Here is an interesting WaPo article on the types of intelligence techniques used to find Saddam. Read the whole thing, including the ‘carrot and stick’ strategy they intend to use to approach those who were on the fence prior to Saddam’s capture.
Archives for 2003
Like I Said
In the short term, I expect an uptick in bold and poorly planned attacks on American troops withe results like this:
American soldiers killed 11 attackers who ambushed their patrol using a flock of pigeons as a signal of the force’s approach, an American military statement said today, in an incident that appeared to be a further sign that the insurgency has not slowed after the capture of Saddam Hussein.
The military also said in other statements issued today that unrest continued in Ramadi and Falluja, two towns known for their support of the former Iraqi leader, and that American troops shot and killed at least two gunmen.
These “dead-enders” have nothing left, and this should taper down in a month or so, if not before. These are not rational actors with a long-term strategy. These are Ba’athists and other Saddam loyalists lashing out in anger and, more importantly, embarassment from the way their cowardly leader surrendered.
What will probably continue to be a problem are the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism conducted by the usual coalition of whackos and jihadis from abroad. At least that is my prediction- and it is starting to appear that the Iraqi population has little patience for these wing-nuts.
Miller Time
Via DailyPundit, this short Time.com interview with Dennis Miller:
Explain how the war in Iraq makes sense to you as a response to 9/11.
Like there’s no chance that the secular state of Iraq and Islamic fundamentalists cohabitate? They both think we’re Satan. How about that as a nice point of departure for them car-pooling? I wish there was a country called al-Qaedia that we could have invaded, but there wasn’t. (Saddam was) the only one who had a home address.
A lot of California Republicans want you to run for Senate. Will you?
At some point that involves moving to Washington, D.C., sitting in a room all day with a moron like Barbara Boxer. I’m just not interested. I like open minds, and I think in Washington right now, we might as well start painting those people red and blue.
Heh.
Dean’s Speech
I guess I am not the only one to realize that Dean’s speech yesterday was breathtaking in its simplicity and naivete. In short, it was like a poly-sci undergrad gathered all the anti-Bush unilateralism diatribes and co-mingled them with some of the isolationist and ‘peace at all costs’ rhetoric of the loony left, and then disguised it all as an appeal international ‘cooperation.’
Howard Dean declared on Monday that “the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer,” provoking an avalanche of new attacks from rivals who have seized on Sunday’s surprise news as a way of redrawing the foreign policy debate in the Democratic presidential campaign…
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who supported the war, spent a second day in row hammering Dr. Dean on the Iraq issue, and scheduled a speech for Tuesday in New Hampshire to highlight their differences on national security.
“If he truly believes the capture of this evil man has not made America safer, then Howard Dean has put himself in his own spider hole of denial,” Mr. Lieberman said. “I fear that the American people will wonder if they will be safer with him as president.”
Mr. Edwards, in his first major speech on foreign policy in months, said that while Mr. Hussein’s capture “did not end the danger in Iraq,” it had “kicked the door wide open for all of us to hope that sooner and not later democracy will thrive for the Iraqi people.” He called on the administration to include the international community in rebuilding Iraq and in trying Mr. Hussein.”
Dean and his supporters are living in some parallel universe- that much is clear. This statement from his speech is just a gem:
Let me be clear: My position on the war has not changed.
Which is why you are entirely unelectable. Standing on principle is great, but it helps if you are right, and it also helps if your principle does not appear to be a construction based upon political calculus. Gephardt said it best:
“We can’t beat George Bush by playing politics with foreign policy,” Mr. Gephardt told reporters in a campaign swing in Ecorse, Mich. “We’ve got to stand up for what we think is right. That’s what I’ve always done and that’s what I’ll always do.”
In a rational Democratic party, Lieberman and Gephardt would be the only candidates getting any attention. The Democrats are not rational, however, and as I have predicted for the last year, Dean is still their favorite. The Democratic party needs to get rid of McAullife, spend a year or two soul-searching, take some anger management classes, and pull themselves together. They have simply lost it- and with another southern Democrat retiring from the Senate, the executive branch is the only branch they have a remote chance of recapturing in the next 6 years.
And The Spin Begins
Seems someone agrees with Kofi Annan that Saddam should be tried in an ‘International Court:’
Saddam Hussein’s family wants the former leader to be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal set up by the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council, one of his daughters said Tuesday.
Raghad Saddam Hussein said her father appeared sedated in footage released Sunday by the U.S.-led occupation authority after his capture near his home town of Tikrit.
Should Have Seen This Coming
I guess now that Saddam is in captivity, I should have seen this coming. The NY Times gives seom front p[age web coverage to yet another pop psychology voyage in the “Bush and his daddy vs. the evil Hussein.”
They have a team of monkeys working at the Times? Jeebus. Good thing Krugman is on vacation- I am not sure how the hell he would have spun Saddam’s capture as bad for the economy.
Poor Underfunded Democrats
Those poor underfunded Democrats, now that they have led the charge in protecting incumbents and silencing critics with CFR, are now leading the charge in soliciting international funds to further their cause.
Frustrated with the lack of domestic support, left-leaning website MoveOn.org has apparently been reaching beyond American borders to generate cash revenue over the internet!
The provocative international fundraising strategy threatens to embroil the presidential candidacies of General Wesley Clark and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.
Both men are named on international fundraising websites suggesting donations to MoveOn.org.
Meanwhile, MoveOn.org, which has been running ads critical of the Bush Administration, has named an “International Campaigns Director,” the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
It is not clear how much money has been raised — to date– from foreign sources, but political websites from London to Portugal to Montreal are directing their citizens to stop the American president George Bush by donating to MoveOn.org!
Wesley Clark’s official campaign website has been offering a link to “Canada For Clark”, which in turn advises Canadians: “Non-Americans can’t by law, give money to any particular candidate’s campaign. But we can support pro-democracy, progressive American organizations like MoveOn.org, which do their best to spread the ugly truth about Bush and publicize the Democratic message. Click here to donate to MoveOn.org.”
The top traffic referrer to CanadaForClark.com is Clark’s Official Campaign Website.
Cute. I guess with Clinton out of office, the Chinese money dried up. At any rate, it appears the Swedes are a non-player at this time.