WOW!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...id=540&ncid=716


[Thread title modified to correct case. - Outsports moderator]

[ December 14, 2003, 09:32 AM: Message edited by: m1 ]

This is great, great news!! The only better news would have be that he had been captured dead. It's great validation for our troops, the Prez and the intelligence community. It'll be interesting to see how/where he is tried.

WOW is right, Savvy!....as Paul Bremer just said to open the Coalition Authority news conference from Iraq at 7:15AM ET "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!"....Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw look like they both just rolled out of bed with two hours sleep and were rushed to the studio to get on the air, but this is amazing news indeed.

[ December 14, 2003, 04:16 AM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

He was hiding in a hole. Not exactly a position to "plot revenge" and direct the insurgents as some claimed he was doing. Just struggling to stay alive.

It's going to be a bit harder to claim this mission is a failure now.

I love Bremmer's "Ladies and gentleman, we got him."

I just rolled out of bed myself and I had the radio on, but I thought I was dreaming or so when I heard the news. I couldn't believe it. What an awesome Christmas gift to the Iraqi's. Finally, justice would be served.

Awesome!!!

I think it's so much better that he's captured alive. Despite his "I'll never be taken alive" statement.

1. He can now be made to answer questions.

2. His live capture, despite his vow to not be taken alive, proves him to be the pussy he is.

3. Since he's alive, there is no possibility of people doubting that it's really him and not someone else.

It's a great gift for the Iraqis and their future, but also for the troops who are over there.

I just hope this good event doesn't overshadow the events that have already taken place and HOW/WHY they took place.

Hooray!

Now let's see the bastard stand trial for crimes against humanity.

OUTSTANDING! Absolutely the best Christmas gift of all! Not that this means peace on earth, but a major obstacle to achieving it has been rooted out. President Bush stayed the course and achieved his major goal, a tribute to him and all who persevere. Well done!

Finally! Some decent intelligence.

[ December 14, 2003, 07:33 AM: Message edited by: MIB ]

Wow. I was in the gym downstairs, listening to Breakfeast with The Beatles while I worked out. The host, Chris Carter, announced the capture and then played Mean Mr. Mustard:

Hee. Wow. I'd assumed he was dead, killed in the initial fighting.

This is dramatic! I always thought he was alive. I agree with ung too that it's best he was caught alive, because the US can get AS MUCH INFO as possible out of him. Such as where those WMDs are, where his deputies are, etc. But it does seem he was fairly isolated--just a pathetic creature. Will the Iraqis kill him as soon as they get his hands on him?

I am pleased that Saddam has been captured, we will see what the political/social implications are of this historic moment in time.

[ December 14, 2003, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: blkbear ]

Woohoo! About time someone caught that oligarch. Next up: Osama.

[OT]I think we had a reason to go into this war, but it wasn't the reasons we were given. We only found concrete evidence that Saddam and Osama had a possible link post facto, and we have yet to find those weapons of mass destruction- that is, if they even exist. We went into this war because we knew that Iraq was a civil rights clusterf*ck, and that it wasn't going to get any better as long as Saddam held power. So I don't want to hear anyone calling this Vietnam 2: Electric Boogaloo.[/OT]

[ December 14, 2003, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Justin Cognito ]

This could be interesting. So are OBL & Co. next?

[ December 14, 2003, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

God, he looked pathetic. I almost felt sorry for him. Then I remember what he did to his people so my sympathy abruptly ended.

Great News - what will the Democrats do with all their free time now, one less thing for them to complain about.

You mean the oil, the contracts for the VP's company, etc.? They got those long ago.

It was interesting to see that he had a pistol on his person when they caught him. In those final moments I'm sure he knew what was coming, and could have put the pistol to his head. but he didn't.

They've just shown another photo of him on CNN. His beard has now been shaved; apparently the US wanted to make sure everyone can see that it actually IS Saddam.

