The phrase is “Dead-Enders”. These are people known to the public to have committed atrocities. They have no future in Iraq. It’s fight or die. The only other possibility is that these people would try to get out of the country.
I for one expect the attacks to continue. However, with absolutely no chance that Saddam could wind up back in power, I expect greater cooperation with the U.S., more intelligence, and a big reduction in recruiting and financing of the anti-coalition resistance.
I haven’t said that it did.
I’m not sure how this was made clear to you. This was not the intent of my comment, nor does the text of my comment bear that interpretation.
I’m not sure how this was made clear to you. This was not the intent of my comment, nor does the text of my comment bear that interpretation.
Please review my statement.
This is a much closer interpretation of what I wrote. However, the capture of Hussein alone is insufficient. What’d have to happen is that it would have to be, (and we’d have to be able to clearly show), that the only violence in Iraq was not the result of Iraqis seeking to expel invaders, but rather unwelcome terrorists engaging the US in Iraqis’ backyard. If this were to come to pass then I have reason to believe that sympathies for Qaeda would be signifigantly lessened. That’s why I said, “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 yes, I emphasized “all” to show that indeed, I didn’t think that all of the Arab world harbored sympathies for Qaeda. I think that those who do hold such sympathies think that they’re acting in the best interests of Arabs at large. However, if could be shown that Qaeda was acting for their own edification rather than out of altruistic motivations then I believe that those who have esteem for them would be turned off to them.
It’s not at all clear that anyone is saying that the arrest is illegal. AFACT, DtC was just asking a valid question.
And, thankfully, RTF simply provided the requested info.
The US withdrew from the International Crime Court…
You have an entourage!:eek:
I’ve always wanted one. Could you email me instructions. Thanks.
Later. M
Actually, as I think about this more, DtC is at least being consistent in his views. Many posters in GD have called the Iraq war “illegal”. If it was in fact illegal, then the occupation of Iraq is illegal, and the arrest of Saddam was also illegal. Anyone holding that view (ie, that the war was illegal) must logically then support the immediate release of Saddam Hussein, no? Is there anyone who claimed the war was illegal who does not agree with that assesment? If so, I’d be interested in hearing the justification.
Perhaps members of his family know. But it’s probably a little harder to ask them since TeamBush gave them special assistance in fleeing the US on Sept 13, 2001, when no one else was going anywhere.
Hmph. That’s kinda funny.
But hey, we captured a piece of lice-ridden meat hiding in a hole! Yay! We’re saved!
I don’t think you would like it that much once you’ve got it. It has the strange habit to refuse to disappear, even if you would like it. Unless you hide on an unknown deserted island like for example the internet.
Salaam. A
More muslim humiliation such as by excamining SH for lice on TV is just what the WOT needs. /sarcasm
Might help Bush stay in office as well.
I’m sorry, I don’t think I can follow here what you are trying to bring across. What do you exactly mean by “if we play this right”.
Do you mean: "if the USA can sell it as “Al Qaeda only” ?
Sorry, but nobody is so stupid to buy this.
Coming from someone who regularly complains that I’m unclear in my posts… This can count.
Well, I think first of all that those who sympathise with AQ don’t even think about “the best interest of Arabs at large”.
They think about their own personal problems and their own society and country and what goes wrong there.
That is what the USA tries to do by blaming everything possible that explodes somewhere where it shouldn’t explode on AQ even before some ducious untracable “claim” for that is made.
It has however the opposite effect in the sense that now about everyone who wants to make something (or someone) explode where there is no call for it, holds up the AQ umbrella as tool for the more honour and glory.
Maybe in the long term this is going to have a negative effect on the image of AQ. Yet that isn’t going to solve the problem of exploding devices (and persons) where they are not expected or invited to explode.
Salaam. A
You could read my topic that is moved to the “pointless stuff” board and then come back here to ask how I justify that.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=229224
Salaam. A
We think of it more as a side-benefit.
