AUSTIN BAY has a column on the significance of Saddam’s capture that’s very much worth reading.
Archive for 2003
December 14, 2003
DON’T FORGET the troops in Afghanistan. Here’s a suggestion on how to help them. They’d like DVDs — in light of today’s experience, I suggest sending them Red Dawn.
RICH GALEN HAS A REPORT FROM BAGHDAD on Saddam’s capture and the Iraqi reaction:
The guy who stood and shouted for about thirty seconds might have been saying “death to Saddam.” But some of the Arabists in the office think he was shouting – er – “[the f-word] Saddam,” if you know what I mean and I think you do.
It works for me, either way. Galen also explains what caused the car explosion near the Palestine Hotel that CNN was covering rather heavily earlier today:
We got a report that a spent round had landed on the back of a car carrying four propane tanks.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
Four propane tanks and a car sent to celebratory fire heaven.
On this, I have to agree with Josh Chafetz: “Seriously, does it not occur to people that what goes up must come down?” Apparently not.
And Galen does look a lot cooler in this picture than in the other one.
JOE LIEBERMAN ON SADDAM’S CAPTURE:
Hallelujah, praise the Lord. This is something that I have been advocating and praying for for more than twelve years, since the Gulf War of 1991. Saddam Hussein was a homicidal maniac, a brutal dictator, who wanted to dominate the Arab world and was supporting terrorists.
He caused the death of more than a million people, including 460 Americans who went to overthrow him. This is a day of glory for the American military, a day of rejoicing for the Iraqi people, and a day of triumph and joy for anyone in the world who cares about freedom, human rights, and peace. . . .
This news also makes clear the choice the Democrats face next year. If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison, and the world would be a more dangerous place.
(Emphasis added.) The gloves are off.
I find it savagely ironic that (1) people who claimed that Saddam Hussein was no threat to any other countries now think other countries should have a part in his trial, (2) people who want Iraqis to run their own affairs right now don’t want them to run this trial and, (3) people actually think that the UN should try him for the crimes it consistently refused to do anything about.
Years ago I compared the international community’s behavior to The Little Red Hen. It’s a comparison that just keeps working.
SAVAGING THE PRESS: Josh Chafetz is merciless:
Brokaw on Saddam: “He was literally a rat trapped in a hole.” No, he was figuratively a rat trapped in a hole. He was literally a former dictator trapped in a hole.
Which is actually worse, you know.
INTERESTING REPORT:
CNN reports the head of Palestinian Hamas has issued a statement expressing outrage that Saddam would encourage martrydom in others, yet personally go down without a fight. The impact of this should not be underestimated.
Indeed.
MICKEY KAUS: “Saddam’s capture bumped Howard Dean off the cover of Newsweek. Some will find cheap symbolism in this.”
But not our Mickey!
OKAY, THIS IS THE BEST photoshopped Saddam I’ve seen so far.
UPDATE: Well, now this is the best:
Only one word will do: Heh.
ANDREW SULLIVAN IS RUNNING A CONTEST: “Readers are invited to send in the most strained and mealy-mouthed statements from the devastated press and anti-war politicians and activists following the capture of Saddam.”
ROGER SIMON EMAILS FROM PARIS:
I am here in Paris to research a new novel, celebrating the overthrow of Saddam with your one time Paris correspondent Nelson Ascher and journalist/novelist Nidra Poller and we would all like to say that atmosphere here tonight is that Chiraq is shaking in his boots and may be headed for Damascus to seek political asylum.
That might not be a good long-term solution. . . .
UPDATE: Everybody said that when Saddam started talking he’d implicate France. Well. . .
I told him, `You keep on saying that you are a brave man and a proud Arab.’ I said, `When they arrested you why didn’t you shoot one bullet? You are a coward.’
“And he started to use very colorful language. Basically, he used all his French.”
Uh huh.
A captured Saddam with a tongue depressor in his mouth. His tongue can’t be half as depressed as the French, John Kerry, Howard Dean, The Guardian et al. They’ve all been saying for months that the Coalition needs to hand over more power and authority to Iraqis. Handing over Saddam to be tried in Baghdad is an excellent start.
Heh.