I think the folks at Time are going to need to stop the presses and rethink their person of the year. In my humble opinion - and all politics aside, obviously - BREMER has to be considered the top candidate, with TEAM IRAQI FREEDOM (Bush, Ashcroft, and Rice) running a close second.

I'm seeing very little international reaction to this news. Anyone have any scoop or links about how Canada, France, Russia, et al are responding?

I think it's fine that they caught him, but it doesn't change the fact that they never made the case for war.

We still have found no WMD and not established the connection to terrorism. Near as I can tell, this is another case of the Bushes getting revenge on someone who opposed them. Saddam is yet another trophy to go along with Noriega, Gore, Anne Richards, etc.

Whoopee shit! Where's the weapons of mass destruction? Who gives a shit about this clown?

M1011, I hear you, but it doesn't matter; the media and most people are going to think of this--at least for a while--just like the "Mission Accomplished" moment, as perhaps the end of the problems in Iraq. It is a very significant and important event--and catching him ALIVE, rather than dead, is key. It's also telling that he was too cowardly to 1) have blown his brains out or 2) to have had bombs strapped to him to detonate. My question is: whose business is he going to put out there now that he's survived? And will the Iraqi people allow him to be tried civilly and criminally, or will they take vengence into their hands and string him up like Ceaucescu and Mussolini?

Bremer??? Hell, it was the US ARMED FORCES--OUR ARMY, BABY!!!--that got him, with CIA and Iraqi help. So give the credit where it's due--to our fighting men and women!

Foreign nations are elated! Well, the European ones--not the Arab ones. France even spoke positively about the turn of events. How could they not?

I can't believe he was in his home town of Tikrit. That's the LAST place I expected him to be !

Let me preface my post by saying that I am glad, very glad, that we got the despot. 13 years too late but a capture is a capture. I also agreee with the comments about the guy's cowardice. Only goes to prove that he probably could have been captured after or during the first Gulf War if we hadn't retreated leaving the Iraqi people to fend for themselves and face more than another decade of degradation and tyranny.

But I also agree with those who commented that we still haven't vindicated the reason(s) why we went there in the first place. Maybe Saddam will spill the beans on the weapons. I hope so.

Anyway, the events of today remind me of an experience I had a number of years ago in Vegas when I went for a weekend with a few friends. One of them hit an $800. jackpot and couldn't stop high-fiving and celebrating until someone pointed out that he had already lost more than a thousand dollars at the slots.

Well, we hit the jackpot by catching the crackpot. But whether we have won or not remains to be seen.

Hint: The weapons can be moved.

I never really cared much about TIME's Man of the Year, but since we're discussing it, how about "The American Soldier" as this year's winner? In light of the Saddam capture, all the deaths and risks they've taken this year, etc., I think it wouldn't be a bad choice.

Just my $.02

Hint! If you have weapons -- why not use them when the enemy is on your doorstep. They certainly aren't any good when you are dead or caught.

Your "hint" OSU does highlight the key point that I made in my earlier post -- without WMD -- the entire basis for war is a nullity especially since W has admitted that his second reason (link to Osama's network) was bogus.

Bush should be man of the year. For real. Not that it matters. Saddam's capture is but a small step in his bold, decisive, radical transformation of the Middle East. Bush will be man of the decade at any rate. The Israel/Palestinian problem that has dogged the world for decades? Bush will fix it before the end of his second term. What a guy. And, yeah, it's a forgone conclusion that he will have a second term.

Couldn't disagree with you any more Tom. Once again I say alot can happen in the next many months. A Bush victory is not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Agree with many of you that already say that while its great Hussein was caught, I and many others feel the case for going to war with Iraq was anything other than the truth. This was a Shrub vendetta. Maybe now, Shrub can concentrate on getting the other terrorist, Osama Bin laden!