Although the fact that the capture of Saddam Hussein seems to have upset you is more informative about your attitudes and sympathies than perhaps you might have wished.
What is this supposed to mean? Holding up an umbrella causes things to unnecessarily explode?
Their image? Do you honestly think they are worried about bad PR?
Count as what?
Regards,
Shodan
Saddam captured: Now what?
Depends on your outlook…
** Left wingers, socialists, and Bushbangers on this board**:
Saddam’s arrest was illegal; he was not read his Miranda Rights. He should immediatly be returned the $750,000 that was illegally taken from him by the illegal Americans and then be legally released back into his quaint native village and allowed to live out the rest of his life in peace surrounded by the quaint multi-culturalism of his own choice.
** George W Bush and me and almost forty million American voters**:
(Singing in unison. Happily)
** I’m back in the saddle again,
Oode la de hoo,
Oode la de hoo,
Oo de la dee…** 
Ahhhh… good Mr Simmons! This is exactly what I like about your posts. Magnanimous, but tempered with wisdom. I offer no disrespect your way whatsoever, but one of the GREAT things I like about your posts is that well, you’re old enough now to have seen it all - and very little is new “under the sun” as a result.
Yes, I agree entirely with you. The true solution to “terrorist activity” is to do away with the causes. It’s no accident that places like Indonesia and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are regions which breed so much terrorist activity. They have very high unemployment rates, and there is much corruption and cronyism. Perfect environments for breeding a sense of institutionalised despair.
I just wish that people such as yourself Mr Simmons were quoted more frequently. Most people tend to comment upon 9/11 for example as though it came out of nowhere - when in reality the seeds of acrimony were sowed at least as long as 35 years in the build up to the Black September movement and the storming of the Munich Olympics etc. In that time, the lives of millions of people in those regions have only gotten worse.
Hence, it’s taken at least 2 generations for the situation we’ve got today to turn out the way it has - and logically, it’s going to take at least another 2 generations to put things right. And not the least of those “things” is raising the literacy rates, and quality of lifestyle of millions of people in the world’s shitholes.
It’s in all of our interests to do so.
RTFirefly:
I had no idea such a resolution had been passed. Thank you. I still think the US should turn Hussein over to the Iraqis. The Iraqi people are the ones who deserve to extract justice here. I’d hate to see this turn into a US run show trial for the aggrandizement of Bush.
To those who brought up Nuremburg. I don’t see how it’s applicable. The occupation of Germany after WWII was not the result of an illegal act of aggression.
I also don’t really think this is going to be all that significant of a development in the long run. It’s nice for the Iraqis and it’s good propaganda for Bush but Hussein was no longer any kind of a player in this war anyway (and fantasies about him spilling info on WMDs are just that…they don’t exist and there’s nothing to spill…not that it would justify the invasion even he did spill).
The insurgency will continue unabated and perhaps with renewed vigor. This is really more of a PR event than anything else.
John, the end of even an illegal war is a good thing.
Anything, within reason, that hastens that is a good thing.
Saddam’s capture removes an obstacle to the stabilization of Iraq.
That makes it a good thing, regardless of the legality of the war.
Is that simple enough for you?
Hey all this worrying about what the Iraqis would possibly do? There is no way in hell that the Iranians and Kuwaitis let this guy stay alive 10 minutes after they get him.
The question we should be asking now is, why isn’t the United States spending as much effort at getting Osama Bin Laden (you know, the guy who was actually responsible for those nasty 9/11 attacks) as they did for Saddam, especially considering that Saddam wasn’t a dire and imminent threat to the US?
ATTENTION AMERICANS!
Yes, Saddam has been captured. Yes, this is A Good Thing.
But please… don’t use it as an excuse to go and re-elect Bush. Please, just promise the world that one little thing? Surely it’s not beyond the USA to come up with a president that has just a teensy bit of environmental and social conscience?