posted on December 14, 2003 04:24:44 AM new
YES!!! It has been confirmed!!! What wonderful, wonderful news!!!
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If you had one phone call to make before you died, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you waiting?
[ edited by wgm on Dec 14, 2003 04:31 AM ]
posted on December 14, 2003 07:35:06 AM new
This should be an incentive to go after bin Laden and AlQaeda with more aggressiveness. This is good news for Iraq but terrorist groups will not relax their efforts at terror. We should not celebrate too much.
posted on December 14, 2003 10:34:52 AM new
Oh I believe this is REALLY him, from my 'start' page (go2net news)
(AP Photo)
Captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein speaks in Baghdad Sunday Dec. 14, 2003 in this image from television. Top U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer confirmed the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in a dirt hole under a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit, eight months after the fall of Baghdad. (AP Photo/US Military via APTN
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posted on December 14, 2003 10:46:11 AM new
And the SECOND TOP STORY on my page?
Democrats Candidates Pleased by Arrest
Democratic presidential candidates welcomed news Sunday of Saddam Hussein's capture, saying the arrest of Iraq's former dictator marked a great day for U.S. soldiers, the people of Iraq and of the world.
"I supported this effort in Iraq without regard for the political consequences because it was the right thing to do," Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt said in a statement from Sumter, S.C., where he was campaigning. "I still feel that way now, and today is a major step toward stabilizing Iraq and building a new democracy."
posted on December 14, 2003 11:46:05 AM new
If true, it will be interesting to see what the U.S. planned to do with him (or Osama). Has Bush ever mentioned that part?
posted on December 14, 2003 12:21:24 PM new
From what I heard on the news today, we're 'questioning' him. Bet it's going to be a long 'questioning' session.
It was stated that he'll be turned over to the Iraqi people who will decide his fate.
posted on December 14, 2003 12:24:07 PM new
Yes, thats what I just read.
DNA tests confirmed Saddam's identity, said the president of Iraqi Governing Council, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim.
Saddam was being held at an undisclosed location, and U.S. authorities have not yet determined whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial or what his status would be. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.
Amnesty International said Sunday that Saddam should be given POW status and allowed visits by the international Red Cross.
Ahmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq's Governing Council, said Saddam will be put on trial.
"Saddam will stand a public trial so that the Iraqi people will know his crimes," Chalabi told Al-Iraqiya, a Pentagon-funded TV station.
posted on December 14, 2003 12:27:34 PM new
nearthesea
Why wouldn't the Democrats be happy? I'm a Democrat and I'm very happy over the news. He's a criminal in anyone's book. It's the lack of WOMD that the Democrats are hollering about, the whole reason we went into Iraq. I just hope that things don't escalate over in Iraq now. Who knows what Hussein's supporters are going to do? Pray that our troops stay safe.
posted on December 14, 2003 12:30:49 PM new
Cheryl, maybe I read the story wrong, it was the second top story (first being Saddams being caught) and what I got out of the article, is like *most* of the candidates almost changed their stance now on Iraq?
All except Kuchinch (sp?) who still says to 'we need to pull out now'. But I may have read the article wrong.
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posted on December 14, 2003 12:38:01 PM new
Dennis would say we need to pull out now. We do need to pull out. We cannot afford to be there, we've spent enough money. We cannot afford the loss of any more lives (and I feel now there will be even more). We've got Hussein. There are no WOMD. Why are we still there spending what we don't have to spend to help a country that sits on one of the world's richest oil deposit?
Just a note. Dennis did support our attack on Afghanistan so he is not entirely anti-war as most believe.
posted on December 14, 2003 02:05:29 PM new
It's good that he was captured alive! Now, he can be asked about Weapons of Mass Destruction and about any relationship with al-Qaeda. He can also describe the relationship between Iraq and the United States and the current members of the Bush administration.
posted on December 14, 2003 03:29:05 PM new
On the Fox news channel they are showing pictures of the citizens dancing in the streets and firing their guns into the air. But they haven't as yet said what the reaction of the Iraqi government officials is.
According to my worldtime clock it is about 2:00 am Monday there and we probably won't see the complete reaction until sometime tomorrow.
One thing I thought interesting was they said that he had $750,000 in cash with him. I wonder what he intended to do with the money, maybe use it to buy an escape to another country, who knows.
posted on December 14, 2003 03:29:48 PM new
That is great news! I know all the men and woman who were sent over there are rejoicing. They have all done a great job.
. . .But other Arabs, some incredulous that Saddam was caught alive, said the U.S. success might prove fleeting because Iraqis were not fighting for Saddam but to rid the country of U.S. troops.
"The situation in Iraq will not change much. I don't think the resistance was linked to Saddam, and it will increase as was the case after the death of Udai and Qusai," said Saeed Shabet, a political analyst from Yemen, referring to Saddam's two sons.
"It's a black day in history. I am saying so not because Saddam is an Arab but because he is the only man who said 'no' to American injustice in the Middle East," said Fadiq Husam, 33, a taxi driver in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
posted on December 14, 2003 10:28:21 PM new
I'm as happy as anyone that he's been caught...but I don't think this will do anything but embolden the non-Baathist fighters, and I can't help but wonder if it won't make all the wannabe Saddams come to the fore of the Baath remnants and continue the fighting, looking for their own personal shot at power after all this time....it's hard to imagine them just slinking off into the bushes, all demoralized like....
