Damn straight! And didn't he look good!

Yes he looked very threatening, I was thinking to myself not a minute too soon we wasted American lives on getting this beast of a man.

Jackass

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

Chip, a lot of nations lost service personnel lives, less we forget.

Julian in England

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

"Hiding like a rat in farm house hole"

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Have you hugged Your Mom today?

Osama's next. It's only a matter of time.

Interesting that he had three-quarters of a million dollars in his pockets when they found him!

Julian in England

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Agreed, OBL is next... however, OBL will be (and has been) a bigger nut to crack. It seems his following and purpose is much more involved and different.

Joe Moya

My extremely compassionate wife almost felt sorry for him, looking so old, haggard, and helpless, then I reminded her about the half a million Iraqis who he killed while in power.

I suggest that we use a modern rendition of the Catholic Church's Inquisition methodology for his trial: the classic trial by ordeal. Shove a grenade up his ass and pull the pin out. If he survives, he's guilty and faces a firing squad. If he dies, then he's innocent, and God will welcome him to Heaven.

Yup, I like that idea just fine.

I am reminded of an old piece of wisdom: "All that is required for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." There seem to be a lot of good men in the world today.

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Perhaps we will have the IM Baghdad next year.

According to DEBKA he was not hiding but already captured for a long time. As DEBKA writes:

A number of questions are raised by the incredibly bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and pampered ruler who was discovered in a hole in the ground on Saturday, December 13:

1. The length and state of his hair indicated he had not seen a barber or even had a shampoo for several weeks.

2. The wild state of his beard indicated he had not shaved for the same period

3. The hole dug in the floor of a cellar in a farm compound near Tikrit was primitive indeed – 6ft across and 8ft across with minimal sanitary arrangements - a far cry from his opulent palaces.

4. Saddam looked beaten and hungry.

5. Detained with him were two unidentified men, two AK-47 assault guns and a pistol, none of which were used.

6. The hole had only one opening. It was not only camouflaged with mud and bricks – it was blocked. He could not have climbed out without someone on the outside removing the covering.

7. And most important, $750,000 in 100-dollar notes were found with him – but no communications equipment of any kind, whether cell phone or even a carrier pigeon for contacting the outside world.

Tthese seven anomalies point to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner.

After his last audiotaped message was delivered and aired over al Arabiya TV on Sunday November 16, on the occasion of Ramadan, Saddam was seized, possibly with the connivance of his own men, and held in that hole in Adwar for three weeks or more, which would have accounted for his appearance and condition. Meanwhile, his captors bargained for the $25 m prize the Americans promised for information leading to his capture alive or dead. The negotiations were mediated by Jalal Talabani’s Kurdish PUK militia.

These circumstances would explain the ex-ruler’s docility – described by Lt.Gen. Ricardo Sanchez as “resignation” – in the face of his capture by US forces. He must have regarded them as his rescuers and would have greeted them with relief.

From Gen. Sanchez’s evasive answers to questions on the $25m bounty, it may be inferred that the Americans and Kurds took advantage of the negotiations with Saddam’s abductors to move in close and capture him on their own account, for three reasons:

A. His capture had become a matter of national pride for the Americans. No kudos would have been attached to his handover by a local gang of bounty-seekers or criminals. The country would have been swept anew with rumors that the big hero Saddam was again betrayed by the people he trusted, just as in the war.

B. It was vital to catch his kidnappers unawares so as to make sure Saddam was taken alive. They might well have killed him and demanded the prize for his body. But they made sure he had no means of taking his own life and may have kept him sedated.

C. During the weeks he is presumed to have been in captivity, guerrilla activity declined markedly – especially in the Sunni Triangle towns of Falluja, Ramadi and Balad - while surging outside this flashpoint region – in Mosul in the north and Najef, Nasseriya and Hilla in the south. It was important for the coalition to lay hands on him before the epicenter of the violence turned back towards Baghdad and the center of the Sunni Triangle.

The next thing to watch now is not just where and when Saddam is brought to justice for countless crimes against his people and humanity - Sanchez said his interrogation will take “as long as it takes – but what happens to the insurgency. Will it escalate or gradually die down?

An answer to this, according to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, was received in Washington nine days before Saddam reached US custody.