Bush and the juanta (i.e. Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney, Wolfwitz, etc) needs the other boogey-man still on the loose; in order, to guarantee their re-election bid. With Gore's endorsement of Dean, the Republican ad gestapo (i.e. Karl Rowe) can put the worst political ads on TV since the famous Dukasis's tank ad in 88 and the Daisy Girl in 64. I can see ads right now .... a little boy playing with his sister's Ken Doll and his Big Jim doll and marrying them while his mommy looks in horror. We have another "great" ad linking Sadaam with the Democrats and Howard Dean.

Whatever the motivation for the war, the results have been good - and don't be surprised if even more weapons of mass destruction start turning up real quick. What's going to be interesting now is how the President's Democratic challengers react. As of this moment, Dean and his wannabe puppetmaster Gore look like total fools in light of their rhetoric against the war and their shabby treatment of Joe Lieberman last week, whose support for the war and overall wisdom will now repay him handsomely. From Hillary - yes, she's a candidate, all her denial notwithstanding - the silence is deafening, and Kerry is prevaricating anew. Look for lots of LOL's in the days to come. Can't wait to see who ends up ROF permanently while I LMAO!

As Joe Lieberman said today, if Howard Dean had his way, Saddam would still be in power instead of a prisoner, and the world would be a much more dangerous place.

The justification for the war isn't the WMD or any link to Al-Qaeda, it's Bush's commitment to rid the world of evil-doers like Saddam, even if the UN & European allies were too timid to join in the effort.

Sadam was responsible for killing what. 300,000 people ? the bleading heart dems cry about everything else but this, face it they just don't like a Republican in charge, deal with it. Just think if Clinton was in charge he'd be banging some bimbo in Harlem while Sadam was taking over the rest of the Middle East.

Dude, Saddam killed more people during the Iran-Iraq War than after, okay? And during that war, he received support from Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Donald Rumsfeld was the envoy. So this isn't a GOP-Democrat thing; had H.W. taken him out in 1991, when the US overwhelmingly drove his army out of Kuwait and defeated him, he'd have killed many thousands fewer people. As much as GOP fanatics would like to claim that Saddam's murderousness is something new, it has a LONG history, and picked up steam in the 1980s, the decade in which we had exclusively GOP presidents. He's one dictator that was taken out; Milosevich is another. Now, Kim Jong Il should go, and we need to tell Pakistan, cooperate fully and hand over Osama bin Laden. That should happen whether a Democrat or a Republican is in office.

No WMDs are going to turn up (especially not in the massive amounts W claimed before the war), nor are concrete Al Qaeda links. Those were complete fictions that W and Co. made up. Had they said, we're going after Saddam in the first place, they'd still have gotten their war. It's not like they had the UN or anyone else to constrain them.

How previous administrations treated him has NO bearing whatsoever on this administration. If anything, people like Rumsfeld and Cheney knew full well what a dangerous, evil man he was, and how foolish we were to ever support him. By your logic, because previous administrations supported him (which they did because they thought it was in our cold war interests to do so), we somehow cannot get rid of him now? Or that, in light of 9/11, our desire to change the fabric of the Middle East should not occur because Rumsfeld had a photo op with him 20 years ago? Get over it.

Our President is a brave, clear-minded, decisive person--just the man we need in the White House in light of 9/11. He took bold steps to transform the status quo. He makes decisions that will determine our place in the world instead of playing the constipated diplomatic game of kiss-ass and tread softly that allowed 9/11 to happen. He deserves EVERY credit for directing our mission in Iraq. And the Iraqi people, despite what you wish, will recognize the role he played in liberating them from a truly evil man.

No fake turkey in Iraq today - just one real buzzard. Congrats to our fine Armed Forces!

No, there were ways other than invasion to achieve "regime change". It's great that he's been captured alive, though.

I think this will very much depend on what follows in Iraq. If he's replaced by an equally evil, but pro-American leader--far more likely than any real democracy--he will not be thanked. Frankly, I'll be surprised if Iraq winds up with a government as democratic and tolerant as Egypt--and after all the rhetoric, that's not something he's likely to be thanked for either.

