Posted on 12/14/2003 7:34:36 PM PST by knak
ATHENS - Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could be offered a deal in which he would give his captors information on if and how he hid weapons of mass destruction and if he smuggled some of them into Syria. In exchange, he would face life imprisonment and not be executed for war crimes, senior Iraqis attending a conference here on the future of the region have hinted.
Saddam was captured, alive and well, on Saturday near his hometown of Tikrit. U.S. troops found him hiding in a subterranean hole. He did not resist.
The Iraqi figures also said that, even if the number of concealed weapons of mass destruction is not large, Saddam will certainly know who he appointed to take charge of the operation and in what area the weapons are being stored.
The possibility that Saddam transferred some of the weapons to Syria was raised on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when satellite pictures showed convoys moving from Iraq to Syria. It is still unknown precisely what was transported in these convoys, but it is clear that this was a secret operation between Iraq and Syria.
It was a unique experience to hear the news of Saddam's capture while in the company of Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians and other Arabs. One of the Kurdish representatives burst into the conference room in tears and demanded an immediate halt to the discussions.
"Saddam Hussein has been captured," he said, adding they had received word from Kurdistan, before the television reports. The delegate also claimed that most of the information leading to the deposed dictator's arrest had come from the Kurds, who had organized their own intelligence network and for months had been trying to uncover Saddam's tracks.
He further claimed that some six months ago, the Kurds had discovered that Saddam's wife was in the Tikrit area. This intelligence was transferred to the Americans, but the Kurds never received any news on what the coalition forces did with the information and were angered by this.
If it does emerge that most of the information that led to Saddam's arrest did indeed come from Kurdish sources, this will probably boost their status with Washington.
The capture of Saddam Hussein is the greatest success for the Americans since taking over Iraq. It does not, however, let the Americans off the hook on the question of how long their rule of occupation will remain in Iraq and how power will be transferred to the new Iraqi leaders without shocking the system. Will they wait until a new constitution is drawn up for Iraq and elections are held?
Iraqi delegates say the capture of Saddam will not mean an automatic, immediate end to guerrilla warfare and terror attacks against the coalition forces. The forces opposed to the Americans are mostly made up of former members of the Ba'ath movement, of Saddam's security and intelligence forces and volunteers from Arab states and have merely lost their "symbol" with Saddam's capture. In fact, these elements have been released from the heavy burden of a man identified with bloodshed and mass murder.
Saddam's capture enables the Americans to now define in a more coherent manner what their strategic goals are in Iraq, thus reducing their time there.
Iraqi representatives are divided over Saddam's expected trial. Some claim that since most of his crimes, including the use of chemical weapons on the Iraqi Kurdish population, were commited on Iraqi soil, he should be tried in Iraq. Others claim this is not desirable and there should be an international aspect to his trial. An Iraqi trial would make the internal reconciliation more difficult and could be seen as an American Iraqi-purifying trial. A special international war crimes trial, however, would have greater global resonance and would act as a deterrent against commiting war crimes in the future.
After seeing "W" play for a few years, even Sam Farha would fold.
We can thank the stupid media again for another "Loose Lips Sink Ships" event. Had they not mention for 72 hours, we probably could have had a bunch of them rounded up.
We have had a bit of practice that the Chinese, to my knowledge, have not. When is the last time China has carry out a military mission? Command and control is key, along with superior weapontry and the Chinese just haven't been down that road with todays technology.
It might seem that way, given that Eichmann is the only person ever to be judicially executed in Israel. But how about the case of John Demjanjuk, aka "Ivan the Terrible"? He was extradited from the US to Israel to stand trial for war crimes (being a Nazi guard at Treblinka) and was sentenced to death in Israel in 1988. However, before the sentence could be carried out, the fall of the Soviet Union resulted in the release of new evidence that showed that Ivan the Terrible was not John Demjanjuk.
The Kurds
The Shiites
The Kuwaitis
The Iranians
The Israelis
The Americans
There's only one way to settle this. Put his execution up for bid on e-Bay. Shipping and handling not included. PayPal preferred. Half of the proceeds will go to rebuilding Iraq and forming a new government while the other half will go to a memorial fund for soldiers of all nationalities whose lives were lost in this war.
Let me guess, "Censure and move on" courtesy of the useful idiots at Moron.Org
Hmmm. I recall it was Bremer and the US gov't that mentioned it. The media were just reporting what they were told.
This is a very simplistic way of looking at war and not accurate. War is not measured in the raw numbers of people killed. What we can do to China is wage war from a distance. China has no capacity to invade the US and I personally do not believe they are capable of making any meaningful strike against our mainland. Theoretically, we could defeat China without killing that many Chinese- the same way we defeated Iraq. Methodically and precisely destroy their command and control structures. If their populace need subduing- disrupt their food supply. It wouldn't take long. A well placed nuke here and there and we would defeat China easily.
It's not really about killing a billion Chinese but killing the right Chinese.
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