Saddam Caught?

So? Where are the weapons?

Osama?

Shhh. Think happy thought. Chocorations are bound to go up soon.

Bush will pull Osama bin Laden out of a hat a month before the election...you just wait.

Good thing this is happening now. The bombs will keep going off, and voters will realize that catching one man isn't going to solve dick.

They probably found him sitting in his Laz-E-Boy, drinking a Budweiser, watching The Real World and smoking a Marlboro, while his second-in-command plays nine-ball on a GABC pool table....

I'm pretty sure Saddam was a Miller High Life guy.

I´m glad this monster has been captured. It will not solve the problems in Iraq though.

Yes, there's been a lot of that recently. I look forward to the celebratory carbombs too.

There's going to be a trial?

Ah, a happy day. Congrats to the Coalition and the Iraqi people.

Congrats to our troops. This will be a day long remembered.

Certainly this is good news, and one can only hope that Saddam’s capture will spell an end to much of the appalling violence that we have seen in Iraq over the last few months.

On a less joyous note: I can’t say that I was thoroughly impressed with some of the triumphalist scenes that took place in the press conference hosted by Paul Bremer.

His ’We got him!’ followed by the chimpanzee hoots of approval from the supposedly impartial press were, in my opinion, singularly misplaced.

Agreed. Hopefully this turns the tide.

Last week the coalition effectively transferred responsibility for the conduction of war crimes trials to the interim Iraqi government. So technically, any decision on the future of Saddam is in Iraqi hands.

Tony Blair confirmed this morning that Saddam will be tried by an Iraqi court, Paul Bremer however appeared less willing to confirm this detail.

Certainly, it is going to be rather interesting to watch this devilishly tricky situation develop over the coming weeks.

Let the Iraqis try him, and fill up the jury with Kurds.

So, this means terrorism has been destroyed, right?

Time to break out that "Mission Accomplished!" banner again!

Rip Van Winkle.

Hey the whole he was in, looked like the ones used in some countries to pee and crap in. Wonder if it was dual use.

Wait, we captured Tommy Chong?

And here I've been thinking they scheduled the "capture" for Spring '04. Just in time for the election cycle to be in full swing.

Now there's no stopping the bastard and our money flows like water over Niagra Falls...

What, is this supposed to be an early Christmas Present to the RNC? I suppose so. I know I can't wait to unveil my Dad's Christmas present, so...

September 11 is a day long remembered. This is a day American Media has a photo opportunity.

If anybody but the Iraqis try him, then this whole idea of a free Iraq is a total sham.

Actually I think he looks more like Fidel, that was my initial reaction.

Unabomber.


This is great news.

Not quite the image of a evil mastermind on the run many folks seem to have of the guy.

This is one step, it's a MAJOR step, but still merely one step towards a truly free Iraq.

Congratulations to the Iraqi people.

So, no happiness whatsoever for this? Are we all so cynical that we can't gleam a bit of happiness out of a truly momentous event in this war?

Matt, for those of us against the war from the beginning and who never thought Saddam was a threat that justified American troops dying by the hundreds, no, this isn't all that great a day.

So he's captured, great. Now what?

Ok. That's fine.

Pro-war or anti-war. Pro-Bush or anti-Bush.


If you are so completely consumed by hatred of the George Bush (cause that's what it boils down to) that you are prevented from rejoicing over the fact that one of the most brutal,evil,bloodthirsty dictators of recent times is in custody is beyond help. You're so cemented in your robotic hatredand rhetoric that no amount of good news from that theater will ever change your mind. I accept that.

But I also know you are in an incredibly small minority that's getting smaller every day.

Oh please, save me the histrionics. There are still dozens of brutal dictators all over the globe, but I don't see us ramping up a holy war to go and capture them.

I'm glad he's captured. I hope he's punished for his crimes. But please don't pretend you've been staying up late at night for the last twelve years, worrying about "that madman Saddam and his brutal horrors".

Was this one man worth the thousands of lives WE took? Or the hundreds of troops WE lost?

This has nothing to do with partisanship. You wanna clap yourself on the back and high-five eath other? Knock yourselves out. Meanwhile, more graves are being dug in Arlington National Cemetery.

