Politics: A new beginning

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
One thing we can all agree on:

Saddam Hussein captured and positively identified, hiding in a small, camoflaged hole 8 feet deep in a village about 15 km south of Tikrit.

Captured without a shot. :flag:

Sorry -- no martyrdom.

Excellent!

S_A_M

the press conference:
Western journalists questions going to details- "Is someone getting the money?" "What did he say?" "Could he have commanded guerrillas from the hole?"
Iraqui Journalists are just happy, with any questions going to punishment: "I am so so happy, I really cannot come up with a question" "He will be tried by Iraquis?" "Will you televise his trial?"

I'm not sure what it means, but there was a clear difference.
I'm not sure what

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
the press conference:
Western journalists questions going to details- "Is someone getting the money?" "What did he say?" "Could he have commanded guerrillas from the hole?"
Iraqui Journalists are just happy, with any questions going to punishment: "I am so so happy, I really cannot come up with a question" "He will be tried by Iraquis?" "Will you televise his trial?"

I'm not sure what it means, but there was a clear difference.
I'm not sure what

The difference is that, given the large number of people tortured and murdered by SH,* the Iraqi journalists probably personally knew someone who lost life/limb or was tortured by SH and his goons. They are overwhelmed by emotion and a few of those emotions are joy, relief, and vengence.

The Western journalists are more detached and less emotional about this and can focus on more mundane details.

*I thought it was interesting that on some Iraqi weblogs, they refer to SH as "The Unmentionable Name." They don't even want to say his name he is so hated.

[Not Me]

Anyone know if Baghdaddy is a real Iraqi?

http://whosyourbaghdaddy.blog-city.com/index.cfm


Whomever he is, he says:

Early Sunday morning, the U.S. Army delivered to the peoples of the world, an early Christmas present. The capture of Saddam Hussien. There is such celebrating among the general population, that the spirit of Baghdad has changed to one of jubilation. During the press conference givin by the Coalition, when the announcement of his capture was made a Iraqi reporter leapt out of his seat and exclaimed "My brothers, Bremmer and Sanchez!..." another screamed "Death to Saddam!" The celebratory fire, and the smiles on everyones faces is reminisent of the victory scene at the end of Return of The Jedi, when the Death Star was destroyed signifying the end of the Empire. The scene here in Baghdad is truly one worthy of a John Williams soundtrack! My mood is one of joy, thankfulness, and brotherhood with the Iraqi people (for whom we have laboured long to free of this tyrant and his cohorts). GOD BLESS AMERICA, AND GOD BLESS IRAQ!

[Not Me]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
[supposed answer to the question "explain to me again what the difference is between a superstition and a religious belief"]

Hi, umm, nice answer, but it wasn't a real question. Hence bilmore's humorous response about black cats followed by mine about hats. Thanks for playing, though.

Oh and Happy Saddam Hussein Capture Day to you!!! :cheers: :thumbsup: :dance2: :bounce:

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
One thing we can all agree on:

Saddam Hussein captured and positively identified, hiding in a small, camoflaged hole 8 feet deep in a village about 15 km south of Tikrit.

Captured without a shot. :flag:

Sorry -- no martyrdom.

Excellent!

S_A_M

I'm pleased to see this is your response. After waking up this morning and seeing the news, I was fearful that the response of many on this board would be "this is great news, but . . ." (see also, Howard Dean''s response).

On the macro level, this potential changes the balance (or lack thereof) in regards to our international negotiations on Iraq. My hope is that SH will be helpful and expose/embarrass the French and Russians into doing the right thing with debt relief.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Not Me
Hmmmm. As happy as I am that we got him, I am not sure that it is better to have taken him alive than to have killed him. Maybe it is.

Interestingly, SH's capture appeared to have been a cakewalk. And by all reports, the people are dancing in the streets. Are they going to give us flowers, too?

I wonder if the French are worried that Saddam will spill his guts about their duplicity?

It is far better to have taken him alive because:

1. It strengthens the idea of rule of law/trial of the guilty
2. It allows the Iraqis to try him, giving the new government legitimacy and the opportunity to unite the country under a common purpose
3. It provides the opportunity to greatly expand our intelligence on a number of items, such as the involvement of other countries in the terrorist business, the involvement of France and Russia in propping up the regime, the great sums of cash SH stored (which can be used to help rebuild the country) and the presense or lack thereof of WMD.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
One thing we can all agree on:

Saddam Hussein captured and positively identified, hiding in a small, camoflaged hole 8 feet deep in a village about 15 km south of Tikrit.

Captured without a shot. :flag:

Sorry -- no martyrdom.

Excellent!

S_A_M

Excellent, indeed. Kudos to the 4th Infantry and the Special Ops.

Let's borrow the glass cage that the numbnut used in London earlier this year, and suspend the fucker high above Baghdad. Potshots encouraged.