TIM BLAIR is on a roll today. Just keep scrolling.
UPDATE: Power Line has a lot of interesting posts, too.
A SADDAM LOOKALIKE has been spotted.
UPDATE: Reader Steve Hornbeck points to this key endorser and says that Dennis Kucinich has a lot of explaining to do.
G-SCOBE: “One thing we can say with confidence: the French, Germans and Russians are sweating bullets.”
REACTION FROM THE LEFT: “Just another plastic turkey moment.”
Of course, the turkey wasn’t ever plastic. Reports that it was genetically modified are unconfirmed.
LEE HARRIS ON SADDAM’S CAPTURE: “Thank God he’s alive!”
The man who called upon his countrymen and fellow Muslims to sacrifice their own lives in suicide attacks, to blow themselves to bits in order to glorify his name, failed to follow his own instructions. He refused the grand opportunity of a martyr’s death, or even that of the hardened Hollywood gangster, determined that the cops would never take him alive. Instead, Saddam Hussein surrendered meekly and was, according to the reports, even cooperative.
We took Saddam Hussein alive, and, in doing this, we have done a great deal more than simply knock down a statue of a dictator — we have vanquished a collective nightmare. We have turned the light on a bogey-man, and revealed him to be a broken old man, hiding fearfully in a six by eight hole.
Read the whole thing.
DID TOLKIEN PREDICT the manner of Saddam’s capture?
Well, no. But this is pretty amusing.
SOMEBODY DO A BED CHECK ON CHARLES MANSON! As a reader points out, we’ve never seen him and Saddam photographed together.
Of course, Saddam pretty much lived out Manson’s dream.
MEGAN MCARDLE wonders how much useful intelligence Saddam will provide.
It depends, of course, on the subject. Countries that supported him covertly must be worried. Are they worried enough to try to cause an “accident” that would both keep him quiet and embarrass the United States?
I don’t know, but I imagine that’s been taken into account by the people holding him.
WOW, THAT WAS FAST: Mack Owens already has a column on Saddam’s capture up over at National Review Online.
BRYAN PRESTON: “Jacques Chirac is probably worried sick over what Saddam will say if he decides to talk.”
I FORGET WHICH TALKING HEAD IT WAS who I heard saying that we’d have to have an international tribunal for Saddam or we wouldn’t be able to “maintain credibility,” but I just had to laugh.
What international tribunal? One staffed by Europeans who supported Saddam?
The “international community” and the “human rights community” lack the moral standing to try Saddam. Let the Iraqi people do it. Unlike the dictator-coddling Euros, they’ve suffered enough to have earned the right.
That won’t stop the Coalition Of The Pissy from whining, of course. But as has been made increasingly clear, that’s of limited significance.
UPDATE: Reader James Van Zyl emails:
I was watching the CBC newscast here in Canada regarding the capture of Saddam Hussein and the issue of where the trial should take place, came up. They were interviewing an Iraqi expat (I believe she was from an organisation called Free Women of Iraq). The reporter in typical holier-than-thou fashion asked her if she thinks Saddam will get a fair trial in Iraq, and if it wouldn’t therefore be better to put him on trial in the Hague. The womens answer took the reporter by complete surprise because it was so simple and yet in one sentence clearly conveyed exactly how many Iraqis feel about Saddam Hussein, and their distrust of the UN. Her answer was :
“Actually, I don’t think he will get a ‘fair’ trial in the Hague”.
Indeed.
THE LESSON: Saddam’s capture also shows the importance of patience, and of ignoring the kvetching of the Coalition Of The Pissy. While people bitched, the military just kept gathering intelligence and keeping Saddam on the run until he slipped and they caught him. And looking at the TV images, he seems docile, exhausted, and ready to be caught. That’s the fruit not just of a single lucky break, but of the sustained campaign of keeping him moving.
Those who, frankly, would just as soon see the entire war as a failure, are ready to call anything short of perfection a failure. But persistence pays off. It’s worth keeping in mind on other subjects.
Interestingly, the American public seems to have gotten that all along, as a pre-capture Gallup poll showing support for the war was already actually climbing in recent months makes clear.
UPDATE: More lessons here.