Why Saddam captured alive is a good thing for us.

[Qutzupalotl]

If we had found him but killed him, he'd become a martyr to his people, strengthening the resistance and prolonging the difficulties for our troops in Iraq. If we didn't catch him at all, we'd still be worried about those vaporous WMDs getting into terrorists' hands.

No, he's alive and he's going to be tried for war crimes and genocide. Maybe in Iraq, maybe at the Hague, but somewhere. If the fledgeling Iraqi government can play an active role in the trial, that will lessen animosity to the U.S. presence, since we'd be cooperating with the prosecution and surviving victims of Saddam's brutality.

Saddam will be given the opportunity to defend himself publicly. He won't win any friends, but he can state that he's had no WMD program for years, and might be able to prove it. He can say, "Yes, at one time I had chemical weapons, and Donald Rumsfeld helped me get them. Look, here's a receipt." Much of his testimony will be censored, but some will come out.

Bush will get a slight poll bump for Saddam's capture, but better now than next fall. There will be time for it to sink in: toppling a dictator who wasn't a threat is wrong. The details of Saddam's trial will leak out next summer, and provide us with further proof that Bush lied and thousands died.

[DinahMoeHum]

1. Tee hee, the old snake still has a fang remaining. . .

to spill the beans about his dirty dealings with Reagan, Bush I and Rumsfeld.

:evilgrin:

[Rex]

2. Good question! We filled his sons full of holes

and yet we took Saddam alive. It can mean only one thing IMHO, Saddam has information that the BFEE needs that is more important than running the risk of letting him live. I would be inclined to think it is over WMD, but something says it is not.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. I dunno...could be just coincidence.

(Or whatever the opposite of coincidence is.) Uday and Qusay fired on our troops, IIRC. Saddam didn't--he said don't shoot, I'm Saddam. Gotta give the thumbs-up to the troops for not killing him anyway...judicious restraint. Lot of hatred toward him, but a good call on this.

[ComerPerro]

3. I wish I was as optimistic as you

But, alas...

Do you honestly think testimony of Rummy and Bush I helping Saddam obtain WMD and "gas his own people" will really hurt Bush? Hell, FReeper pundits will just dismiss this as "liberal lies" and "anti-American".

I mean, shit, I would have thought the simple fact that Jim Baker is defending Saudi Arabia in a suit filed by 9/11 victims would be enough to destroy Bush. But, we live in the Bizarro world.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. You have a point.

I guess I was thinking that Saddam will be given the opportunity to show he had no WMD programs in the last 3 years. That would be a damning revelation about this whole thing.

Then again, the details of his tortures will be the main focus of the trial, so maybe I'm just full of it. But I'll bet some of it will blow back on those who propped Saddam up in the past.

[deminflorida]

6. He Hurt's the Administration Worse by Being Alive.....

That's the truth...The guy could say anything.....

One of the candidates should insist that a suicide watch be put on him, and they should suggest this now.

Saddam is not the smartest politian in the world, he's always guessed wrong about the West's resolve towards him. I mean look at it this way, the guy has anywhere between 2 and 20 billion dollars stored away and he can't find his way out of Iraq? They find him hiding, dirty in a damn hole?

If there's one thing I learned over the past week, I really don't know who is more stupid however when it comes to politics, Saddam or Al Gore.

[dreissig]

21. The West's Resolve

Come off it. The West's resolve? Sounds like you approve of the invasion of a sovereign country.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Well, we can hope

that he's not assinated by "some irate Iraqi vigilante" before he takes the stand.

[LEW]

8. Yes, but b*sh set the stage today

by saying at the press conference that he does not trust Saddam that he lies, and has lied for years. Maybe a little worried about what he will say?

[Old and In the Way]

9. I'm channeling future Fox News Bulletin, here-

CPA issues bulletin: Saddam Hussein passes away in his sleep. Coroner attributes to massive heart attack. Details to follow.....

[Hubert Flottz]

13. Sounds about right!

More at 11:00!

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Cheney will want to make some more money so...................

he might try and sell Saddam to Ariel Sharon who can convict him and hang him! That will keep the Terra going long enough for Boosh to become King! War generates funds and votes at the same time!

Saddam fired Scuds into Tel Aviv and killed people, he never fired them at Crawford! Saddam funded the terrorists who were blowing up people in Israel for a long time and then he bragged about it! The smartest thing Bush can do is turn Saddam over to the UN, NOW! Anything else will simply generate more hate! Taking Saddam alive was a major blunder IMO!

If Bushco sets up a sham government like they have in Afghanistan in Iraq and they kill Saddam, all hell will break loose all over the middle east IMO! Look at the background of the Cheney/Unocal man (President Karzai) who Bushco installed to rule Afghanistan!

