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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (14758)	11/1/2003 6:53:03 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793672

BEST OF THE WEB BY JAMES TARANTO Friday, October 31, 2003 3:39 p.m. Fleeing Ace "Saddam Hussein may be playing a significant role in coordinating and directing attacks by his loyalists against American forces in Iraq, senior American officials said Thursday," reports the New York Times: The officials cited recent intelligence reports indicating that Mr. Hussein is acting as a catalyst or even a leader in the armed opposition, probably from a base of operations near Tikrit, his hometown and stronghold. A leadership role by Mr. Hussein would go far beyond anything previously acknowledged by the Bush administration, which has sought in its public remarks to portray the former Iraqi leader as being on the run and irrelevant. Claims of an active role for the erstwhile Iraqi dictator are far from rock-solid, but the officials describe them as "credible." The Associated Press reports that "American soldiers on Friday sealed off the village where Saddam Hussein was born"--that would be Uja, on the outskirts of Tikrit--"and ordered adults to register for identity cards that will allow them to move in and out of the community." The report is a timely reminder that Saddam's capture or death is a crucial goal for the coalition. Even if he isn't directing the guerrilla war, his proverbial head on a stake would have a demoralizing effect on the enemy. For the moment, the American presidential campaign may be having a demoralizing effect on liberated Iraqis. New York's Daily News quotes Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as saying that on his recent trip to Iraq, a Najaf resident asked him at a town hall meeting: "What's going to happen to us if George Bush loses the election?": Wolfowitz didn't mention the Democrats, but he suggested the question sums up Iraqi fears that a new team in the White House would abandon them. Wolfowitz said he tried to assure the Iraqis, but "when they hear the message that we might not be there next year, they get very scared." With most of the Democratic presidential candidates vying over who will be the quickest to hand victory to Saddam, one can hardly fault the Iraqis for worrying. On the other hand, here's a bit of good news: The House today voted 298-121 for final passage of the $87 billion package to fund military and reconstruction operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Senate is expected to follow suit later today. The package is all grants, Congress having wisely rejected an effort to grab Iraqi oil money by making some of the reconstruction money a loan. Try Them, You'll Hate Them "The start of military trials of foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is imminent, the Pentagon's chief prosecutor said on Thursday," Reuters reports. "President Bush in 2001 authorized the first U.S. military commission trials of wartime prisoners since World War II. On July 3, Bush designated six foreign captives as eligible for such trials. The Pentagon refused to identify them." It will be interesting to see if any of the Democratic presidential candidates decide to make an issue of this. Trial lawyer John Edwards, incredibly, has been making a play for the enemy-combatant vote, championing the case of poor Abdullah al-Muhajir, né Jose Padilla, the al Qaeda operative who's in a military brig after being captured in connection with a plot to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in an American city. (Because he's an American citizen, Muhajir isn't at Guantanamo.) As far as we know, Edwards is the only candidate actively pursuing the enemy-combatant vote, and we suspect it won't do him much good, even in the Democratic primaries. opinionjournal.com