Dec 15, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Writes Mark Steyn in The Irish Times, December 15th 2003 on "Another Setback for Bush":
...[Senator John Kerry urged that] now would be an excellent opportunity to hand everything over to the UN, the Hague, the Arab League, the Westchester County League of Women Voters, and other respected bodies. Kerry doesn't get it: if it had been left to Kofi Annan, the French, Germans, Russians, Canadians, Arabs and all but two of the nine Democratic Presidential candidates, Saddam Hussein wouldn't be being inspected for lice by American medics, he'd still be sitting on his solid gold toilet in his palace reading about the latest massive anti-Bush demonstrations in Le Monde. The Iraqi people don't want to place their future in the hands of an "international community" that found it more convenient to allow Saddam to go on torturing them.
Dec 15, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Gloom and doom--no more hefty bonuses for suicide bombings. From Yahoo News ["Palestinians Mark 'Black Day' of Saddam Capture"]:
Disbelief and gloom seized many Palestinians Sunday at news of Saddam Hussein's capture as Israel fired off a telegram of congratulations to Washington...."It's a black day in history," said Sadiq Husam, 33, a taxi driver in Ramallah, West Bank seat of the Palestinian Authority....Saddam paid over $35 million to the kin of Palestinian suicide bombers, militants and bystanders who died in an uprising that began in 2000.
Arafat himself had opposed the 1991 Gulf War that ousted Saddam's forces from Kuwait. Palestinians cheered when Iraqi Scud missiles crashed into Israeli cities.
But not to worry, there are always fellow terrorist supporters--opps, I mean "freedom fighters"--in other Arab countries, Old Europe, and that beacon for world dictatorship--the U.N. The article also quotes one of the wonders of the Palestinian "education" system (which duplicates that of a few American, Cuban, and European universities):
"The war will start now in Iraq said 16-year-old Yusef Khalil in Gaza. "Saddam helped our people and we will not forget him."
As another example of non-objective reporting here is what an ABC News Reporter had to say on Saddam's support of "Palestinians killed in the conflict", i.e., suicide bombers:
Until the outbreak of the war against Iraq, the strongman sent millions of dollars to Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel.
Killed by whom? Themselves. Comments Mark Steyn in the Irish Times (December 15, 2003):
In the honour/shame culture of the Arab world, it will be much harder now to pass [Saddam] off as the mighty warrior. He had a pistol, but chose not to use it on himself. The Palestinians may be jumping up and down in the street insisting he's still a great man, but in the end the sugar daddy who put up 25,000 bucks for the family of each suicide bomber had no desire to experience the glory of martyrdom himself: he's eager for you to strap your teenage daughter into the Semtex belt, but, like Osama and Yasser and the rest of the gang, he's disinclined to lead by example. For Middle East dictators who've enjoyed a wholly undeserved political stability for a quarter-century, the humiliation of Saddam Hussein is a cautionary tale.
Dec 15, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Rachel Polonsky an academic specialising in Russian literature has an excellent piece on Russia published recently in the UK's Spectator on the struggle between the ex-KGB agent, and Russia leader, Putin and those Russians who want to create a free society in Russia:
A photograph released in mid-November showed Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head shaved, staring through the bars of a cage into a CCTV camera at the closed hearing that denied him bail. Accompanying the picture was a warning from the deputy prosecutor, who spoke as though Khodorkovsky had already been convicted. ‘Those who are not yet jailed must think hard about what they are doing,' he said. Russia's new rich may not have had to think hard about this public political blackmail by a member of the judiciary, but they thought fast. The day after the publication of this graphic indication of the consequences of powerful dissent, the President appeared before the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In regard to state-business relations, Putin declared, there will be no going back to the past. The tycoons greeted this remark with ‘stormy applause', as the editors of Communist party proceedings used to say...No one mentioned Khodorkovsky. After the meeting, many businessmen vocally distanced themselves from the President's humiliated enemy, and lined up to pledge commitment to United Russia. Many others kept quiet.
