Excellent piece by Sebastian Holsclaw on the difference between words and action.
Archives for 2003
Sometimes I Wonder
Sometimes I really think the NY Times views the United States as a rogue nation:
And it is critical that the dictator be given a fair and open trial to exact justice for his crimes, to give some solace to the people he terrorized and to give pause to other despots. The trial must be above any suspicion that it is merely an exercise in retribution or propaganda. While every effort should be made to maximize Iraqi involvement, Iraq’s judicial institutions are too weak to handle the case. Although last week’s creation of an Iraqi war crimes tribunal was a promising step, we would suggest this trial be conducted in Iraq under United Nations auspices by international and Iraqi judges. A tribunal picked by Americans would lack legitimacy.
If were up to me, he would be tied, standing up, in the back of a flatbed truck, driven through all the heavily populated Shia areas of Iraq, and then delivered to the Kurds.
Give Me A Break
Here is the commercial:
The ad shows a magazine with Bin Laden on the cover. As the camera zooms in, a narrator says:
The Saddam Aftermath
Jesse comments on the post-Saddam aftermath:
Long-Term Impacts Of The Capture
1.) The terrorist/Iraqi insurgency: Now, we’ll find out whether they’re fighting for a Saddam Restoration or against American occupation. While I certainly hope it’s the former (and that a speedy trial of Saddam set up over the next couple of weeks where his various horrific crimes are read in front of him, and he’s summarily locked up and interrogated lawfully until he dies), I fear that it’s much more the latter.
I think in the short run, we will see two results. First, the so-called ‘dead-enders,’ those Ba’athists and Saddam loyalists, will probably step up their efforts to create chaos, so I would not be surprised to see a small uptick in the frequency and ferocity of incidents. That should taper off, in very little time.
Second, the people are now no longer going to be afraid. Before, when they talked about Saddam, reporters frequently noted that there was still a sense of fear because Saddam was at large. That is gone, and I expect Iraqi’s will help the coalition more, and begin to quickly turn against the foregin jihadis/insurgents.
Third, the manner in which Saddam was captured, without even putting up a fight, might mute resistance. The emperor has no clothes.
2.) The hunt for WMD: Given the extent to which Saddam was apparently deluded about his own WMD program, I highly doubt he’s going to have any useful information.
I sure hope Jesse is wrong. I believe that WMD was one of many reasons justifying this war, and I have been horribly upset with our inability to turn up WMD. I believe it may be the greatest intelligence failure of my lifetime. I want to know where the WMD are, if there were any.
3.) The reconstruction: Its progress depends in large part on the insurgency. If there’s still one next year, the capture of Saddam, while a huge morale boost, if there’s still an anti-American (rather than pro-Saddam) opposition effort, we’re talking about the tip of the iceberg rather than the base.
I expect an international coalition will be involved with a large-scale reconstruction effort within 6 months.
4.) The PNAC plan: As we can see from Bush’s stance on Taiwan upsetting the “one China” balance, our ability to democratically remake the world through war isn’t going to work the way Bush or the neocons have planned. It’s going to be at least a year and a half in Iraq (provided the power transfer goes as planned in July, which I doubt) – these adventures, regardless of how ultimately successful or justified you believe them to be, are harder and take longer than those in charge plan for. It’s simply not a coherent or tenable policy in the long term.
Not sure what to make of this statement, as it is based on a bunch of ‘ifs.’ The one ‘if’ remains- ‘if’ power is turned over to a reformed Iraq in a timely period (1-3 years), as far as I am concerned, the PNAC crew was right.
Last Samurai
I saw the Last Samurai yesterday. It was ok- I didn’t feel like my money had been wasted when it was over. I guess you can call that a movie review. Probably should have seen Master and Commander.
On Another Note
Do they not have firecrackers in the Middle East? Why do these people keep shooting bullets up into the air? It seems to me a wise entrepeneuer would start a firecracker import company.
We Got the Bastard
American military officials confirmed today that Saddam Hussein had been captured alive in Tikrit on Saturday night.
They confirmed that it was him based on DNA evidence.
In Baghdad, huge crowds celebrated in the streets with gunfire.
The most emotional aspect was watching the Middle Eastern reporters reaction during the announcement. The other members of the press started taking pictures of them.
L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, was greeted by cheers today upon announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein.
The Washington Post has more:
The capture of Hussein has been a high priority for U.S. forces since last spring’s invasion, but the former Iraqi leader had proven elusive despite a $25 million reward that the Bush administration offered for information that led to him.
U.S. authorities had received numerous tips about possible hiding places for Hussein and suspect they were close to nabbing him on a few occasions. Hussein’s two sons, Uday and Qusay, were found in July in a house in Tikrit and died in a firefight with U.S. troops.
From his hideouts, Hussein continued to taunt U.S. authorities, issuing periodic audio tapes urging resistance to the American-led occupation. To spearhead the search for him, the Pentagon established a group of Special Operations forces known as Task Force 121. In recent months, U.S. forces have focused on hunting down mid-level former Iraqi officers and mid-ranking onetime Baath Party operatives in hopes they could provide intelligence that might lead to Hussein.
That would be the same Task Force 121 that Seymour Hersh had written this alarmist piece about in the New Yorker. Hersh’s next book should be “How to be Wrong About Everything All the Time.”
How are Democrats going to spin this as an administration failure? My guess is the “But where is Osama catcalls will begin.”
*** Update ***
Atrios’s only remark is to title a link to the story as ‘Something Right.’ The first comment underneath that post is: “Now if only someone would come and capture our ‘leader.'”
I am not exagerating when I say the members of the Atrios ‘moderate’ left have lost their collective minds.
*** Update #2 ***
The Command Post is on the Saddam Capture like ugly on an ape.