Goddamn-
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 14 - Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, was captured in a raid on a farm near Tikrit on Saturday night, American military officials confirmed today.
``We got him,'' American administrator L. Paul Bremer III said at a news conference here.
Coalition troops discovered Mr. Hussein hiding in a hole below a walled compound on the farm, located in the town of Adwar, about 10 miles from his hometown of Tikrit.
Military authorities said that Mr. Hussein had put up no resistance and that not one shot had been fired in the operation. They said they were able to confirm his identity using DNA tests.
Mr. Hussein was being held at an undisclosed location and American authorities had yet to decide whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.
My liberal affectations and constant suspicions come flying out over this one, so here're the questions:
A. Saddam's used doubles for years. A man in a 6' X 8' hole with guns and money CAN'T have been in there all that long. Is this a double offered up to US forces while Saddam makes a run for it? They can say DNA test all they'd like, but DNA tests only have a % probability, and I'm curious as to whether or not this is 99% or more like 51%.
B. Osama. If you go to this Rueters link, you find a pithy little article that essentially says, no, we're not any closer to finding Osama, and you people really shouldn't expect to see him any time soon.
Kids, please, lets try to remember that Osama's the one that blew up the World Trade Center. Saddam was just another US-backed dictator who made a convienient distraction when the US couldn't find the real guy.
C. Will the Iraqis get to put him on trial? I doubt it. Not for real, anyway. The US wants to exact some blood from someone, and will probably cite Iraq's lack of a working constitution and judicial system (or something, anyway) that will take away the Iraqi's right to put him on trial. 'Cause this is too much of an election plank for Bush to let it slip away.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch-
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 — President Bush has signed legislation that provides for economic and diplomatic sanctions on Syria, but it also allows him to waive the penalties.
Mr. Bush signed the legislation in private on Friday. The White House had opposed the measure until Congress gave him the waiver authority.
Several lawmakers have said they would take a dim view if Mr. Bush used his waiver authority, in view of the wide margins by which the legislation passed.
The bill bars trade in items that could be used in weapons programs until the administration certifies that Syria is not supporting terrorist groups, has withdrawn personnel from Lebanon, is not developing unconventional weapons and has secured its border with Iraq.
This article is worth reading before the freebie link expires, as it goes on to explain, ad infinitum, that all this bill does is allow Bush to jerk Syria around or not, as he sees fit. Seriously. It does nothing more than that.
The amount of power Jr. has is truly appalling. I think Congress is about to pass a bill that allows him to shoot any Democrat or Independent candidate that gets over 35% in the polls...
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 14 - Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, was captured in a raid on a farm near Tikrit on Saturday night, American military officials confirmed today.
``We got him,'' American administrator L. Paul Bremer III said at a news conference here.
Coalition troops discovered Mr. Hussein hiding in a hole below a walled compound on the farm, located in the town of Adwar, about 10 miles from his hometown of Tikrit.
Military authorities said that Mr. Hussein had put up no resistance and that not one shot had been fired in the operation. They said they were able to confirm his identity using DNA tests.
Mr. Hussein was being held at an undisclosed location and American authorities had yet to decide whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.
My liberal affectations and constant suspicions come flying out over this one, so here're the questions:
A. Saddam's used doubles for years. A man in a 6' X 8' hole with guns and money CAN'T have been in there all that long. Is this a double offered up to US forces while Saddam makes a run for it? They can say DNA test all they'd like, but DNA tests only have a % probability, and I'm curious as to whether or not this is 99% or more like 51%.
B. Osama. If you go to this Rueters link, you find a pithy little article that essentially says, no, we're not any closer to finding Osama, and you people really shouldn't expect to see him any time soon.
Kids, please, lets try to remember that Osama's the one that blew up the World Trade Center. Saddam was just another US-backed dictator who made a convienient distraction when the US couldn't find the real guy.
C. Will the Iraqis get to put him on trial? I doubt it. Not for real, anyway. The US wants to exact some blood from someone, and will probably cite Iraq's lack of a working constitution and judicial system (or something, anyway) that will take away the Iraqi's right to put him on trial. 'Cause this is too much of an election plank for Bush to let it slip away.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch-
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 — President Bush has signed legislation that provides for economic and diplomatic sanctions on Syria, but it also allows him to waive the penalties.
Mr. Bush signed the legislation in private on Friday. The White House had opposed the measure until Congress gave him the waiver authority.
Several lawmakers have said they would take a dim view if Mr. Bush used his waiver authority, in view of the wide margins by which the legislation passed.
The bill bars trade in items that could be used in weapons programs until the administration certifies that Syria is not supporting terrorist groups, has withdrawn personnel from Lebanon, is not developing unconventional weapons and has secured its border with Iraq.
This article is worth reading before the freebie link expires, as it goes on to explain, ad infinitum, that all this bill does is allow Bush to jerk Syria around or not, as he sees fit. Seriously. It does nothing more than that.
The amount of power Jr. has is truly appalling. I think Congress is about to pass a bill that allows him to shoot any Democrat or Independent candidate that gets over 35% in the polls...
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