I suppose a comment or two on Saddam’s capture is worth making.
- Anyone who thinks this will end all the violence in Iraq is dreaming. Anyone who thinks this will make no difference is also dreaming.
- Familiarity breeds contempt. Saddam as distant and unknowable potentate was a terrifying figure. Saddam as Hughes-bearded fugitive hiding in a crawlspace is a reasonable subject of scorn.
- I don’t particularly expect those folks who were lambasting the Bushies for their inability to track down Saddam to laud them for catching him. By the same token, there are plenty of other folks (OBL, for one) who still need to be caught. Though, if the details coming out about the hunt for Saddam are any indication, it’s clear that nobody’s just sitting around expecting it to magically happen.
- The temptation is to announce that he will be booted off the back of a truck at large public location X on day Y and leave him to his brief and grisly fate. In reality, he needs to be tried, and it probably needs to be done in Iraq, if a reasonable authority is available to do so. Trying him in the US seems a little problematic, though not without precedent. Trying him in the Hague is an amusing proposition to hear put forth with a straight face.
- I was also amused to hear some imam in Yemen declare that Saddam was a “dissapointment” to the Arab world for not having had the decency to fight back or kill himself before being captured. That being said, I’m glad he was captured, not killed. It complicates things a bit, but it removes some aspects of martyrdom that he will doubtless be granted by some parties.
41 view(s)
I think he needs to be “debriefed” until he is drained dry. Doesn’t matter how long it takes, make sure no stone is left unturned.
I also heard that some folks in Hammas were muttering that they could not understand how he could urge others to die for a cause when he was not willing to do it himself. So that may have some interesting side effects!
I suspect any number of rationalizations will be used, starting with “It’s not really him” and moving from there.
There’s speculation it’s one of his body doubles, but I doubt that. Debriefing seems sort of silly, in a way, since anything he knows is way out of date. Add in that he likely didn’t know he didn’t have WMD and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
While I’m glad he’s caught, there’s a lot more wrong that right over there. Not to mention our coddling someone just as bad — Karmov, in Uzbekistan, who boils people alive, but hey, he’s a member of the Coalition of the Shilling.
Nice job Clinton’s Army did on this capture, though.
*sigh* Moving on…
“Trying him in the Hague is an amusing proposition to hear put forth with a straight face.”
Excellent sentence, Dave! 🙂
Actually, a better rumor I heard was that he’d actually been caught a while ago, was going to be paraded forth shortly before the election next year, but the news was about to leak so they had to “find” him now.
Of course, I can come up with even wilder ideas (He’s Parallel Universe Saddam, confused by the sudden change in vibration rates; he’s Orbiting Mind Control Saddam, befuddled by having his American control signals suddenly cut off), but why bother?
I’m glad Bush fixed the problems in the military, caused by Clinton and her husband, enough to allow for the capture of this tyrant.
Scott, I think your posts are thought provoking and sometimes insightful, but you really are a fool if you don’t think the world is a better place, especially for the Iraqi people, with the capture of Saddam.
In Scott’s defense, I don’t think he doesn’t think the capture is a Good Thing, at least in the abstract. He just thinks there are bigger problems involved, in Iraq, Washington, and elsewhere.
Arab media are evidently reporting that Saddam was taken without a shot because the Nasssty Americans pumped sleepy gas into the hole. Which, on the one hand, would make a certain measure of (humane) sense, but on the other hand seems far too convenient a cause for Saddam supporters who were appalled he didn’t go out with guns blazing, Rambo-style.
What’s the matter, Stacy? Don’t like hearing an opinion other than yours? 🙂
What’s interesting is how much his beard grew since he was last supposedly seen last summer. No way in hell a beard can grow that fast. Which means one of ’em was a double — likely the one in Baghdad, is my guess.
Funny, Clinton did more for the army than Bush has — Bush cuts benefits, guts the VA, gets troops killed in an illegal war, yet we still see the old canard about Clinton disrespecting the military.
Fine job his military did in capturing Saddam.
Oh, and Dave has the right of it — I’m happy Saddam is gone. I just happen to think he was the wrong target.
What ever happened to Osama bin Forgotten? Remember him? I sure do; I livein NYC. Maybe you all remember a little thing back in 2001? Saddam had nothing to do with that.
No, Scott, just that it’s the same old tune. 😛 All I’ve got at this point is Joe’s boss in Joe vs. the Volcano: “I’m not arguing that with you!” I’ve maintained all along that just because nothing appears to have happened doesn’t mean nothing’s happening. Note the capture of Satan Clause there. But I’ve looong since giving up arguing with the likes of you. 🙂
Like I said Scotty, I’m glad Bush has repaired much of the damage done to the military that Clinton and her husband caused. Clintons disdain for people in uniform was a big factor in my not reenlisting in the Air Force.
If OBL is such an issue for you, doesn’t Clinton shoulder a BIG chunk of blame for not taking the Sudanese up on their offer of handing OBL over?
In my opinion, your anger at Gore losing the election to Bush is so great that you won’t admit, under this administration, of anything good or beneficial happening. Why don’t you take off the blinders and lighten up?
Ahhh…Adam B.
So you are upset that Bush the Second didn’t except the taliban’s offer to turn over OBL then.
B. Dude – It’s upsetting to me that we, the US, had numerous “invitations” to take OBL and didn’t accept the offers.