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BY JAMES TARANTO
Sunday, December 14, 2003 1:55 p.m. EST
Ace in the Hole
Hey, we got the bastard! "The tyrant is a prisoner," administrator Paul Bremer declared today in announcing last night's capture of Saddam Hussein. The erstwhile dictator was cowering in a hole in al-Dawr, 10 miles south of Tikrit, and he surrendered without a shot being fired.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez showed a video of Saddam--who looked as if he hadn't had a shave since Baghdad fell--being examined by a physician. (He's in good health, in case you were worried.) "Iraqi journalists gave U.S. officials a standing ovation and cheered wildly," the Associated Press reports. According to CNN, they were shouting "Death to Saddam." (You can watch the press conference in RealVideo format here.)
"Celebratory gunfire rang out across the Iraqi capital, radios played festive music, drivers honked their horns and passengers on buses and trucks chanted 'They got Saddam, they got Saddam,' " the AP reports from Baghdad. Reuters, however, reports from Tirkit that "Iraqis in Saddam Hussein's hometown were in a somber mood after news of his arrest." This isn't exactly surprising, since Tikritis by and large either supported the dictator or have reason to fear retaliation from those who did. But the tables have turned: Both of the pro-Saddam men-on-the-street Reuters interviewed refused to give their last names.
The BBC has a diagram of "Saddam's hiding place," which looks like a tomb. He may have been captured alive, but he was already six feet under.
The Washington Post describes how it happened:
Sanchez said troops acted after receiving a tip that Hussein was possibly at one of two locations. After searches of both locations failed to turn up Hussein, U.S. forces began scouring other places in the area and came upon Hussein hiding in what Sanchez called a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated and found him inside, Sanchez said.
The men who spotted Saddam's hole deserve a fitting reward. If we may be so bold, Mr. President, how about Christmas dinner at the White House for them and their families?
This Just In
"Saddam Ruled With Iron Fist Before Ouster"--headline, Reuters, Dec. 14
What Would We Do Without Analysts?
"Analysts: Saddam Capture Turning Point for Iraq"--headline, Reuters, Dec. 14
The Saddam-Atta Connection?
"Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist," reports London's Sunday Telegraph.
This is an unconfirmed report, so take it with a grain of salt for now, but it does seem more believable in light of the manner of Abu Nidal's death last August: death by multiple gunshot wounds, a "suicide" according to Saddam's regime. Just after his death, Asla Aydintasbas laid out a theory on The Wall Street Journal's editorial page tying him to Sept. 11.
'Diplomacy Is Critical'
The Associated Press has a headline that really makes us skeptical: "Democrats Mostly Pleased by Arrest."
All right, we believe some of them are, such as Dick Gephardt, who's quoted as saying: "I supported this effort in Iraq without regard for the political consequences because it was the right thing to do. I still feel that way now, and today is a major step toward stabilizing Iraq and building a new democracy."
But John Kerry "urged the Bush administration to involve more U.S. allies in the rebuilding of Iraq and criticized a Pentagon memo that prohibited companies from countries that did not provide troops for the war from bidding on lucrative reconstruction contracts there."
On "Fox News Sunday," the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, elaborated: "Diplomacy is critical. You need to reach out here and bring other countries to the table. It's the lack of the United States' willingness to share the authority and responsibility that is keeping other countries from being involved."
Kerry has a rather blinkered view of diplomacy; he seems to equate it to "making nice with your adversaries." Sometimes, of course, that's a wise thing to do, but this isn't one of them. This is a time for recrimination and finger-pointing! The French and others actively worked to obstruct the liberation of Iraq and keep this vicious tyrant in power. We didn't need their help, we did it without them, and rewarding them now would send precisely the wrong message to all the nations of the world. They must pay for their perfidy so that everyone else will know such betrayal has a price. That's diplomacy too.
"I hope this will see a diminishing in the violence against American soldiers in Iraq," Wesley Clark said in the Netherlands. We hope it will see a diminishing in Wesley Clark's badmouthing the mission of American soldiers in Iraq. No word if Clark thinks Saddam belongs in a Dutch prison.
