Uday and Qusay, The Sequel

[PlanetBev]

When the sons were killed, we saw this same kind of gloating. Bush is a genius, bla, bla, bla, the insurgents will give up the will to fight, bla, bla, bla, the anti-war movement will go down in flames, bla, bla, bla.

Come on, people, we knew this scenario was coming. Our intelligence was pretty sure he was in Tikrit, so this was a matter of time. I kind of wish that Sadaam had offed himself though, because I think his being taken alive may increase the violence. The insurgents may see this as a greater humiliation, seeing Sadaam paraded around as an American prize of war, and react accordingly.

[BertrandL]

1. I agree, eom

[Eric J in MN]

2. another similarity

The press was asking questions about the lack of weapons of mass destruction.

Then Uday and Quasay were killed, and the press stopped asking about wmd.

The press was asking about human rights abuses by the US military ("60 Minutes" last week on people arrested by the US in their homes being held for months without charges and not allowed to see family or an attorney), and about Halliburton overcharging.

Now that Saddam is captured, the press will probably stop asking about human rights and Halliburton overcharging.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. What I want to know is why didn't they shoot and kill Saddam

...like Uday and Qusay? Saddam was a brutal dictator and deserve to be killed. But no, he is handled with kid gloves. Why did they treat his sons like they were the leaders of Iraq and not Saddam himself?

[H46Driver]

4. Original Message

Probably had something to do with Uday and Qusay trying to shoot their way out and Saddam deciding not to use the pistol that he was carrying don't ya think?

[soothsayer]

5. no

Didn't we do a bit of overkill on the sons----just shot 'em up til they were swiss cheese, greatly outnumbered.

I think the resulting PR black eye that shrub got---no one believed it was them, plus the ridiculous propaganda we tried to say about them (that they were on the run with suitcases full of viagra and sex toys and inflatable goats, that kind of stuff) was sooooo transparent, this time they had to do it better. Especially if iraqis are afraid of the guy being in circulation.

[PlanetBev]

6. I believe that Uday and Qusay were dispensable

Killing them would be a handy tool to demoralize hell out of dear old dad. Even thought they did fight back, I don't think that the US troops saw any percentage in keeping them alive. Now Sadaam is another story. US can beat it's chest over it's trophy. My guess is that they won't be able to dig any info out of Sadaam. If they're looking for any WMD info, he ain't gonna talk. What does everybody else think?