From The New York Times:
Two powerful car bombs exploded at police stations in Baghdad today, killing at least six Iraqi officers and announcing that the insurgency here has not ended with the capture of Saddam Hussein. [Emphasis added]
That’s the second story today from NYT with the new meme. Send in your own finds.
As an update to this post from this morning, we have the lede from an MSNBC story:
A suicide bomber killed eight Iraqi policemen Monday at a station on Baghdad
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This news could cut either way:
Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) announced Monday that he will not seek a fourth term in 2004, ending a political career spanning more than three decades.
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Ralph Peters is a retired Army intelligence officer — and it shows. Read:
The commander of our forces in Iraq stated that “great analytical work led to [Saddam's] capture.” Tip-offs likely helped, too. But whatever the details of nabbing the Grinch of Baghdad may be, our intelligence operations remain a success story.
Behind the headline attacks on our soldiers and Iraqi civilians, we’ve been killing 50 to 70 hardcore terrorists and renegades each week, while arresting hundreds. We’ve busted more and more key Ba’athist officials. Now Saddam’s going to have to celebrate New Year’s Eve without a single bottle of Dom Perignon.
How have we done it? The old-fashioned way. By data-mining the enemies of our enemies. By listening to all sides and testing their claims against each other. By exploiting captured files. By appealing to both selfish and selfless interests. By exploiting family and tribal connections. And by laying down hard cash.
…
The volume of information Iraqis volunteer to us is a fundamental metric of success. It was already soaring before we grabbed Saddam. Now it’s bound to turn into a deluge. Our intel hands, so often criticized, deserve an enormous pat on the back for this one. Even if a tipster turned the tide.
If Peters seems proud of his former comrades, it’s because he should be.
If you missed President Bush’s year-end news conference this morning, The Washington Post has the text here.
Favorite bit:
QUESTION: You say this is not personal, but you’ve also pointed out this was a man who tried to murder your father. What is your greeting today?
BUSH: “Good riddance. The world is better off without you, Mr. Saddam Hussein. And I find it very interesting that when the heat got on you dug yourself a hole and you crawled in it. And our brave troops, combined with good intelligence, found you. And you’ll be brought to justice, something you did not afford the people you brutalized in your own country.”
Message sent.
Go to Michael Totten’s for today’s, uh, Required Viewing.
This New York Times headlines captures the new post-Saddam meme the press will take:
The lede reads:
Two suicide bombers exploded cars outside Iraqi police stations today, killing at least six people and themselves, and wounding 22, in an apparent sign that the insurgency aimed at American occupation forces and the Iraqis who work with them is continuing despite the capture of Saddam Hussein. [Emphasis added.]
The unspoken assumption is, “Now that Saddam is in our hands, you told us the fighting would end, but it hasn’t. Liar.” Except Bush said no such thing. From yesterday’s address:
I also have a message for all Americans: The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East.
Nevertheless, the many in the press will try to make you think that Saddam’s capture is supposed to mean an end to the violence, and that Bush will have failed if it doesn’t happen.
It’s the Carnival of the Capitalists.
From Strategy Page, vie Steven DallaVicenza:
One reason M-1 tanks are still frequently used for combat operations in Iraq is because they have a new shotgun type shell for use against hostile infantry. The XM1028 shell holds 1100 10mm tungsten balls that are propelled out of the gun barrel and begin to disperse. The tungsten projectiles are lethal at up to 700 meters. The official, “
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If you’re like me, and Whomever help you if you are, then you often find yourself wondering, “Say, I wonder to myself wonderingly, where can I find some really good stuff written by Rocky Mountain bloggers?”
Jim Geraghty “blew a gasket” at NRO today. His words, not mine.
It’s a good thing. Read it.
Bill Safire doesn’t think Saddam will cough up any useful intel:
I think Saddam is still Saddam
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I didn’t expect this:
U.S. troops captured a haggard Saddam Hussein (news – web sites) in a cramped hole near one of his sumptuous palaces Sunday, a humiliating fate for one of history’s most brutal dictators. A U.S. official later said Saddam had been moved to another country, and the Dubai-based Arab TV station Al-Arabiya said he was taken to Qatar.
