Newsweek: How We Got Saddam ('Don't shoot')

Newsweek ^ | Evan Thomas and Rod Nordland | Dec. 14, 2003

[jern]

Dec. 22 Issue - In a part of the world where pride and dignity mean everything, the images were clearly intended to shame. A nameless doctor or medical technician, wearing rubber gloves, was seen closely examining the man's hair, perhaps looking for vermin. Prodded with a tongue depressor, the man opened his mouth; the doctor peered at the pink flesh of his throat and scraped off a few cells for DNA identification. Then the world saw the man's face. Haggard, defeated, slightly disgusted and unquestionably Saddam Hussein, tyrant and terrorist, sadist and murderer, object of one of the greatest manhunts in history.

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, told reporters that Saddam had been found hiding in a mudhole. Gone were the fleets of Mercedeses, the battalions of secret police, the gold-encrusted palaces. Saddam did not put up a fight; he did not try to take his own life (though he had a pistol). He was "talkative" and "cooperative," resigned, cowering, meek and weak. The Glorious Leader, Direct Descendant of the Prophet, the Lion of Babylon, the Father of the Two Lion Cubs, the Anointed One, the Successor of Nebuchadnezzar, the Modern Saladin of Islam had been brought low, forced to bow down, whisked away to an "undisclosed location" to contemplate his fate while waiting to stand trial for his vast crimes against humanity.

[Texas Eagle]

Dec. 22 Issue - In a part of the world where pride and dignity mean everything, the images were clearly intended to shame.

WTF????? That's the opening sentence?????

[Joy Angela]

Next Capture:

HILLARY

[Cicero]

Say "Ah!"

[JustPiper]

What I find amazing is he was right across the Tigress and his palace

[Joy Angela]

Bring on the Shame!

[babble-on]

amazing opening sentence. what is wrong with the Left, someone please try to explain. How about: "The images were clearly intended to show that unlike the enemies Saddam captured over the years, who were tortured and killed by the hundreds of thousands, Saddam received humane treatment and medical attention."

[Texas Eagle]

In a part of the world where pride and dignity mean everything, the images were clearly intended to shame.

Evan, you ignorant misguided slut. OUR doctors were checking his health!

[jern]

I really think you guys read that first statement the wrong way. He was talking about how much pride is the rule of Islamic people, and how shameful his bearded face would look to the various Arabs

[Reagan Man]

... Saddam Hussein, tyrant and terrorist, sadist and murderer and scum of the earth! LOL

[Ex-Dem]

I think I read this on MSNBC a hour or so ago. Parts of it are pretty humorous. I especially liked these parts:

"By showing the images of Saddam in captivity and not just captured but poked, prodded and shorn, the Americans were sending a clear message to the Iraqi people that their tormentor of decades was gone forever."

And:

"...Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, Saddam's redheaded No. 2 (he is said to resemble Krusty the Clown)..."

[Lazamataz]

He's just a good ole' boy
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you've ever saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day he was born.

Makin' his way,
The only way he knows how,
But that's a little bit more
Than the US will allow.

Here's a pic of Saddam attempting a getaway in the General Lee while his supporters cheer him on.

[Pravious]

Right. I linked there from Drudge, and got about 5 sentences in before my disgust at the way they start their "report" really sunk in.
We capture a guy who's killed somewhere around a MILLION people, don't hurt him, and give him medical attention... and, in the eyes of Newsweek, we're obviously the bad guys. How utterly, completely disgusting.

[Paladin2]

Not likely. She was surrounded at dinner a few weeks ago but it was apparently decided that she is not an imminent threat and was released.

[vbmoneyspender]

At about 10:50 a.m. Baghdad time on Saturday, Dec. 13, military intelligence got the tip it was looking for. Saddam was hiding at one of two farms in the little town of Ad Dawr, according to the tipster. (The choice of Ad Dawr showed a certain lack of imagination, or perhaps desperation, by Saddam. In 1959, when Saddam tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq, Abdul Karim Qassim, Saddam had fled to the same village and hid on a family friend's farm, later swimming across the Tigris River to exile in Syria, one of the only times he ever left his country.)

These criminals are all the same, when the pressure gets put on they always revert to their old habits.

[Maria S]

"WTF????? That's the opening sentence?????"

You gotta remember this is 'Newsweek'.


The following are a couple more paragraphs from the article; the first seems to be another example of how sympathetic 'Newsweek' is toward Hussein.



"Back in Baghdad, Saddam was stripped and examined, probably with a most thorough and invasive body search. He has a telltale tattoo on his hand and scars of old wounds. His beard was shaved off. His captors paraded him before some of his former aides now in detention. including his longtime aide Tariq Aziz. The old courtiers confirmed their former boss's identity.

"Saddam's successors, the Iraqi Governing Council, were allowed to see and question Saddam. The former ruler was haggard but defiant. When one of the Governing Council members demanded to know why had killed so many people, Saddam spat back that his victims were all "thieves and Iranian spies." (The Shiite members of the delegation were particularly incensed by Saddam's mocking tone when the Iraqi ruler was asked if he had played a role in assassinating Shiite Ayatollahs Muhammad Sadeq al-Sadr, in 1999, and Mohamad Baqir al Hakim, killed by a truck bomb this year. "Sadr" means "chest" in Arabic, and Saddam made a pun about getting him off his chest.) Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the Governing Council, was engaged in a shouting match with Saddam when Pachachi was interrupted for a congratulatory phone call from President Bush on Sunday morning in Iraq."

[Joy Angela]

Drats.

[katykelly]

I could be wrong, but I think he had many palaces.

[dts32041]

Quickly, the Fourth I.D. mounted Operation Red Dawn: about 600 troopers--cavalry, engineers, artillery, Special Forces--to descend on the two farms, code-named Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. As evening fell, the soldiers surrounded the farms, cutting off all roads for about four or five kilometers around. Special Forces slipped in--and found nothing.

Now that funny wolverine 1 and 2, John Milius has got to be walking around with a S**t eating grin.

[Texas Eagle]

When one of the Governing Council members demanded to know why had killed so many people, Saddam spat back that his victims were all "thieves and Iranian spies."

Yo, Saddam. Next time try, "They're all part of some Vast Right-Wing Apparatus".