Gattigap

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Turns out Strom Thurmond was working to end racial divisions a whole lot earlier than anyone suspected. A 78-year-old woman of mixed-race descent says Strom was her father, and acknowledged her and paid support starting in 1941.

As the article suggests, this has been one of the worst-kept secrets in SC for decades. One of those things that came up in private conversations, but wasn't deemed polite for public consumption.

[Hank Chinaski]

Ex-con PT, through his Gardener Sock, has posted the following on Infirm:

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/1412...eelection.html

He's heard of the capture, and something smells fishy to him. I posted this, not to make any argument or political point. It is just astonishing how far the conspiracy nuts can go.

Before getting into those details, Russert described a gathering in which Vice President Dick Cheney and Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet were in attendance, and according to Russert, amid video footage of Hussein going under a checkup, Cheney and Tenet had been "a little more"
joyous; he said it was "ironic" that this happened hours before the official word went out.

The president, Russert went on to report, had been given the news prior to U.S. Administrator Paul Bremer's announcement of "We got him." I have no doubt that it's customary for intelligence officials to brief the most-high of officials, but Russert's testimony is proof Bush & Co. knew exactly what was going to happen.

see, this was staged to help in the re-election. and if the polls still go down?

Mark my word, if the high spirit surrounding the Hussein capture quiets down, expect NATO (they're controlling Afghanistan's operations now) to find Osama bin Laden in one of those much-talked about caves we have been hearing
about.

EDIT: to be clear the blog above was linked by the venerable Gardener. As you may know Mr. Gardener is a man of few words. Gardener is the sock used to post a few briefs thoughts. the heavy cut and paste work is done throught the blue triangle franchise. here is the link to the gardener post:
http://www.infirmation.com/bboard/cl...?msg_id=002LPl

[Caught Like a Rat]

I will destroy you American Satans! You have been warned!! The wrath of Mohammed and his pre-pubescent bride is coming!!!

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Gattigap
As the article suggests, this has been one of the worst-kept secrets in SC for decades. One of those things that came up in private conversations, but wasn't deemed polite for public consumption.

If you google with the terms "essie mae thurmond," you hit on quite a few interesting articles on this topic that date back to at least the mid-1990's, including this one:

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/co...rks/king9.html

In a few of the articles I have read, she sounds quite proud of her father and the quotes that have been attributed to her come across as if she felt she was doing the honorable thing by keeping their relationship quiet. Like she was a good daughter for acquiescing to his wishes. I don't know if those quotes are accurate or not, but if so, I find it disturbing.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by sgtclub
It is far better to have taken him alive because:

1. It strengthens the idea of rule of law/trial of the guilty
2. It allows the Iraqis to try him, giving the new government legitimacy and the opportunity to unite the country under a common purpose
3. It provides the opportunity to greatly expand our intelligence on a number of items, such as the involvement of other countries in the terrorist business, the involvement of France and Russia in propping up the regime, the great sums of cash SH stored (which can be used to help rebuild the country) and the presense or lack thereof of WMD.

I hope you are right. What I worry about is that the liberal US media and the Arab and European press will constantly be reporting on SH and his captivity and what he has to say. And that SH will remain at the forefront of our minds.

When Uday and the other son (whatever his name was) were killed, it seemed to me that they were gone from our collective minds quite quickly. I am sure that isn't true if you live in Iraq, but the death of the two sons was something that seemed to come and go and it seems like a positive thing to me to have those two gone for good.

The one thing that is good for sure is that, from all the reports I have read about the Arab reaction to the capture, the Arabs seem pretty angry that he gave up without a fight. Even the leader of Hamas was quoted as being pissed off that SH urged others to blow themselves up to drive the US out of Iraq but then he gave himself up without so much as a fight. It is a good thing for them to see what a coward he is. Maybe it will knock some sense into their collective heads and they will stop sacrificing their children in the name of their political causes. I am not hopeful, though. Palestinian Response to SH's Capture

[Skeks in the city]

Originally posted by Caught Like a Rat

I will destroy you American Satans! You have been warned!! The wrath of Mohammed and his pre-pubescent bride is coming!!!

Dude, why were you hiding in a hole? You should've taken a page from Amir Farid Rizk's book. A lux cargo container beats a hole in the ground.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Not Me
I hope you are right. What I worry about is that the liberal US media and the Arab and European press will constantly be reporting on SH and his captivity and what he has to say. And that SH will remain at the forefront of our minds.

What in the world makes you think that the media will even get to know these things -- or get near Hussein -- until his trial? They sure aren't getting that access to any other U.S. prisoner.

S_A_M

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
What in the world makes you think that the media will even get to know these things -- or get near Hussein -- until his trial? They sure aren't getting that access to any other U.S. prisoner.

S_A_M

Well, he's apparently made it on to this board. We can direct the major news organizations to drop in.