If the move to Qatar is simply for security’s sake, then I understand. But I hope he’s returned to Iraq to face the justice of his people.
Why turn him over to the UN (or any other body or country), and give a propaganda coup to the organization which did nothing to topple or capture him?
Zombyboy collected some choice comments from readers of the DeanForAmerica blog.
Jihan Ajlouni, a 24-year-old university student, said, “This is a big loss for the Arab nation. Saddam was one of the great Arab leaders who supported the Palestinian people and many Arabs. We feel very sad today, and we say to all the traitors and collaborators: Don’t rush to celebrate because there are millions of Saddams in the Arab world.”
Fathi Salman, 50, a taxi driver, described the arrest of Saddam as a “black day” for the Palestinians. “This is a black day for all the Palestinians and all the Arabs and Muslims,” he said. “I still can’t believe that President Saddam has been captured by the Americans. Saddam was the only Arab leader who cared about us. He supported the Palestinian cause from the beginning. His arrest is a major setback for the Palestinians. It’s a pity that he didn’t fight.”
Khairiyeh Said, 43, a high-school teacher, said she wept when she watched Saddam in captivity. “I was sitting with my friends when we heard the bad news,” she added. “We all started crying because we love Saddam and we hate [US President George W.] Bush and [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon. This is a big victory for Bush and Sharon and all the enemies of the Palestinian people. We hope the Iraqi resistance will now teach the American dogs a good lesson.”
Then this:
Michael Hanna a 28-year-old engineer was one of the few Palestinians who said they were happy that Saddam was captured by the Americans. “Saddam is responsible for the killing of thousands of his own people and he deserves to die,” he said. “I have no sympathy for him or other Arab dictators. I hope he will be put on trial and executed. This should be a lesson for other corrupt and tyrant Arab leaders. I hope the Iraqi people will now be able to live in peace because they have suffered for a long time under Saddam and his sons.”
There’s at least a little bit of hope most everywhere.
Austin Bay:
Check the furrows and wasted eyes in Saddam
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Allah is pissed.
Bill Whittle gives us some brutal, historical perspective.
Howard Dean comments:
“This is a great day for the Iraqi people, the US, and the international community.
“Our troops are to be congratulated on carrying out this mission with the skill and dedication we have come to know of them.
“This development provides an enormous opportunity to set a new course and take the American label off the war. We must do everything possible to bring the UN, NATO, and other members of the international community back into this effort.
“Now that the dictator is captured, we must also accelerate the transition from occupation to full Iraqi sovereignty.”
To sum up: “We’re doing so well, we should turn it over to people who won’t do so well.”
Remember when some Palestinians danced in the streets on 9/11? They ain’t dancing now:
Disbelief and gloom seized many Palestinians Sunday at news of Saddam Hussein’s capture as Israel fired off a telegram of congratulations to Washington.
The former Iraqi ruler was a hero to many Palestinians for his stand against Israel and its U.S. ally, as well as for helping families of Palestinians dead in an uprising.
For Israel, he was a menace over the horizon who long bankrolled the enemy.
“It’s a black day in history,” said Sadiq Husam, 33, a taxi driver in Ramallah, West Bank seat of the Palestinian Authority.
No comment.
From an AP roundup:
“Praise the Lord. … This is a day of glory for the American military, American intelligence, and it’s a day of triumph and joy for anybody in the world who cares about freedom and human rights and peace.”
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I’m not normally one to encourage people to stuff the ballot box, but you might want to vote in this poll twice.
From the Democratic Underground:
With all due respect to the Iraqi people, for us in the USA — I’m not so sure this is a positive thing. The Chimperial administration is going to play it as a Glorious Victory Against Evil, and tell us to rejoice that We The People no longer have to fear the flying monkeys that Saddam was going to set upon us any minute! The dead of Sept 11 and their grieving families have been avenged! All Hail, Chimperial Highness! Our children will be safe in shopping malls!
Yeah, safe children is a bad thing.
No responses yet to the post, but I’ll keep an eye on it.
James Joyner has another excellent roundup of blogoshere reaction to today’s big news.
TLB would like to ask a question to some on the left. . .
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