Saddam is captured.

I think you're wrong this time, cav. The capture would have been hard to hide had it happened earlier, to say nothing of staging it later. So far as picking a good time, anywhen since April would have worked real well.

Am I missing something here?

What in Allahs name would lead anybody to think that Hussiens capture will have any noticible effect on the insurgency. Hussien was never an important part of the resistance. The Iraqi's are fighting against what they percieve to be an unwarranted Western occupation. It has nothing to do with Saddam Hussien. I thought this would be abundantly clear by now.

The signifigance of Saddams capture is symbolic and psychological.

It seems that President Bush has recognized this. Instead of publicly celebrating his triumph he has played it very low key. Undoubtedly, this is because he wants to maintain the atmosphere that the Iraqi's have triumphed rather than turning it into an American triumph.

I can only hope that Bush does the right thing by turning Hussien over to the Iraqi's rather than the Hague. This is a valuble opportunity to improve relations and I hope he doesn't bungle it.

Will this capture prove to the Iraqis that Hussein will never return, and thus get them a little more to "our side" and quell some of the insurgency?


(I sure hope so)

Anything other than US courts would suit me. And none of this ambiguous status like Camp X-Ray.

Once again, on the BBC an American official was suggesting this.

I doubt it would please the Iraqi's though.

Also, it would further damage relations if the Americans were to cut some kind of deal with Hussien in exchange for intelligence. I doubt it would happen, but it is certainly a possibility that cannot be discounted right away.

You're kidding, of course, hobit?

I'm happy to be wrong there roger. It will take time for the final outcome to unfold.

No, not kidding. The person, who was a minor DOD person, said that Hussein has no status, and is similar to the "enemy combatants," therefore not entitled to a "trial." He did say that if tehre is a trial, it will be done by the IRC, translation, by the Americans. What did you expect?

hobit, I think it's still too early to jump to conclusions from the stories being broadcast over the airwaves. This is only the first day after capture, and many are going to speculate on every subject under the sun. Let's give it a few weeks and months for all this excitement to settle down. I'm sure the news media will keep us posted on what's happening.

If it is indeed the real Sadaam, maybe they should pull a Mussolini and just release him to the Iraqis, provided he grows back that awesome caveman beard, and they show the lynching on pay-per-view. Then the boys could be paid, and come home. Hmm...America's war, America's rules. What are you gonna do?

You are always the voice of reason CI, have I mentioned how envious I am?

That seems to be the current view. Toronto, Montreal, Zurich,Prague, Budapest, or Wien here I come!

I noticed a few American politicians have been making vague allusions that he will be tried in America - without explicitly stating it, of course. Others have implied it will be in Hague. I think Tony Blaire (not 100% on this) implied earlier today that he would "have a chance to be judged by fellow Iraqis" or something to that effect. The Iraqi Governing Council, meanwhile, is already working on the assumption that he will stand trial in Iraq - anything different will come as upsetting news to them. After all, the Iraqis just established a court for war criminals last week.

Yeah, it sucks all around there hobitbob. 'Cept of course for America.

....ignore this. Or don't.

I agree with Cav's latest post, except I have no sense one way or the other about holding Saddam's finding back re the timing. I agree with Iron Zion too, although I am doubtful we (u.s.) would just let that happen without control. I am not any Saddam fan but I can understand iraqi people wanting us out of there. Adding to that, I want safecracker and every other american to be safe and well there. Further, I want the iraqis to be safe and well there. What is it I wanted in the first place? good question. I would have liked the people in iraq to have handled their own change of regime, and going back, maybe that we hadn't gotten involved with him in the first place, years ago.

I am not entirely an isolationist but I hate to see us consort with people/governments who don't rule wisely.

There is a Neo-Con named Keneth Edelman interviwed on the Beeb trying to do the "fox news...be obnoxious" thing with the reporter. He is basically implying that it is the US' game , beacuse we are the biggest kid on the sandbox,and that the BBC is a typical example of the lying liberal media.

BBC: WHat if no WMD are found?
Neocon (Kenneth Edelman): Who cares? Isn't it wonderful that American power was used to rid the world of a blah..blah...blah...Bush haters...etc...

From theArab News

Great article.

Arab News is a great source to get the Arab perspective on an issue.

So is Middle East Quarterly, for more in depth analysis.