It came in the form of a disturbing piece of intelligence that the notorious Lebanese terrorist and hostage-taker Imad Mughniyeh, who figures on the most wanted list of 22 men published by the FBI after 9/11, had arrived in southern Iraq and was organizing a new anti-US terror campaign to be launched in March-April 2004, marking the first year of the American invasion.

It came in the form of a disturbing piece of intelligence that the notorious Lebanese terrorist and hostage-taker Imad Mughniyeh, who figures on the most wanted list of 22 men published by the FBI after 9/11, had arrived in southern Iraq and was organizing a new anti-US terror campaign to be launched in March-April 2004, marking the first year of the American invasion.

Now that Saddam is in hand, perhaps the indigenous Iraqis will be more willing or less afraid to help us identify the foreigners (Syrian, Saudi, Pakistani, etc.) who are delaying the healing process in their country. Let's hope.

And Chip--I imagine Hitler towards the end was a rather pitiful figure himself. Most of these tyrants are. (Does anyone doubt most of us could whip Kim Jung-Il's ass in a fair fight?) Just because he looks pitiful stripped of his weapons and power doesn't mean he wasn't a dangerous, ruthless man. I imagine a few million Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians, and Kuwaitis wish the hell someone had done this long ago. But, they are with Allah now, so it is too late for them.

He'd better be trialed by the Iraqi people...
if the US or any other non muslim nation decides to
trial him, then he will appear as a martyr in the eyes of the muslim terrorist groups throughout the world but also as a martyr for many muslims that do not like the US.
This would likely increase the tension between muslim countries and the US.

if he is trialed by his own people, it will just be a muslim nation judging a muslim convicted of crime against humanity and will (hopefully) not lead to retaliation against the US.

The president has already said Iraq gets Sadduam. I know most people think Bush is a stupid war loving slaughter of the brown people but dude give him a brake.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

On the part of Bremer I thought it was moderately tactless and somewhat sensational to announce Saddam Hussein's capture by proclaiming "We got him!"

He should have said:

"Thank you for attending this special press briefing. On or about 8:30 PM Local Zone Time U.S. Forces, in a combined operation, apprehended Saddam Hussein in a rural area outside of Tikrit, Iraq. Hussein remains in U.S. custody, undergoing medical examination at an undisclosed location, at this hour. No casualties were sustained during the apprehention and the prisoner appears to be good physical condition."

And then left it at that. The hand clapping and high fiving is inappropriate. If there is any of that to be done, it is for the Iraqi people who have suffered at the hands of Hussein.

For the U.S., we now face a heavy obligation before the world community: See that justice is done fairly and equitably, so that, as President Bush said in his address, "He (Hussein)will face the same justice he denied his own people."

The conduct of Hussein's trial will and should be under the microscope of the world. He should be held accountable and tried justly, in complete contravention to his method of justice- which was, according to historical reports, barbaric and without due process.

The true test of what our country really stands for was not capturing Hussein, it will be how we conduct ourselves now that he has been apprehended.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

It was inevitable that Hussein be apprehended, and it is inevitable that Osama Bin Laden will be apprehended unless he expires of natural causes first. The resources devoted to his arrest are phenomenal, the greatest of any international law enforcement endeavor in history. As well they should be, since Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are two of the most notorious criminals in human history.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"The true test of what our country really stands for was not capturing Hussein, it will be how we conduct ourselves now that he has been apprehended."

There is no doubt you're in Iraq for the long haul. According to CBC radio today, the USA is in the process of building four permanent military bases in the country with the intent of maintaining American military personnel in Iraq for another ten years. It's an uneasy moral dilema of being there both for oil but at the same time to build a democratic nation in the Arab world. It won't be easy and the US will now have to decide if to do it alone or have more of an international presense in the country. It won't be an easy task and insurgent terrorist activities will likely be going on for awhile yet. Capturing Saddam will hopefully put a major dent in this.

The success of a future Iraq is very important to the west. The important question is who the US intends to put in power in Iraq when rule is handed back to the Iraq people. But it will have to be a legitimate representative government and not another Shah of Iran.

... And furthermore:

The name of the operation; "Red Dawn" is immensly ill conceived and inappropriate.