Howard Dean seems to be getting a little better at hiding his dismay over American success. "I think the first order of business is to say this is a great day I congratulate the Iraqi people and to say that this is a great day for both the American military and the American people and for the Iraqi people," he said.
Joe Lieberman, the most consistently anti-Saddam of the Dems, was also the most enthusiastic. "Praise the Lord," he said. "This is something that I have been working on with a lot of other people, advocating and praying for, for more than 12 years since the Gulf War of '91."
According to National Review Online, Lieberman also had this to say on "Meet the Press": "If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would be in power today." It should also be noted, however, that if Al "Quagmire" Gore's ravings last week reflect his actual views, then Saddam Hussein would be in power if Joe Lieberman were vice president today.
Oh, and isn't it a sweet coincidence that Saddam's capture occurred on the third anniversary of Gore's concession?
You Don't Say
"Saddam Capture Good for Bush in Many Ways"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 14
'If That Happens, We Are Completely Sunk'
Thank goodness Saddam surrendered peacefully, so none of the American servicemen who took him were injured or killed. There may, however, be some casualties on the home front. We wouldn't be surprised if Saddam's capture causes some members of the Angry Left to choke to death on their own bile.
Buzzflash.com's lead headline this morning was both petulant and plaintive: "Saddam Hussein Captured in Tikrit. This Does Not Absolve George Bush of His Lies!" As we write, the Buzzflashers are waxing conspiratorial: "Saddam Removed From Iraq. Karl Rove Has a Story for Him to Tell, and It's Time to Start Rehearsing."
Unlike the Democratic presidential candidates, some grass-roots Dems are unable to contain their gloom over the wonderful news. Here's a post by someone called ikojo at DemocraticUnderground.com (quoted verbatim):
I had a horrible feeling in my stomach this morning when I saw that Hussein had been capatured.
This is a BIG boost for *. This will be used in campaign literature. It will make Dems and others who opposed the war look bad as well. I don't regret opposing shrub's war of aggression on Iraq but it sure will be hard for the candidates now, unless they press the Where's Osama issue but since a majority of Americans already believe that Hussein was behind 9/11/01 it hardly matters.
All of a sudden I am not confident he will lose in 2004.
Please boost my confidence in shrub's defeat in November 2004.
Look what he has going for him right now:
Dow over 10,000
Hussein captured
The pug CONvention is going to be in NYC around the time of the 9/11 anniversary
A complacent and compliant right-wing corporate controlled media all too willing to act as an arm of the pentagon and white house press room.
His administration did what his daddy did not, supposedly captured Hussein.
The conspiracy theorist in me says that if this is REALLY Hussein then why didn't * and his media minions not wait until Monday to announce his capture?
Needing encouragement that * can be defeated. Now the stuff about Halliburton overcharging the government will be placed on the back burner as the corporate media celebrates the capture of Hussein.
Not feeling hopeful right now. I have a lot of fear of what he could do if given a second term.
Here's a sampling of comments from "Kicking Ass," the official blog of the Democratic National Committee (also quoted verbatim):
Pam Bergren: "I personally don't care too much that Hussein was caught--he never did anything to me."
"marsh": "This is supposed to be a war on terror, not a war on tyranny."
Erik Latranyi: "Well, tha capture of Sadaam takes the 'failure to capture' issue off the table. Now that the economy is picking up (mall was packed yesterday), Iraq is getting better, prescription drugs on the way, education spending at an all-time high, no further terrorist attacks--what is left? Oh, yes, the capture of Bin Laden. If that happens, we are completely sunk."
This raises an interesting question: What will Saddam's capture do to the Democratic presidential race? One theory is that it may derail Howard Dean. Today's New York Times reports that Dean plans to deliver "the first major foreign policy speech of his campaign" tomorrow. The Times quotes from what apparently is the prepared text: "The removal of Saddam Hussein was accomplished in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help and at unbelievable cost." It will be interesting to see if he actually says that tomorrow.
