That’s nice.
Where’s Osama?
I mean, he’s actually a danger to me and my own, unlike Saddam.
It’s what the Iraquis might decide that troubles me.
Invasion of a sovereign nation on cooked up charges of WMD is not the “schtick” of an enlightened nation, but we did it. Why stop with that?
Is anybody surprised that Saddam didn’t put up a fight? Most bullys are cowards, and his cowering in a house seems to fit the mold perfectly.
As for his trial, I think the powers that be will bend so far over backwards to appear fair and even-handed that, whoever tries him, nothing like justice is likely to be achieved. He will likely rot in a prison someplace. It doesn’t seem enough for a criminal of his magnitude, though I imagine drawing and quartering* is out. 
No doubt Saddam wouldn’t hesitate to do that to an enemy.
If I’d known this was him I’d’ve turned him earlier. I saw him downtown in old surplus army gear, reeking of MD20/20 last week. Man, 25mil woulda set me up well.
No, I don’t know who they are.
Who’re you accusing exactly?
The one thing that struck me as wrong about the news presentation is the immediate discussion of how this affects elections.
Screw the elections. All I want is basic information. INFORMATION, INFORMATION, INFORMATION. Where’s Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley (70’s era American news journalists for those who don’t know). There is plenty of time for the political talking heads to consume oxygen.
Who, what, when, and where? How hard is that to do?
Fox in the Snow, I’m not railing against you, I’m just pissed off at the news. I’m flipping from channel to channel and it’s all about politics. The word “news” should be stricken from the name of the programs. I go more info from the Aljazeera website than anything on TV.
It took an hour for a basic news presentation to hit my TV (I don’t have cable). And then they went right back to interviewing Presidential candidates for their opinion. Other than a 3 second clip of Bagdad streets, I know almost nothing of how the Iraqis are reacting to it. Pretty sad commentary on news organizations.
That aside, I’ve always thought Hussein was a true madman and I’m wondering if his exile drove him over the edge mentally. I expected a shoot-out. He looked like Charles Manson with Alzheimer’s. I hope we can extract info out of him before he is handed over to the Iraqis.
I hope that the assessment that the resistance is Baathist dead-enders is accurate and that it wil collapse. Rebuilding Iraq is diffficult enough w/o bombs and guns going off.
If we play this the right way, maybe we can make al Qaeda look like the bad guys to ALL of the Arab world.
and
whuckfistle,
Do you have access to some better, more accurate info about Iraq and Qaeda than the CIA that you’d care to share w/ us? (To be fair, you’re obligated to share it w/ the CIA too.)
I posted this in a IMHO thread that got locked because the mod said there are too many Saddam threads. So I’m posting it here too.
Quoting a Reuters news story:
“The message to the Iraqi people is that the blanket of fear is beginning to lift,” a senior White House official said… But the official added: “There are unfortunately still people in Iraq who have no future because their loyalties are to Saddam. We expect they will continue to fight to the death.”
Despite this statement and others like it, every time there is a future coalition attack or casualty we can expect all the Bush-haters to scream: “BUSH SAID THAT ONCE WE GOT SADDAM THE ATTACKS WOULD STOP. HE WAS WRONG! LOOK! HE WAS WRONG! BUSH LIED TO US!”
He’s hidding in a hole. And we will find him. You might never hear about it though. Rumors and silence speak volumes.
Riiiight. If bin Laden’s captured this admin’ll trump it, flaunt it and advertise it for years.
Yes, he did. Great big lies and he told them quite often.
They should make him work at Wal-Mart the day after Christmas.
Fate worse than death.
I’m a die-hard liberal. Kind of middle of the road on some issues, but pretty darn well not-Conservative, not-Republican. I’ve gritted my teeth throughout the entire Bush presidency.
I’m OVERJOYED that Saddam was captured. And he didn’t even shoot anyone. You can’t imagine how glad that makes me.
I’m afraid that this will make Bush’s re-election a near certainty, though. The funny thing is, I don’t hate Bush as a person. I think he’s probably quite engaging in person, and I’ve heard some great anecdotes from people who have met him. He reminds me of my dad.
I like a lot of people I wouldn’t want to see as President…
First, kudos to everyone involved in the capture. It went off, apparently, without a hitch. I may be a liberal, but I give credit where it is due. Certainly, this will make the average Iraqi civilian happier and more free, and that is a good thing.
