Jonathan Chait: Bring back Saddam Hussein

The Los Angeles Times ^ | November 27, 2006 | Jonathan Chait

[Zakeet]

THE DEBATE about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was) to the more depressing question of whether it is possible to avert total disaster. Every self-respecting foreign policy analyst has his own plan for Iraq. The trouble is that these tracts are inevitably unconvincing, except when they argue why all the other plans would fail. It's all terribly grim.

So allow me to propose the unthinkable: Maybe, just maybe, our best option is to restore Saddam Hussein to power.

Yes, I know. Hussein is a psychotic mass murderer. Under his rule, Iraqis were shot, tortured and lived in constant fear. Bringing the dictator back would sound cruel if it weren't for the fact that all those things are also happening now, probably on a wider scale.

[Snip]

he disadvantages of reinstalling Hussein are obvious, but consider some of the upside. He would not allow the country to be dominated by Iran, which is the United States' major regional enemy, a sponsor of terrorism and an instigator of warfare between Lebanon and Israel. Hussein was extremely difficult to deal with before the war, in large part because he apparently believed that he could defeat any U.S. invasion if it came to that. Now he knows he can't. And he'd probably be amenable because his alternative is death by hanging.

I know why restoring a brutal tyrant to power is a bad idea. Somebody explain to me why it's worse than all the others.

[MEG33]

We did not "install" Saddam.

[Psycho_Bunny]

THE DEBATE about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was)

Really, Johnny? 

[Billthedrill]

Oh, man, red meat to the wolves...

Yes, I know. Hussein is a psychotic mass murderer. Under his rule, Iraqis were shot, tortured and lived in constant fear. Bringing the dictator back would sound cruel if it weren't for the fact that all those things are also happening now, probably on a wider scale.

Probably? This means that the author doesn't really know and is talking extra-rectally. In short, the average liberal idiot with his keyboard in gear and his mind in park.

[Little Ray]

Always thought we should have taken out the Saudis - Wahabbis, madrissas, 15 of the 19, etc.
Failing that, we should be making war against the terrorist's money - find out who is financing the terrorists and kill them - don't arrest or try them - just kill them and their families, where ever they might be.
Also attack the institutions that handle the money for the terrorists.
Problem is that we'd probably be killing an awful lot of people our State Department tells us are "friends."

[ryan71]

Given the chance, the left would've reinstalled Hitler.

[driftless2]

"idiots"

I just want Chait to stand in front of a crowd of Kurds and explain why it would be good for Hussein to be back in power.

[supremedoctrine]

Why do all those retro-prognosticators think bringing the deposed Saddam BACK, would AT ANY POINT have made things "better" than what "filled the void" during his absence? He would probably just gas everyone except Sunnis- there are plenty of forces fighting for control now that are doing so precisely because he has been deposed, and they would have about as much use for him as he would for them/--No, he was scheduled by History to be deposed. History, like the Moon, is a harsh mistress.

[Lurker]

I can't remember which American magazine it was which in the mid 1930's wrote a glowing article praising the enlightened rule of old Uncle Adolph.

Someone posted a link to it here a while back.

L

[wildcatf4f3]

The war would have been over in '03 if I were calling the shots. Straight to Bahgdad, east to Damascus, continue to the Mediteranean at Beruit. Cut a "Swath to the sea", ripping the center out of the "Muslim" world and truely impressing them with who the "Strong horse" is.

[wildcatf4f3]

I read a BBC piece recently in which the writer asserted that Americans think they are bad at democracy but good at war when the opposite is the truth. I was taken aback by this but then it struck me. We really are good at democracy and lousy at war. Don't get me wrong, we're great at battles. We win every battle we're in and we've been in lots of battles in the last 60 years, but we haven't won a war since 1945. We have not had the political will to do so. Patton scared a good portion of the US public even in the midst of WWII. Nowadays Sherman would be locked up as criminally insane. I keep seeing pictures showing how bighearted our guys are and it moves me deeply. But wars are won by ruthlessness. Magnamity should be reserved for after victory. God bless. I admire you.

[never4get]

What a moron....

[pia fraus]

Look, these thoughts are not new!

It was already in August 2003 when some media prophet had the same ideas and wrote:

>> I propose a simple and elegant solution: Bring back Saddam Hussein. <<

It looks like J. Chait just copied them. :-)

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-stockler081403.asp