Now, if Democratic voters are rational, one would expect them to turn away from Dean and toward Joe Lieberman or Dick Gephardt, the two candidates who have been more or less consistently anti-Saddam. But that's a big "if."
We argued on March 17 that Dean was the man to watch, because he "seems to have struck a chord with the far-left, Bush-hating wing of his party, which has an outsize influence in the primaries and caucuses." We weren't sure we believed it at the time. After all, the fighting was about to begin in Iraq, and there was little doubt America would win. But sure enough, Dean took off like a rocket, helped along by the defeatist media and their cries of "quagmire." If enough Democratic primary voters hate Bush more than they hate Saddam ("he never did anything to me"), America's success in Iraq may not hurt Dean at all--till November, of course.
If you believe that people vote "strategically," there's another reason to think Saddam's capture could be good for Dean. One of the chief arguments for the non-Dean candidates, especially Wesley Clark, has been that they, unlike Dean, are "electable." But electability matters only if President Bush is beatable. If success in Iraq, combined with good economic news, makes him look like a shoo-in by January, Dems in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere may forget about electability and vote for Dean, figuring if they're going to lose anyway, they may as well go down in a blaze of fury.
Weasel Watch
The European leaders who fought like crazy to keep Saddam Hussein in power are suddenly singing a different tune. Here's a quote from Catherine Colonna, spokeswoman for France's President Jacques Chirac: "The president is delighted at the arrest of Saddam Hussein. This is a major event which should strongly contribute to the democratisation and the stabilisation of Iraq and allow the Iraqis to once more be masters of their destiny in a sovereign Iraq."
And this from Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin: "[I] have learnt with satisfaction of the arrest of Saddam Hussein. The page of the Iraqi dictatorship has been turned. France hopes that this arrest will contribute to stabilising Iraq, to the return of Iraqi sovereignty in the best conditions and the reconciliation of everyone. [France] also hopes this arrest will reinforce the will of the Iraqis in to commit resolutely to the reconstruction process."
Gerhard Schroeder, Germany's chancellor, who narrowly won re-election on an anti-American campaign, "sent a telegram of congratulations to President Bush," Reuters reports. (A telegram? Don't they have fax machines in Germany?) He said: It's with great delight that I learned of Saddam Hussein's capture. I congratulate you on this successful operation. Saddam Hussein caused horrible suffering to his people and the region. I hope the capture will help the international community's effort to rebuild and stabilize Iraq."
An e-mailed press release from the German Embassy in Washington helpfully notes that the German phrase rendered here as "delighted" literally translates to "It was with great joy." The embassy also has a statement from Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer: "The German Government welcomes the capture of Saddam Hussein today and congratulates the Coalition on this crucial success. This is very good news for the Iraqi people and the entire region. Saddam Hussein was a cruel and brutal dictator, under whom his own people suffered most. He must now be given the punishment he deserves."
You know the sun is shining on America when these fair-weather friends start acting like friends. Or maybe they're just nervous over what Saddam may tell America about their collaboration with his regime--or about the prospect of losing those reconstruction contracts.
Speaking of which, the Associated Press has a delightful quote from the Saudi ambassador to Washington:
"It's amazing how people who were doing everything possible to derail the success" of the Iraq war now "feel they have the right" to reconstruction contracts, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan said. "It just takes so much chutzpah."
Did he say "chutzpah"? Who knew Prince Bandar was Jewish?
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Michael Segal, S.E. Brenner, Yitzchak Dorfman, Richard Haisley, Natalie Cohen, Carl Sherer, Shelley Taylor, Barak Moore, Mark Perdue, Arnold Nelson, Marc Schwartz, Doug Morris, Robert LeChevalier, Jason Smith, Rosanne Klass, William Specht, Kirk Watson, Aaron Spetner, Steve Roberts, Gregory Taylor, Mary Ann Lomascolo, Jonathan Yunger and Edward Himmelfarb. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.) |
