# Everything's cool, Saddam's been arrested. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934 "2003-12-14T12:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/21 "2003-12-14T14:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Why is this in the Pit? > \*\* 'Cos he was found in a pit? Anyway put me down for a “Woot Woot!” or two, regardless of how this affects Bush’s standing. Hopefully this will take some of the momentum from the insurgents and help with the “hearts and minds battle” (Glad to see Saddam looking like he’d been living on a park bench - knocks out any “wily old fox out-witting dumb Americans” myths) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/22 "2003-12-14T14:46:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kimstu \* > \*\*\* … all the stuff he said … \*\*\* I’ll buy that, but then again, that doesn’t really make me “relieved” that Hussein was captured. Under the circumstances it seems like window dressing. If he was ineffectual and unthreatening to us, then why were we there? And what’s the big deal about rooting out one scared-shitless dickhead in a hole? Yes, I know, removing the figure head does much for removing the movement (or however one would like to put it). I can only hope that this can bring about a quick end to hostilities and our troops getting out of harms way. To tell the truth – I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/23 "2003-12-14T14:46:58Z")
Is that the whole deck now? Wasn’t he the ace of spades? ---
**Author:** ![happytrails](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c2a13f/32.png) [@happytrails](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happytrails)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/24 "2003-12-14T14:58:44Z")
Can’t wait for the spin — even if an Iraqi citizen turned Hussein in for the $25,000,000, I’m sure we’ll be treated to a story that’s even more exciting (and untrue) than the yarn created for Jessica Lynch’s capture. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/25 "2003-12-14T15:09:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Wasn’t he the ace of spades? \*\* Not just the ace of spades, but Bush’s ace in the hole. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/26 "2003-12-14T15:16:50Z")
> [@](#): > > As far as Osama, I thought we already knew where he was. In a certain region of Pakistan where we can’t get to him. If he’s contained, I’ll settle for that. So long as he has access to a satelite cell phone and/or the internet, and/or a radio transceiver, and/or a video camera and/or an audio recorder, and a tame news agency, he is NOT contained in the least and won’t be until he is D & G. And even when Osama is D & G, his organization will still be around and will still be dedicated to the annilhation of the United States. Every nickel we spent, and will continue to spend, in Iraq should have been and should now be spent on combating Al-Queda and other terrorist groups. They are an immediate threat to the USA and Saddam isn’t and never was. That doesn’t mean that I am not glad he has been captured. In my view, he shouldn’t have come out of that cellar alive. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/27 "2003-12-14T15:17:03Z")
As to precisely how we’re going to fuck this one up, I’m waiting with baited breath to see just what we’re going to DO with him. Sure, we’re gonna interrogate him. We’re going to make him tell us where the WMDs are, and what he did with them. And he’ll demand some kind of security for his information. And then he’ll tell us there weren’t any WMDs. And then what? Do we hand him over to the legally elected Iraqi government that we helped put together? Hell, no. What if they put Saddam back in charge? What if someone helps him escape? What if someone assassinates him? What if they put him on trial? No, I think the next issue that’s going to come up here is when all those gleeful Iraqis begin to realize that we aren’t going to trust them with the disposal of their own former dictator… and they get pissed at us for THAT, in addition to everything else… ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/28 "2003-12-14T15:29:39Z")
Is it me or, in that photo with the blue background, does he look not unlike Michael Jackson ? Okay, it’s me. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/29 "2003-12-14T15:35:17Z")
They’ve been pussy-footing around this guy for over 11 years, and now we’re supposed to believe that they’ve captured him without firing a single shot? As **MrTuffPaws** said, I’ll believe they haven’t had him all along if the coalition casualties drop off or cease. How is it, with all the telegraphing that was done pre-invasion, that Saddam “escaped” with only $750,000? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/30 "2003-12-14T16:18:51Z")
This is great news for the day. One of the great bastards of our time is contained. Only a depressingly-large number left to go … The issue now for him is who gets to try him. Either there has to be a US-organized tribunal of some sort that will do nothing to let the Iraqi people feel in control, or there has to be a plausibly-Iraqi government that will last long enough to do it, or Bush will have to touch the third rail of internationalism and send him to the Hague, or he gets his own isolation cell in Gitmo while the decision gets stalled (my prediction). It will become clear, though, to the daydreamers just how much of the insurrection is from Saddam supporters and how much from genuine nationalists - the more that situation can be cleared from misconceptions, the better. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Airman Doors, USAF \* > Actually, they have been beating him up with the “Bush didn’t get Saddam or Osama” stuff as well. Don’t act like you didn’t know that. And the award for First Straw Man goes to … > [@](#): > > If Saddam gives up even one weapon, just one, Bush will be re-elected by an overwhelming majority. And the Dems are running scared that that might happen, even though it is putting the cart before the horse. Doubtful. The guy was crouching in a damn hole. If there were really WMD’s in a quantity and condition and state of control such as to be a threat to the US, we’d have known it long ago. This does not make Bush any less of a liar or warmonger. > [@](#): > > As far as Osama, I thought we already knew where he was. In a certain region of Pakistan where we can’t get to him. If he’s contained, I’ll settle for that. \*\* So we can ignore all that “dead or alive” talk from the Cowboy? This guy’s a conspirator to commit mass murder. We do need to get him. There’s no need to let Bush off the hook for that - why are you doing so? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/31 "2003-12-14T16:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > the Democrats have been beating the hell out of Bush for not capturing Saddam Cite? Not that we had any legal right to go after Saddam at all. This arrest is itself a war crime. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/32 "2003-12-14T16:22:48Z")
By the way, Bush has now lost his scapegoat for the continuing guerilla war in Iraq. He can no longer blame it on “Saddam loyalists” and will have to admit that it _is_ a popular resistance. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/33 "2003-12-14T16:23:56Z")
Holy shit! Hi, **Lib** , nice to see you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/34 "2003-12-14T16:27:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LouisB \* > \*\*…In my view, he shouldn’t have come out of that cellar alive. \*\* While I’d agree with the sentiment, it would have been a bad idea. Look at the flap when Uday and Qusay were illed-kay. There were a lot of people who were offended by the showing of the bloody bodies, offended by the plastic surgery, and many who simply wouldn’t believe it was them. It was a PR nightmare. They’ve found Saddam cowering in a little hole, and since they have him alive they can hold him up to his loyalists and say “Here’s your fearless leader, he’s scrawny, filthy and covered with lice, and in the end he went down without a fight.” No rumors of going out in a blaze of glory. And the Iraqis get their own shot at justice instead of the Americans getting rid of him for them. It’s more diplomatic for all involved. I just hope he doesn’t have an “accident” while he’s in custody. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/35 "2003-12-14T16:35:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*By the way, Bush has now lost his scapegoat for the continuing guerilla war in Iraq. He can no longer blame it on “Saddam loyalists” and will have to admit that it _is_ a popular resistance. \*\* In the same way that every _soi disant_ progressive in the U.S. was shown to be a brutal thug after the collapse of the XSSR? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/36 "2003-12-14T16:35:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Cite? > > Not that we had any legal right to go after Saddam at all. This arrest is itself a war crime. \*\* [Pick anything off this page, or the next one](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=bush+failure+find+capture+saddam+osama&btnG=Google+Search). According to Google, you have 10,300 or so to pick from. ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/37 "2003-12-14T16:37:12Z")
So, how long are we guessing he lives? I don’t think that Bush is going to leave Saddam alive in Iraq, in prison or not. 15 minutes til the press conference. LC ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/38 "2003-12-14T16:38:31Z")
Gotta go with **ElvisL1ves** on this one (never thought I’d write those words). Capturing Saddam is unquestionably a Good Thing, but it does not exculpate Dubya from his deception of the American people in starting this war. Dubya lied about the WMDs, yellowcake from Niger, and the Iraqi connection to 9/11, and Saddam’s head on a pike won’t change the past. And let us not forget the hamhanded and petty decision to forbid France, Germany, and Russia to bid on Iraq reconstruction contracts and the shady Bush/Cheney/Halliburton connection. And just a thought. . . was I the only one hoping that when he was taken by the US troops, Saddam started singing, “I can change, I can cha-annge”? ---
**Author:** ![GoHeels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@GoHeels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoHeels)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/39 "2003-12-14T16:40:36Z")
**Jenaroph:** > [@](#): > > I just hope he doesn’t have an “accident” while he’s in custody. Agreed, 100%. There better not be any Hermann Goering-esque cyanide escape\* for this fucker. - - I always heard that an American guard who forged a sort of bond with Goering managed to slip him a cyanide capsule the night before he was scheduled to be hanged in Nuremburg. Is this accurate, or is my history all wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934/40 "2003-12-14T16:42:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*How about a ‘My favorite Saddam Hussien cheese blintz recipes’ over in MPSIMS? \*\* Cooking threads go in **Cafe Society**. Thenkyewverymush. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-cool-saddams-been-arrested/218934.md?page=3)