It appears that the rumors were accurate (which is a refreshing change in and of itself):
The two notorious sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay, were killed today in an extended firefight with American forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the United State military said today.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, commander of allied forces in Iraq, announced the deaths hours after a nearly three-hour attack by American soldiers destroyed a house that the two sons were seen running into.
The two men were seen exiting a car and racing into a house in the eastern part of the city around 9 a.m. and were filmed, the Kurdish officials said. The film was quickly handed over to the American military, who identified the men and surrounded the house with troops from the 101st Airborne.
The people inside responded by opening fire on the troops. United States forces retaliated, and the boom of high-powered weaponry shattered the calm of the area for three hours, said the Kurdish officials, including one eyewitness. Four bodies were found in the house, completely shattered by the assault, which included attacks by at least one helicopter gunship. Two men were arrested, the sources said.
Rot in hell, you bastards. And we’ll be sending you your dad for company soon.
*** Update ***
Just for fun, please report all the lefty websites, politicians, or talking heads who state something to the effect of:
“This is a good development, BUT”
or
“I am glad they are dead, BUT”
Should be entertaining. Remember, nothing good can happen until 20 Jan 2005.
Glen
John,
For once we’re in substantial agreement. I’ve declared 15 minutes of inebriated joy.
Glen
Your update just flashed through. No buts…
Matthew Yglesias
I’ve got a but right here, please feel free to mock away.
HH
“It’s a victory for the Iraqi people, but…” – Howie
Ed Flinn
Michele finds Hesiod moonbatting about the timing of the deaths of these swine.
John Cole
Actually, I agree with yours, Matt.
I was looking for the “It is nice but they are dead, but shouldn’t Bush have had a plan for Post-war Iraq.” kinda comments. Sure, it would have been better to catch them alive.
Andrew Lazarus
Unfortunately, my “but” is I don’t expect the sniping at American soldiers to diminish.
The even more important challenge than apprehending Saddam and his henchmen is to turn enough of Iraq over to Iraqis before the indifferent or even favorably disposed segments of the populace get angry. Facing contingents of Ba‘athist irregulars is difficult, but facing the entire population will be impossible. (I don’t worry about the Vietnam quagmire. I worry about the Lebanon quagmire.)
John Cole
Andrew- I disagree and agree-
I think the best way to move forward with turning over control to the IRaqis is to make sure Saddam, his sons, and the upper echelon of officials are dead.
I don’t think most Americans respect how afraid most Iraqis still are of Hussein. Look how most right-wingers behave when you say the word Clinton- now multiply that by a factor of a million.
the talking dog
Hey, Idi Amin is in a coma, and George W. Bush still can’t shake off the uranium thing, and NOW Qusay and Uday get knocked off.
Not a bad week.
Lonewacko
Susan Estrich thinks it’s somehow related to Lynch: http://www.dailypundit.com/archives/010535.php#010535
David Perron
The left half of my brain suspects that maybe Bush had Uday and Qusay knocked off BECAUSE they knew there were no WMDs. I’d be shocked if the Atriettes haven’t made it to that conclusion as well.
My left brain is fond of coming up with moonbattish theories that even the Left can’t outdo. Mostly, though, it fails.
David Perron
Woohoo! Bill Quick has also latched onto this. Maybe it’s too batshit even for the Lefties. Then again, maybe it’s not batshit enough.