Karzai: A true patriot?

<SNIP>
Karzai worked as a consultant for the huge US oil group Unocal, which had supported the Taleban movement and sought to construct a pipeline to transport oil and gas from the Islamic republics of Central Asia to Pakistan via Afghanistan. However, Karzai's relationship with the Taleban did not last long, since he moved away from the movement immediately after it assumed power in 1996 and turned down the movement's offer to appoint him as its ambassador to the United Nations. More...........................

http://detik.daily.tripod.com/jan02/15jan_5.htm

'World Bank Patriots' are running the show!

[PSR40004]

11. How many did Sadam killed

I wonder how many people Sadam actually killed, I'm hearing 300,000 to slightly under a million. In any regard the guy wasn't doing me alot of good and I doubt he was working on the cure to cancer. I think alot of people are wrong trying to find good in sadam while finding bad in the west... We aren't going to win the election with this thinking and we must keep our eye on the prize people.

[Hubert Flottz]

12. How should we think?

Please expound in 19876543210990876123455666554 words or less, WTF we should think, given the data we now have on hand! I'd sleep more better if'n I Knowed!

[PSR40004]

14. You think like you want..

But if your thinking that making sadam sound like a victim in all of this is going to elect one democratic canidate then IMO (as in opinion) I think it's a mistake.

[Hubert Flottz]

16. No, I never implied that Saddam is or was ever a victim!

The taxpayers are the victims! Saddam deserves whatever he gets for his crimes! But what I think and what the people in the Middle East think are two entirely different things! If I had my way, what he got wouldn't be very nice! People who start wars of aggression always deserve the worst end that fate can dish out!

I would have fragged the sorry Bastard on the spot and said "Oh Excuse Me", but then I'm not the UN! Look at the money he has cost YOU and me! Look at the American soldiers who are still dying every day! All I'm saying is, this is another fine mess Bush's misleading has led us in to!

[PSR40004]

17. Whats 300,000 to a millions Iraqi's worth?

So it comes down to cost and how much you'll pay to save a life, even an Iraqi life? Maybe 400 American lives aren't worth an Iraqi's but then again maybe we should ask an Iraqi mother...

I don't think is a winning platform either...


How about this... bushlite did good to take him out of power but screwed the pouch on not having a post war plan and is costing extra American and Iraqi lives because of that mistake.

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Whatever!

No, it comes down to I pay, but I have No Say! = Taxation Without Representation! I couldn't have stopped Saddam or Bush from misleading! I NEVER killed anyone with anything but kindness, but that is subject to change in the twinkling of an eye if somebody pounces on me first! So far I haven't had to use my Duct Tape so I ain't real pissed off yet thank Gawd! I did however pay more taxes than Saddam or Dick Cheney prolly did, so maybe I am guilty too!!!!!!!

Goodbye!

[Old and In the Way]

19. Yes, I think if you include the losses in the Iran/Iraq War and

DS1, you are correct.

But the Iraq/Iran War was fought by Saddam at our behalf against the Iranians. We sold him the chemicals and weaponry to do it. I believe 100,000 Iraqis died in the slaughter of DS1....and the whole basis of why that war was fought makes we wonder if he was not right to go after Kuwait for slant drilling into their oilfields. Wonder who was supplying Kuwait the technology to do that? Halliburton?

Reagan/Bush created this monster. Why aren't we indicting Presidents that enable tyrants like this? Our foreign policy in the ME (with the exception of an 8 year Clinton status quo) has been created by men with a vested interest in the wealth of the ME. And it's happening again.

So, yes, he was a ruthless, evil man...but why do the men who create and enable the ruthless tyrants get away with it? Doesn't Bush1, Rumsfield, and Cheney deserve as much credit as Saddam for the atrocities?

But here's the kicker. Now that we've deposed Iraq of that evil Saddam....let's see wonderful life becomes for these people. Let's see if they can survive as a secular state or whether it will be fragmented into a small theocratic kingdoms.

You ought to read about some of the progressive things that happened in Iraq in the 80s....at one time they did have the most progressive society in the ME. They had national health insurance and the highest real per capita wealth (not skewed like SA) in the area.

Saddam's problem is he got a little to be to be controlled. He even was going to price his oil in Euro's. That was a big mistake.

[frank frankly]

15. yep, i am shocked they took him alive

certainly was not to BushCo's advantage for the very reasons you stated

[Qutzupalotl]

20. You'll be seeing this one a lot in the coming year:

So bookmark it, y'all!

http ://www. gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/handshake300.jpg