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Sunday, December 14, 2003
Today is a great day in the war on terrorism. Today, Saddam Hussein has been captured, and without a shot being fired, no less. Hussein was found in a 6 X 8 hole, where he was disoriented, disheveled, and otherwise unkempt. Apparently, Hussein had just lost the resolve to hide any longer.
As news spread across the country that ex-president Saddam Hussein had been captured alive near his hometown Tikrit, prolonged bursts of gun fire, automatic weapons, pistols and heavier calibres filled the air in Baghdad.
"It's a great joy for the Iraqi people because a great dictator has been arrested," interim Governing Council member Mahmud Othman told AFP.
In central Fardous Square, people threw old bank notes bearing Saddam's face into the air.
"It's not possible, it must be a double," said taxi-driver Taher, refusing to believe the eight-month hunt by crack US and Kurdish militia forces had come up trumps...
In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, which suffered harsh oppression under Saddam's Sunni-led government, people took to the streets to dance, an AFP correspondent said.
A local television channel urged people to party. Music was being played across the central Iraqi city.
Huge crowds gathered around cafes with television sets tuned to Arabic satellite channels following every detail of the arrest.
One can only wonder how much celebration is going on behind the scenes of the Franco-German coalition, and of the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party".
World leaders reacted one after the other when finding out that Hussein had been captured:
Tony Blair: "This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
"It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people," he said in a statement, adding, "And it gives us an opportunity to take a step forward in Iraq."
Jacque Chirac: French President Jacques Chirac, who drew US ire for his vehement opposition to the US-led war, "is rejoicing in the arrest of Saddam Hussein," his spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said.
"It is a major event," Colonna said.
Gerhard Schroeder: "It's with great delight that I learned of Saddam Hussein's capture," Schroeder wrote. "I congratulate you on this successful operation. Saddam Hussein caused horrible suffering to his people and the region. I hope the capture will help the international community's effort to rebuild and stabilize Iraq."
Interesting that Schroeder and Chirac couldn't even find the time to issue personal statements, but instead either used a mouthpiece, or a written telegram.
So was Hussein contrite for his actions?
Members of Iraq's Governing Council said that they saw Saddam Hussein in US custody on Sunday and found him defiant and unrepentant after his three decades of iron rule.
Adnan Pachachi, among four members of the council who were taken to see Saddam, confirmed his identity at a news conference.
"He seemed rather tired and haggard but he was unrepentant and defiant at times," said Pachachi, who was foreign minister before Saddam's Baath party took power in 1968.
"He tried to justify his crimes one way or another and said that he was a just but firm ruler," he said, flanked by other Governing Council members.
"Our answer was that he was an unjust ruler because his crimes were responsible for the deaths of thousands of people."
No one should expect Hussein to weep for the millions of dead for whom he is responsible, any more than Hitler would have been expected to do the same. Hitler's end was fitting: his own cowardice culminated in his suicide. How will the Hussein story end?
Iraqi Council member Ahmed Chalabi said that the 66-year-old Saddam, discovered Saturday evening in a camouflaged farmyard hole near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, would be tried in public.
"The nightmare that was haunting the Iraqi people has been lifted. Saddam is under arrest and he will be tried publicly and punished for his crimes," Chalabi told Iraqi television...
A special tribunal to try Saddam-era war crimes was set up by Iraq's US-installed interim leadership on December 10 but is unlikely to begin work before a new government takes power in July.
It will sit in the former president's personal museum. Defendants would have legal defence and its findings could be appealed. So far, Bremer has pointedly made no comment on whether Saddam would be tried there.
Another Iraqi Governing Council member, Adnan Pachachi, said Sunday that: "this issue will be discussed further, and we will see how the new tribunal will deal with Saddam."
In Cairo, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told reporters that the Iraqi people should decide the fate of Saddam, toppled in the US-led war that began in March.
"One must let the Iraqi people have its word on this important event which amounts to the old regime's definitive outcome," Mussa told reporters shortly after the news broke from Baghdad.
"It's the Iraqi people who must decide the fate of the old regime and its old leaders," especially "after the unacceptable and serious developments discovered after the fall of the regime," Mussa said.
He was referring to the discovery of mass graves.
Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country went to war at Washington's side, said Saddam would face local justice.
"This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," Blair said in a statement released by Downing Street.
"It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people.
A minor party of France's opposition, the Greens, said it wanted to see a trial of the former Iraqi leader take place in the International Criminal Court, a body the United States has sought to diminish.
"In no way would we accept the same conditions of detention or justice as those applied in Guantanamo," said a spokesman in reference to a US military camp in Cuba that has held hundreds of alleged "enemy combatants" in months of legal limbo.
I would have to agree that the Iraqi people should decide his fate, even if such a fate is a heinous death that the European anti-death penalty zealots would find repulsive. However, handing Hussein over to the ICC would be ridiculous. At most, the court would hand down a 30 year sentence (READ: Milosevic). President Bush, Bremer, and company need to handle this political football correctly, and allow the Iraqis to administer justice on their own terms.
At this point, it behooves us to reflect back on the occurrences of the past 3 years, starting with the White House race in 2000, and culminating at this moment in history. Had we gotten Al Gore as our president, does anyone believe he would have had the nerve to stand up for what is right and just (NOT what is politically acceptable)? Gore no doubt learned something from his predecessor about governing via poll, and, in the absence of presidential leadership, the polls no doubt would have leaned toward appeasement of the United Nations. The state of the world at large took a turn when the electoral college selected George W. Bush as the 43rd American president. For that, Iraqis all over are thankful.
Now, turn your attention to the current campaign for president in 2004.
What did Howard Dean have to say?
"It is a great day of celebration. President Bush deserves a day of celebration," Dean said during a brief news conference in West Palm Beach. "We have our policy differences but we won't be discussing those today."
"This, I hope, will change the course of the occupation of Iraq but I think the first order of business is to say this is a great day. I congratulate the Iraqi people," Dean said.
So, says Dean, let's celebrate, and then get the hell out of town. No doubt, Dean will continue to try to make Iraq an issue, even though, now, no one can ask "So where is Saddam Hussein?" How long will it take for him to ask "Yeah, but... where is Osama bin Laden?"
Other Democrats took a moment to pander to the masses:
"I supported this effort in Iraq without regard for the political consequences because it was the right thing to do. I still feel that way now and today is a major step toward stabilizing Iraq and building a new democracy," Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt said in a statement.
Joe Lieberman said, "I consistently supported Saddam's removal for the past decade, and am prepared to do what it takes to win the war on terrorism at home and abroad."
Added Kerry: "I guess he supposes it's a good thing to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Well, I knew it was a good thing on that day, day one."
Today, there are no "I told you so"s of which to speak. Today, our military resolve has shown itself to be fruitful, and the American position of seeking the extinction of Saddam Hussein has proven to be proper.
Quotes attributed to Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and CNN.Labels: Archives_2003
.: posted by
Dave
1:57 PM
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