, and that Robert Fisk and Peter Arnett are frantically trying to learn the bass.

Information Ministry's multi-platinum album.

Posted by Steve at April 21, 2003 02:17 PM