Military operations, especially at the highest level, are refered to by randomly generated code names with absolutely no reference to the nature of the operation, such as "Blue Candid" or "Standard Hand". Once the operation is deemed noteworthy, successful or its profile is otherwise elevated they are frequently renamed something more identifiable with the operation such as "Eagle Claw", "Just Cause", "Urgent Fury", "Enduring Freedom" or "Certain Sentinel".

"Red Dawn" was the name of a "B" movie about a communist invasion of the United States from Mexico during the 1980's. I fail to see the connection.

To me it was obvious: operation "Certain Justice". That pretty much says it all.

What does "Red Dawn" mean? It wasn't red and it didn't happen at dawn.

Of course, easy to arm chair quarter back. The bottom line:

Good job 120.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I don't think the U.S. should intend to put anyone in power in Iraq. The U.S., along with the rest of the free world, should facilitate the formation of an Iraqi government by the people and for the people. An internal Iraqi government, conceived by Iraqis the way they want to be governed. It will no doubt be different than the way our government looks and functions, but it will be in compliance with basic international law, a functional member of the world community, a contributor and benefactor of the world economy.

Geez, aren't we supposed to be talking about triathlons?

Congratulations to all the men and women of 4th I.D., JSOC and Task Force 120. Thank you for a job well done and a wonderful holiday gift.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

<<"Red Dawn" was the name of a "B" movie about a communist invasion of the United States from Mexico during the 1980's. I fail to see the connection.>>

I thought it was Canada, because the invasion was in Michigan. "Wolverines!"

Yeah, I thought naming the operation "Red Dawn" was a little odd myself.

Brett

Interesting to me what he was found with, money and a weapon. The old adage is true, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." The thing he seemingly treasured, power, represented by these two compelling symbols, is what he holds onto to the very end. In the end he never possesed them but they him and the horrific price Iraq and much of the world has paid. The evil that can be wrought through the misuse or pursuit of power...

dude, give ME a break...
I only said what I thought was obvious...I didn't know what the decision of the Bush admin. was and was not saying anything about Bush...

Cerveloguy:
"There is no doubt you're in Iraq for the long haul."

I wouldn't count on that. Every single one of the Democratic candidates is touting the same 'pull out of Iraq' garbage, so one would hope they won't be surprised when their eventual candidate gets trounced.(not that their entire platform isn't flawed in every way.) If, by chance, the Democrats win the election next year, you may see our conviction fail.

Francois:
You are correct. The Iraqis must try Hussein, however this is a catch-22 for the US. No matter what happens, Anti-US Muslim factions will merely call the trial a farce run by Iraqi puppets of the US(even though Hussein was once one of those too).

Finally, The people who are losing here are the Iraqis, and this makes me sad. You have foreign Muslim fighters killing more Iraqis than Americans, you have significant Iraqi civilians getting killed by the US, and you have enough fear remaining in the Iraqis themselves that they have yet to take back their country. The fact that the American media, with rare exceptions(such as the Wall Street Journal) are reporting none of the good being done over there, is not helping.

The fact that all bordering Muslim nations(except perhaps Turkey) are allowing foreign fighters across their borders should be viewed as complicit approval of their methods and be tried for war crimes by the UN. Unfortunately, the UN is the most useless organization ever conceived, and is the epitome of moral ambivalence. Their recent decision, finding that violence against Muslims is unacceptable, but that violence against Jews is not, is a perfect example.

Well, it looks like I've poked the hornet's nest. Let's see how bad I get stung.

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Finally! We've freed the Iraqi's natural resources from a tyrannical leader. Does that mean gas is finally going to be cheap again? I hope that doing something about the economy here in our own country is next on Mr. Bush's Christmas list.

Oh, I tried so hard not to respond, but...



Gasoline prices in my neighborhood are the lowest they have been in months.



The Dow cracked 10,000 this week. That may not stick, but the trend has been steadily upward.



Unemployment levels have begun to drop. (I contributed to that drop, after being in and out of layoffs and part time for the past year.)



My company's sales have taken off in this quarter. We sell our software to large corporations - particularly energy companys. This signals a willingness on their part to spend $, that has been absent for the past couple of years.



I would have to say that these things signal a pretty good trend in the economy here in our own country.



Happy trails,

Chris

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Happy trails,
Chris