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The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then gets elected and proves it.
-- P. J. ORourke (Holidays in hell, 1989)
posted on December 14, 2003 11:54:27 PM new
It's hard to believe that the sick, weak, pathetic old man in the photos was responsible for the torture and deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
This was a great victory. With the fear of Saddam gone, the Iraqis sitting on the fence will now side with democracy. More will be willing to inform on the Baathists. If the cowardly Saddam gave up without a fight, why should Saddam loyalists fight on?
The remaining fighters will be Al Qaida terrorists and it's better to have them in Iraq than over here.
posted on December 14, 2003 11:57:46 PM newWe are putting loyal Ba'athists back into positions of authority! When/if we pull out of Iraq, it probably won't be long until things go back to pretty much what they were...
"When the U.S. invasion came last spring with promises of democracy and self-rule, people in Karbala were among the first to try and take charge of their own affairs.
Religious and community leaders got together and selected a city council to represent them, and a security force to protect them. They had assumed that their experiment in democracy would be applauded by the American military.
It was not. U.S. troops disarmed the protection force, arrested popular city councilmen and put back into power some of the same people who had served Saddam."
"...The expectations were that the Baathists would be immediately arrested and put on trial for their crimes against humanity, for their crimes against the Iraqi people. Now this hasn't happened. And people were alarmed when the Ba'athists were actually reinstated back into government,” says Shahristani, citing that a lot of ex-Baathists still hold positions in the police department. When the U.S. Marines pulled into town, their American commander decided to install as police chief Gen. Abbas Fathil Abud, a high-ranking member of the Baath Party, who had served Saddam for 24 years. "
"...Even though Ambassador Paul Bremer is on record saying that no high-ranking members of Saddam's old Baath Party will hold power in Iraq, in Karbala, the U.S. government is cooperating with Gen. Abud and has put him in charge of a well-armed force – even though he is a Baathist.
“The decision is Mr. Bremer's. He's the decision maker and he can make an exception,” says Abud.
Neither Ambassador Bremer nor the Marines would discuss any aspect of their role in Karbala.
One of the arguments the U.S. government has made is that they need trained people to help them restore order in the country. And the trained people are those who are former Baath Party members.
“Some of these people, what they are really actually doing are recruiting the newly organized Baathist apparatus back into the force,” says Shahristani, who adds that the people are extremely concerned about this. “People feel vulnerable.” "
"...Not only have the Americans installed Saddam loyalists in the police department, they have tried to arrest two people selected by Karbala's leaders to serve on the city council.
Akram al Zubaidi was appointed to be the city's spokesman and he had spent 11 years in Saddam's prisons. Yet when he complained to the Americans about the new police chief and the way they were trying to run the city, U.S. forces tried to arrest him. He managed to escape.
He’s now a fugitive on the run. He says that more than 15 American soldiers raided his house in the middle of the night. He also says that his crime was doing the job the leaders of Karbala had asked him to do.
“My crime is that I was 100 percent honest,” says al Zubaidi, who claims this made him a troublemaker. “That's the way they saw me. I was telling them everything. And I was very honest with them and I thought that was democracy. And then, I realized democracy is only allowed in your country and not in ours.”
Why is this happening?
“The U.S. officers in charge of the city have never explained to the people why they've arrested these people,” says Shahristani. “They only told the city council that they have good reasons for these arrests, which they are not going to share with them.” " Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on December 15, 2003 05:40:32 AM new
It is happening because people here in the US are crying to get us out of Iraq, we must now use people who have the experience to run programs and do the things that need to be done in the shortest amount of time.
WE can't have a quick turnover and not have experienced people to turnover to.... it would be much worse.
But just from your post, you seem to be under the assumption that people can't change.
posted on December 15, 2003 06:30:01 AM new
I agree, twelvepole.
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As Iraq becomes more and more pacified, a process already underway and likely to be accelerated by the capture of Saddam (although there may be some retaliatory strikes in the immediate future), the meaning of the Iraqi war will come to be more and more a function of the images coming from the trial.
Stories ignored so far by the media will become impossible to ignore, as they are presented in evidence.
In the end, Saddam will be convicted and his fellow travelers here and abroad embarrassed.
The War on Terrorism won't be over, but the way to win it will have been conclusively demonstrated. Likewise, the vision, policy and steadfastness of George W. Bush will have been vindicated by both history and the electorate.
posted on December 15, 2003 08:45:05 AM newBut just from your post, you seem to be under the assumption that people can't change.
Bush dragged us into Iraq, telling us it was because of how Saddam & his regime were treating the people there. Many people have likened him to Hitler. Tell me, would you have put a high-ranking Nazi (the equivalent of this Abud) in a position of authority over the people he'd terrorized? Knowing that he was part & parcel of a re-forming Nazi party? Would you believe that somehow, miraculously, mere months after you'd taken down the old regime, he'd "changed?"
Yeah,right.
As for WE can't have a quick turnover and not have experienced people to turnover to.... it would be much worse
Experienced in what? Oh, organizing things?
Mussolini was famous for having the trains run on time, but he wasn't all that great at running the country, was he? We say that we want them to have democracy. Yet when they attempt to form their own council, we replace it with thugs from the old regime. Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
