Will Arabs feel humiliated or happy with the photos on television?

[kentuck]

It is impossible to put ourselves in the other person's shoes but, do you think any Arabs felt humiliated by the picture of Saddam Hussein being captured in a hole? Does this make all Arabs look impotent? If the strongest can be humiliated in such a manner, what is left for the rest of them? And not just Iraqis, but the entire Arab world. Does anyone think they are rejoiceful that Saddam was caught in the manner he was caught? Wouldn't they have preferred he went down like his sons, fighting to the end? Doesn't he look like a coward and does this reflect negatively on the rest of the Arab world ?

[Redleg]

1. Some will feel humiliated, some will feel happy, some will feel

other emotions. I don't believe they are all some homogenous group who reacts the same way to these events (I'm guessing you don't either). I suppose the Arabs who dislike the USA and Bush will be pissed off and the ones who like us will not be so pissed off.

[kentuck]

3. And it is the ones that feel humiliated that we have to worry about...

but I agree with you, "some will feel humiliated"...

[beardedOldMan]

2. Will I care or not?

No.

But if they're offended, they're also going to realize that the US is powerful.

Strength, Violence, Victory and Intimidation during War -> important to gain respect in the Arab world.

Tolerance, concession, defeat and capitulatio during war -> signs of weakness in the Arab world.

Capturing Saddam - closing the book on the first gulf war. We still have to finish this one now that we stumbled into it over dubious WMD and Al Qaeda claims. If we back out now...we're f***ed...if we leave it up to the UN (who backs out of every challenge) we're f***ed.

Truman, Kennedy and Roosevelt would've stuck this out. Let's hope that Bush doesn't find that he needs to weasel out because of polls.

[thebigidea]

4. what nonsense!

[kentuck]

5. Spoken like a true conservative....

If we intimidate and show strength, we gain their respect. We also gain their hatred and their continued rocket attacks and suicide bombs and dead Americans, brought about by the desperation from such policies as you endorse...

[Cheswick2.0]

7. why are you quoting Rush?

yikes

[wuushew]

6. Israel has won all its wars and that has not helped

the defeat of 1967 has certainly not cooled Arab grievances. I agree with you that humiliation and defeat can powerful motivators. Other examples might include the Japanese commitment to honor during WWII.

[Frederic Bastiat]

8. I honestly don't care

They'll always be people that want peace and others that prefer war or choose to blow themselves up.

[kentuck]

9. But do you care if they kill Americans when they blow themselves up?

That is the issue.

[AmericaInWonderland]

10. Remember in WW2

When the US very quietly and respectfully took Japan's defeat? I think this would be the way we should carry ourselves. I think we shoudl resist comments about finding Saddam in a "hole", taking unflattering photographs of him, and any other urge to humiliate him. Leave that to the war tribunals and the Iraqi people themselves.

And for the historians here, how was nation building in Japan different after WW2? I know it took a long time, but I believe it was a smoother process in which we did not lose the goodwill of the Japanese people. Also we did not even put the Emperor on trial and as I recall reading, many of their war criminals (arguably as bad or worse than Saddam in the atrocity of their crimes) were allowed to go free. Seems like how we handled it then is very different from how we are handling nation building now.

Edited: to add last couple of sentences of commentary.