Joho the Blog
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December 14, 2003
Good. He's a very very bad man who should rot in jail for the rest of his life. If, as we all hope, this ends the insurgency — the image of Saddam cowering like a rat in a cellar has got to be discouraging to his supporters, but I suppose it depends on how much the insurgency is pro-Saddam as opposed to anti-US-presence — it neutralizes Iraq as a political issue in the US. And then as the daily reports are dominated by news from Saddam's trial about just how bad a person he was, being opposed to the war is going to look like a moral error. But just for the record: Our president systematically lied to us in order to get us to go to war; we were told we were in imminent danger when we were not. We went in without a plan for getting out or realistic expectations about what we were letting ourselves in for. We have sold the official looting rights to the administration's closest friends. It all was a cynical distraction from the failure of our war on terrorism. Our unilateralism sets a dangerous precedent and makes us less safe. And we will not know even if the ends justifed the means for years when the ultimate fate of Iraq and the region is clearer. Nevertheless: We got him! Woohoo! Here's Gov. Dean's comment on the capture. Dave raises some good questions. Posted
by D. Weinberger at December 14, 2003 09:50 AM
TrackBackListed below are links to weblogs that reference "We got him.":
» Hussein's capture from Boston Common Tracked on December 14, 2003 12:07 PM
» Cheering journalists in Baghdad from David Akin Tracked on December 14, 2003 08:21 PM |
Comments
The more significant story, IMHO, is the report by the Telegraph that Atta was trained in Baghdad for 9/11. Instapundit wonders if Saddam will corroborate this. Doubtful.
Posted by: Bill K | December 14, 2003 10:37 AM
This will get Bush elected by an overwhelming landslide if there ever was one. I predict 79%.
Posted by: Beat Nick | December 14, 2003 11:30 AM
I just heard Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman on the radio praising the president for pointing out that the insurgency will not stop just because Saddam was captured.
Just for the record - when you say that the president systematically lied, you are making a number of unproven assumptions.
In any case, I liked Congressman Ackerman's attitude of unreserved happiness at the capture of this tyrant and the hope that a second beginning will unfold in which America can help bring democracy to the Middle East.
There is plenty of time to hate the president tomorrow.
Posted by: Mike Sanders | December 14, 2003 01:11 PM
Oh yea, let's not forget democracy, where Bush declared himself "President of every body, like it or not," without allowing the democratic recount to finish. Yea for our the relentless imposition of imperialist agenda!
Posted by: Beat | December 14, 2003 08:15 PM
I just pray that we can also apprehend Saddam's accomplices, paymasters and weapons dealers. You know Bush 1, Reagan, Rumsfeld, et al.
Now THAT would be a step in the right direction toward ending terrorism!
Posted by: Hank | December 15, 2003 10:59 AM
Did you actually listen to any of Bush's speeches at the time? He did not say that the threat was imminent. What he said was that we could not afford the luxury of waiting until the threat was imminent. That's a very different statement. And one that you apparently never listened to....
Posted by: James Robertson | December 15, 2003 10:19 PM
http://billmon.org.v.sabren.com/archives/000172.html
Posted by: David Weinberger | December 15, 2003 11:02 PM
Shall I go find comments from
Bill Clinton
Madeleine Albright
Tom Dascle
etc
all of whom said the same sort of thing in 1998? Were they lying as well? The fact is, there was a bi-partisan agreement over more than 10 years that Iraq had WMD. I don't recall any cries of "liar" in 1998.
As to my earlier comments - go look for speeches in which Bush used the word "imminent"
Posted by: James Robertson | December 15, 2003 11:32 PM
The more significant story, IMHO, is the report by the Telegraph that Atta was trained in Baghdad for 9/11. Instapundit wonders if Saddam will corroborate this. Doubtful.
Yes, I thinks so.
Posted by: mailmate | December 16, 2003 03:40 AM