Not really...and I do not have a real clue as to why. Maybe it's just that I never cared for Saddam as our chosen enemy and that Osama is the Spring Capture that election cycles in the future will attempt to emulate...to no avail.

Yes, I am a cynic of the highest extreme. I don't believe a whole lot of what I see as happening "as seen on TV".

For the Iraqi people I...rejoice? For the American Electorate I am sad for your taxes and your Governmental excess...and your borders. Because they're MY taxes and MY borders too.

Instead of being REALLY pissed that you basically accuse me of not caring about our own dead soldiers (dick move by the way),

I'll simply shrug and let it go. You know you're not gonna change. I know you're not gonna change. It's a dead horse.


I look to those people who were on the fence about this war and needed some signs of progress to know what we're doing is right and good to be swayed here.

How's that for histrionics?

How does capturing Saddam prove that what we're doing is "right and good"? Did someone think we were going to let him go?

I'll be honest i'd love to see Osama captured. Far above Saddam but i'll take Saddam. You always want the 30lb bass but when you get a ripe 19lb one it always brightens your day. Shame on those who don't feel a bit happy for those Iraqi's who are liberated once and for all from this brutal dictator.

What did I just say? No debating with you, because what's the point?

Will I change your mind or vice versa? No.

I shot my water gun towards the sky in full solidarity with the Iraqis.

*squirt* *squirt*

I suspect it'll get worse.

Saddam was not the sole organising force behind the resistance, and as long as the US holds Iraq, it'll be a magnet for every middle eastern zealot who wants to strike back at the infidels.

Saddam is symbolically important, not strategically.

Here

Ok, I'm just gonna come right out and say it: fuck all this self-righteous bullshit. None of you people gave a tinker's fucking cuss about "the poor Iraqi people" until your Republican Presidents started wars in their country. Shame on you for using another country's terror and loss as a stepping stone for your personal politics.

If nothing else, at least you neo-cons can't use Saddam as the boogeyman of the world the next time we need oil and defense contracts...

And we all know how much Matt respects Lieberman's opinions...

McCain says (in jest) give the money found on Saddam to the 1st ID for Christmas.


Not a bad idea actually.

if only the wild boars got to him first, or something.

This has been a surprising bit of news to hear this morn. I hope for America's sake the Iraqi people take responsibility for dealing justice to him, rather than America. That this country won't be taken hostage by some fanatics insisting upon the release of their leader...the kinda movie-esque scenarios you'd see in Air Force One or to some extent this season of 24. It would be a mess for us to be handling the guy in the long run.

Well, I DID vote for him in the fake poll I created here. If that counts for anything.

I always did, as other countries under oppressed regimes. You can go to hell for generalizing my motivations. Feel free to care or not care about anybody in the 3rd world, but please, don't try to read my mind.

Catching Saddam somehow justifies this war as having been "good and just" ??!? Hi, there's this magical place called AFGHANISTAN where REAL terrorists and their friends live. Where is the U.S.'s War on Terror in this country? Oh wait, it's now the Canadian Peacekeeping Scuffle on Naughty People.

For anyone who thought this war was a good idea, I go back to what Seabass has been saying all along: liberating Iraq was the THIRD reason given to fight this war. Not the first (WMD - which has now been shown to be a completely false reason), not the second (breaking UN conventions, which not even the whole UN fell for), but the third. Over the course of what, almost a whole year ??!? There are no terrorists in Iraq. There are several countries in and around that region that should have been priorities over pounding Iraq. Hell, you guys could have actually finished what you started in Afghanistan and stayed long enough to ensure that the region became stable and that Osama got caught and dealt with. But no. Iraq was MUCH more sexy that Afghanistan. So now others are having to go in and clean up the fucking mess, which is starting to prove very difficult indeed. All of the warlords in the region are still active and causing problems. There is no money for rebuilding the region or ensuring that the necessary infrastructure gets built to transition the country into a stable democracy. But hey, YOU CAUGHT SADDAM!

Feeling guilty over having American troops die for nothing does not equate into a reason to think that this solves or changes anything or is in fact a case for "the end justifies the means".

Some Iraqi already got 25K advance on the money. I wonder if it was a single individual or a group. Was it somebody helping him that cashed out? There's an interesting story there.