TomFord, I hope you're happy when he bravely, clear-mindedly and decisively outlaws gay marriage and cuts down all of the forests in the country.

I cannot believe that ANY gay person could support this clown.

He's not a clown he's the president of the United States. And as for the gay marriage support comment, I suppose you don't think any gays can be Catholic either, let alone support the pres.

Then WHY NOT just tell us and the WORLD the truth? Or in the infamous Jack Nicholson words cannot we not handle the truth? Yeah I know, that is a "nobel" idea.

Because the world knew the truth for 20 years, and did nothing about it.

We knew we had to get him out. By any means necessary. He bragged that he had WOMD. We believed him. And of course we hastened the case for war simply because we wanted to. Big deal. You go tell the Iraqis that we should have waited until we had a more convincing reason. I was convinced, and so are most Americans. Bleating about no WOMD at this point--nobody cares.

And Saddam: what a coward. All those idiot followers of his who died thinking he was their fearsome hero, outlasting the Americans for so long.

And there he was, rat in a hole, begging not to be shot. I wonder how the al-jezeera types are spinning this. All that rhetoric of how he would kick our ass with his fearsome insurgents. HA!

[ December 14, 2003, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: TomFord ]

Whether President Bush "outlaws" gay marriage remains to be seen, although his doing so is doubtful. Most moderates and many conservatives within the GOP and without are actively arguing the foolishness of such legislation and I predict he'll never sign ANY Congressional legislation limiting marriage to men and women, even if it is eventually passed. Cf. your friend Bill's DOMA, so readily signed by his nimble hand.

NO ONE is going to "cut down all of the forests in the country," except maybe some disease-ridden beetles who've infested the forests over the past decade as a result of misguided forest management courtesy of radical environmentalists. Obviously, you haven't been listening to Governor Schwarzennegger on environmental policy either.

Living in SF as you do - and I did for far too long - it's perfectly understandable why you "cannot believe that ANY gay person could support" President Bush, just as you parrot both of the above fantasies. That's all your local media feeds you and that's all you choose to believe. For all its internationalist pretensions, SF is not the world, nor even the gayest part of it, and the sooner you and your fellow fogged ideologues up there understand that, the sooner you'll understand why so many of us - gay and straight - left it for more truly tolerant and rational climes.

You are so sick gmginsfo, you truly believe in your right-wing ideology. wink No, I'm not a brainwashed San Franciscan. I've lived here for 6 years after moving here from Texas, BUSH TERRITORY. I know what a poison he is.

Do you know that he fought tooth and nail to prevent Apple Computer from relocating offices to Austin from CA simply because Apple offered same-sex partner benefits. Didn't sit well with the Texas baptists, and Bush was right in their hands.

The guy's a f**king clown.

[ December 15, 2003, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: billsf ]

Wow... a simple thread celebrating the capture of Sadam has deteriorated into name calling and divisive politics... what a pity. frown

JC, Egypt is neither "democratic" nor "tolerant." Implicit in W's criticism of the Middle East is a critique of Egypt, which is a security state headed by a semi-dictator whose main means of control are the military and the secret police. Believe me, little in Egypt is free. Egypt is not tolerant of religious, political or social dissidents, not especially tolerant of non-Muslims (cf. the experiences of the Jews and Copts in the last 30 years), not especially tolerant of social nonconformists (like homosexualist), not tolerant of outspoken women, especially if they not from the upper classes. Mubarak is not freely elected and probably wouldn't dare allow a free election for fear of a Islamicist party taking control. PLEASE let Iraq not go the route of Egypt--or Syria, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia. Turkey would be the best model, which is what W and Co. are trying to push.

Kinda hard to get a dead guy. wink

Considering Britain, Germany, France, and many other countries, as well as the UN, have stated they believed Hussein did have WMD, your contentions can only mean they're all liars, too. Kind of a stretch if you ask me.