But I don’t see it doing anything for Bush long-term. Yeah, it will give him a boost in his numbers. But those, IMHO will fade, especially if the attacks continue. The attacks have gone on this long without apparent central organization, and have been carried out by groups besides the old Baathists – foreign influences, perhaps al Qaeda, Iraqi nationalists against a foreign occupation, etc.
Without the figurehead, things could get calmer. There is no guarantee of that. Without the support of Iraq’s neighbors, without any kind of world support, the US position in Iraq is still untenable. We cannot impose a representative democracy by ourselves within 6 months (Bush gave a 6/2004 date for handover) that we can expect to last more than a few months. We need to stabilize the country, not so that we can get out, but so Iraq is free. That means erasing factionalism, religious strife, racial tensions, etc. In six months.
In the end, it helps our efforts in Iraq. In the end, our effort in Iraq is totally unnecessary and a diversion from a legitimate war of international terror.
Andrea Mitchell on NBC News just suggested that we use Saddam to tell us where the WMD’s are.
Bwahahahaha. The weapons of what, now?
As great as this news is, I don’t see it changing a whole lot. The man was living in a hole next to a sheep pen. Look at the “post-shaven” picture. Hussein looks scared out of his wits and bewildered that they found him. He certainly doesn’t look like a leader of anyone.
So, the attacks on U.S. forces will most likely continue, because they are battling the U.S. occupancy, not necessarily seeking Saddam’s return to power.
On the question of what to do with him, it looks like they will be trying him in Iraq as opposed to a Hague tribunal.
Just watching the news about the capture and where he was at. Man, going from living in a palace to a hole in the ground, moving ever 3 hours or so. He looks like shit too. I guess he had a pistol with him in his hole, but put up no resistance. I’m a bit surprised he didn’t shoot himself, as he’s got to know whats in store for him.
Personally I doubt this will change the situation in Iraq noticably…certainly not in the short term. I seriously doubt SH was coordinating any of the resistance, or even in contact with it. There was absolutely no comm gear in the farm house thats been reported, and he was there with a mere 2 body guards. I think he was acting as a figure head, if that.
Even capturing ObL I think would have limited effect, as, IMO, he also isn’t centerally coordinating things for AQ. Capturing ObL would be another big boost to Bush, but thats about it.
So, its good news that they tracked him down (ya, they paid someone $25 million…so what? It was still a major intellegence operation, and a successful one). I’m glad of it, and I’m sure SOME of the Iraqis are breathing a bit easier today. As to the fight…the administration is pretty clear that THEY think it will have little effect, and that the fight will go on.
-XT
Does anybody know by what authority or jurisdiction the US made this arrest? I don’t see how it’s legal.
I decided to ask what exactly you mean by this, LouisB. Are you implying that the Iraqis are going to say, “you know, he’s not such a bad guy. We think we should put him back in power”? Or are you suggesting something else? I know other Arab leaders liked Hussein for standing up to U.S. hegemony and policy in the region, but I don’t think the Iraqis all felt the same way.
I don’t have a cite handy, but they had said on the news that since most of the intelligence had been extracted from prisoners under coersion, that they would most likely not have to reward any person in particular.
It’s probably too bad they didn’t just bomb the place. If he’s going to get his day in court, he’s going to have a platform to say a lot more nasty and hurtful things that could just do further harm to his ex-people.
And who knows: he could even have some revelations about his contact and collaboration with the EU countries and the United States over the years which are less than inspiring for all of us.
I am not implying that the Iraquis will decide that Saddam wasn’t such a bad guy, and then turn the country over to him again.
I have a little concern that the Iraquis might try to present some sort of PC face to the world by confining Saddam to prison for life. As long as the man is alive, there exists the chance that he might be freed from confinement, either by force, bribery, or some misguided sense of justice—some kind of “Forgive and forget” idiocy. There is even an outside chance, IMHO, that a trial might end in his exoneration, leaving him free to go about his business. I believe that his death might have been momentarily embarrassing, but it would certainly have provided a convenient end to all the speculation about what happens next. He has been referred to as the ulimate survivor and as long as he survives, he is dangerous.
How could Saddam be tried by the International Court of Justice if the U.S. and Iraq don’t recognize the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court ? What would be the benfits of having him tried in the Hague rather than standing trial in Iraq? Will there be a trial?