...We have flattered Putin enough. There is no reason to believe that a corrupt, repressive corporate state will produce significant economic and social improvements for the third of the Russian population that lives in absolute poverty. Political freedom, justice and official accountability are more than just optional decorations for a market economy.
...There might be a public investigation into the ‘apartment bombings' of 1999, in which 300 Russians were killed in their sleep, to establish whether, as much evidence suggests, the FSB planted them to create a pretext for the Chechen war which made Putin popular. Liberal Duma deputies who proposed such inquiries would not, like Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, be murdered. The survivors of the bombings would speak publicly about their suspicions; those who have dared to speak would return from political asylum...
Definitely worth a read.Dec 14, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From FoxNews ["Saddam Captured 'Like a Rat' in Raid", December 14, 2003]:
Without firing a single shot, U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein as he hid in the bottom of a hole at a farmhouse near Tikrit on Saturday...Asked about Saddam's state at the time of his capture, Sanchez said: "He was a tired man, a man resigned to his fate." Saddam is talkative and is being cooperative, the general said. He is being held at an undisclosed location...Washington hopes Saddam's capture will help break the organized Iraq resistance that has killed more than 190 American soldiers since Bush declared major combat over on May 1 and has set back efforts at reconstruction..."We are celebrating like it's a wedding," said Kirkuk resident Mustapha Sheriff. "We are finally rid of that criminal." "This is the joy of a lifetime," said Ali Al-Bashiri, another resident. "I am speaking on behalf of all the people that suffered under his rule."
From Cox and Forkum:
Here is what Bush had to say:
Good afternoon. Yesterday, December the 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive. He was found near a farmhouse outside the city of Tikrit, in a swift raid conducted without casualties. And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.
The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq. It marks the end of the road for him, and for all who bullied and killed in his name. For the Baathist holdouts largely responsible for the current violence, there will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held. For the vast majority of Iraqi citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.
And this afternoon, I have a message for the Iraqi people: You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again. All Iraqis who take the side of freedom have taken the winning side. The goals of our coalition are the same as your goals -- sovereignty for your country, dignity for your great culture, and for every Iraqi citizen, the opportunity for a better life.
In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq.
The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them.
I also have a message for all Americans: The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East. Such men are a direct threat to the American people, and they will be defeated.
We've come to this moment through patience and resolve and focused action. And that is our strategy moving forward. The war on terror is a different kind of war, waged capture by capture, cell by cell, and victory by victory. Our security is assured by our perseverance and by our sure belief in the success of liberty. And the United States of America will not relent until this war is won.
May God bless the people of Iraq, and may God bless America. Thank you.
It will be interesting to see how, in the next few weeks, the "anti-war" coalition (United Nations, fascist Howard Dean, CNN's Christine "spokeswoman for al-Qaeda"Amanpour, Al "Presidential Joke" Sharpton, etc.) will try to twist the capture of Saddam into another one of Bush's failures. (Bush does have failures--most recently his condemnation of the free Republic of Taiwan; however, the war on Saddam's dictatorship, for the most part, was not one of them).Dec 14, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Mark Steyn:
A captured Saddam with a tongue depressor in his mouth. His tongue can't be half as depressed as the French, John Kerry, Howard Dean, The Guardian et al. They've all been saying for months that the Coalition needs to hand over more power and authority to Iraqis. Handing over Saddam to be tried in Baghdad is an excellent start. Or do they now want him on a plane to the Hague?
Dec 14, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin:
Martin, who took over as prime minister last Friday, replaced Jean Chretien, under whose tenure relations with the White House had soured over his refusal to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. But in his run up to the date he took the keys to the Prime Minister's Office, Martin repeatedly emphasized his desire to cultivate "more sophisticated" relations with his U.S. counterparts.
What does "sophistication" consist of?
...Although no Canadian troops were deployed to Iraq, Canada has so far pledged $300 million toward rebuilding Iraq. [CTV]
From Cox and Forkum:
