# Saddam Captured: What now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 14, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931 "2003-12-14T11:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/1 "2003-12-14T11:18:35Z")
Now that Saddam Hussein has been apparently captured, what should we do with him? ---
**Author:** ![Sine\_Nomen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d26b3c/32.png) [@Sine\_Nomen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sine_Nomen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/2 "2003-12-14T11:21:32Z")
Let the Iraqis put him on trial for crimes against humanity, maybe with some Kuwaiti and Iranian participation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_in_the_Snow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/3 "2003-12-14T11:26:40Z")
Blair has just said he’s going to be tried in an Iraqi court. Wonder how that’ll work. ---
**Author:** ![kmg365](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@kmg365](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kmg365)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/4 "2003-12-14T11:35:23Z")
How about a DNA test to make sure we have the real McCoy before we start anything prematurely? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/5 "2003-12-14T11:37:34Z")
[DNA tests on Sunday confirmed that a suspect being held in Iraq is Saddam Hussein, Sky News reports.](http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1459413,00.html). I though DNA tests took longer than that… ? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/6 "2003-12-14T11:44:12Z")
Now…we dance. ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_in_the_Snow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/7 "2003-12-14T11:45:01Z")
Well that’s another ace in Bush’s hand for the elections. How many has has he got now, 15 or so? Might well keep Blair in a job too. ---
**Author:** ![big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_yellow_kingswood)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/8 "2003-12-14T11:46:32Z")
Well, first and foremost about 8 threads identical to this one will spring up… ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/9 "2003-12-14T11:47:12Z")
It will be very interesting to see how the trial pans out. Will it be a speedy affair, or another Milosevic-eqsue farce that will drag on for years? Regardless, an attaboy goes to Task Force 21. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/10 "2003-12-14T11:51:14Z")
I will silently gloat at the office tomorrow. That’s what I’ll do. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/11 "2003-12-14T11:51:57Z")
For the war crimes trial: with the current anti UN and NATO position in the administration, I see only that on the way to it, the administration will find a way to make a mess of it. My gut feeling before was that there was a good chunk of Iraqis in a pragmatic support of the US, because there was this specter of Saddam on the loose. With him captured, this limitation is gone. I hope I am wrong, but I think now even more people will ask for the removal of the American presence, loyalists to Saddam will fade; the other parties in Iraq will take their place since the fear of Saddam was lifted. Make no mistake: I am glad we got the bastard, because now I can also hope we will get out of Iraq sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/12 "2003-12-14T11:53:55Z")
Wasn’t it easier for him to hide out in Baghdad ? Seems silly to hide out in way smaller Tikrit. DNA testing can be done overnight I think… I think Saddam’s trial will go the same way as that Serbian Guy… more traumatic than helpful to the people. It also was taken as a circus. The US should be very careful in not making it seem a farse either. (Which is very likely since any Iraqi “judge” might be labeled a traitor.) ``` I really thought they wouldn't get Saddam alive... his sons certainly fought it out. Overall I thought a dead Saddam was less of a problem for the USA. (dead but not disfigured) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/13 "2003-12-14T11:58:31Z")
Heh, they caught the little fucker trying to bury himself in the basement of the house he was in. Certainly a ignomious end to Mssr.Hussien… ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/14 "2003-12-14T12:03:01Z")
What will be interesting to see is whether the attacks on U.S. troops, aid workers, and some Iraqis will decrease or not. If they were precipitated by die-hard Saddam loyalists, maybe things will settle down. If, on the other hand, the attacks have been coming from Al-Qaeda, competing factions within Iraq, or simply from nationalists who don’t want foreign troops occupying their country, Saddam’s removal from the equation won’t make much difference. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/15 "2003-12-14T12:32:50Z")
Maybe he knows the locations of these WMDs, seeing as we’re having such a hard time finding them. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/16 "2003-12-14T12:44:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*Heh, they caught the little fucker trying to bury himself in the basement of the house he was in. Certainly a ignomious end to Mssr.Hussien… \*\* From **Knight’s Castle** , by Edward Eager: _And they hunted him over hill, over dale, through brush and through brier, till in the end he took refuge in Sherwood Forest, which was foolish of him, because Robin Hood knew every tree and every inch of it, and they found the wretched Prince at last, cowering behind a bush, alone and miserable and Leader of nobody._ ---
**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, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/17 "2003-12-14T13:00:49Z")
I think they “found him” like they found WMD i.e. they didn’t. He was eventually grassed up for the $25 million. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/18 "2003-12-14T13:05:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*…He was eventually grassed up for the $25 million. \*\* I’ll see your cynicism, and raise you one request for a cite. ---
**Author:** ![randy054](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@randy054](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randy054)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/19 "2003-12-14T13:08:08Z")
Here he is: [![](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39633000/jpg/_39633977_saddamcaptured203.jpg) ](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39633000/jpg/_39633977_saddamcaptured203.jpg) [http://samsloan.best.vwh.net/saddam3.jpg](http://samsloan.best.vwh.net/saddam3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931/20 "2003-12-14T13:10:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*I’ll see your cynicism, and raise you one request for a cite. \*\* FFS Brutus he said “I think”. Obviously it’s a personal suspicion, not an authoritative statement. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-captured-what-now/218931.md?page=2)