Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf’s 15 minutes of fame

War is hell, but furiously spinning a war you’re losing can be hilarious.

Like many people, I’ve grown quite fond of watching Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf give media briefings during which he’d try and convince everyone that the Iraqi military is really kicking some serious U.S. butt, despite all evidence to the contrary.

“Many of us turned to his daily briefings just as people in this town look forward to their morning Starbucks,” Democratic spin doctor Dale Leibach told the Washington Post yesterday. “We need to bring him over here to practice his amazing public relations skills. He has taken our profession, such as it is, to a level that is as inexplicable as it is humbling. I would hire him in a nanosecond.”

To be sure, al-Sahhaf was in an unenviable position. Iraq was obviously losing the war, but as a media spokesperson for a brutal dictator, al-Sahhaf would probably get shot for telling reporters the truth. So, left with few choices, he’d get out there every day and do his best to put a positive spin on the day’s events. When he couldn’t spin the truth, he’d just make stuff up. It was genuinely funny to watch.

As Slate’s Tim Noah noted earlier this week, “Even granting that the collapse of Saddam’s regime is hard to put a positive spin on — hard, that is, if you speak for Saddam’s regime — al-Sahhaf is making a serious hash of it.”

There was one day last week when U.S. and British forces seized control of Baghdad’s airport. There was extensive television coverage of the take-over, even footage of the military landing planes at the airport. But there was our protagonist, al-Sahhaf, telling reporters, “We butchered the force present at the airport.” Yeah, sure you did.

Another favorite was seeing al-Sahhaf argue, “There is no presence of American infidels in the city of Baghdad,” as we watched footage of our troops storming into Baghdad. He actually had the audacity to say during a briefing from the roof of a Baghdad building that our forces weren’t within “100 miles” of Baghdad. The funny part was he had to shout to be heard — the sounds of our shots and helicopters were drowning him out. Classic stuff, really.

I also agree with the Post’s Lloyd Grove who marveled at al-Sahhaf’s unbridled optimism through the war when he offered such gems as, “The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad.”

But al-Sahhaf’s 15 minutes of fame appear to be over. Yesterday, as U.S. troops seized control of Baghdad and helped local residents tear down Hussein’s statue in the heart of the city, all of the regime’s officials left in the city took off. For the first day in weeks, there was no briefing from Iraq’s “information” minister.

I believe I speak for political communications staffers everywhere when I say, Mr. al-Sahhaf, thanks for the memories.