Saddam Hussein is captured!

[AndyWan Kenobi]

As Anne Frank said, "I believe, despite everything, that people are good at heart." Or something to that extent, and she certainly was someone entitled to believe otherwise. I love the ending of "Return of the Jedi." What an incredibly satisfying conclusion. It's not too often in movies where the arch-enemy is able to find redemption. When it happens, I love it.
Erin

That's a great quote, and something I certainly agree with. I believe human beings are intrinsically good, though they can bury that part of themselves pretty deep due to innumerable other factors. I'd still like to believe, though, that the little spark of goodness is never gone.

Off topic (slightly), that's one thing that I really liked about the first Star Wars prequel. A lot of people were upset that Darth Vader was this cute and cheery little kid, that they didn't give him any shadow of darkness. For me, that's the whole point. To show him as a bright and cheery nine-year-old just heightens the tragedy of his fall, and allows the audience to remember (even if he has forgotten) that there is still good in him.

 

[flor]

The good news is: that creep Saddam got captured!
The bad news is: Bush gets the credit, and has a bigger chance of being re-choosen.

totally agreement with you

 

[Beebers]

During the 1970's there was great hue and cry over nuclear energy. The intentions were good, and I can't think of anyone who likes nuclear energy. The problem lay in the most vociferous opponents' utter non-presentation of useful and practical alternatives. The fact that they went right on watching TV, flipping on lights, and showering in hot water, the majority of which was powered by nuclear energy, usurped their credibility.

I'm often reminded of this now. Flat statements encompassing hatred of George Bush are not accompanied by well-thought-out presentations of argument and helpful alternative.

The ally of worthy argument is the idea, the alternative. Otherwise, one comes to the table with nothing. The Emperor is then shown to have no clothes.

People die so that we may speak freely in our comfortable chairs without penalty, that we may disagree openly without violence.

The Iraqis for the first time may do so as well. All societies deserve this privilege. Saddam Hussein is a Muslim who committed sweeping crimes of humanity against . . . Muslims. It is for the Iraqi people to mete out justice on behalf of their dead.

 

[Crazy Harry]

I was surprised that the people of Iraq are celabrating. I always thought they were one of the contries that hated us and would get get angry about us getting involved in their personal afairs. I guess if many of them are excited, then some good did come out of this mess.

 

[Beebers]

The Iraqis are a sophisticated people whose deserts were one of the great early cradles of civilized society. They have not collectively hated any Western society. There was for a time a resentment, not hate, of the British for drawing arbitrary borders on a map in the 1920s, creating the geographical Iraq we know today but combining different Muslim groups who did not necessarily wish to be thrown together as one country.

One has only to hear the voices of the celebrants there, to listen to the exiles who cry "Thank you", (and they do, on worldwide television) to know that the darkness that so burdened their world for so long has at last turned to the light of bright futures.

 

[Mark Filton]

I just want Saddam Hussein killed as fast as possible

Out with the trash already

 

[tomahawk]

Go Back to Sleep

I was surprised that the people of Iraq are celabrating. I always thought they were one of the contries that hated us and would get get angry about us getting involved in their personal afairs. I guess if many of them are excited, then some good did come out of this mess.

They do hate us. Do not be mistaken. A shadow was lifted but it is temporary. Think about it this way, we support this tyrant, he is on our payroll (that's where some of your tax dollars went), then when he invades Kuwait and gets to close to Saudi Arabia (the Bushes oil buddies) we start Dessert Storm 1. After that the Iraqi people go through 12 years of sanctions and Saddam still doesn't care. So they are getting absolutly no help from anyone. Then 2 buidings get blown up, people feel vunerable and will follow anything because of fear, so when Bush can't capture Bin Laden (remember him, he was the first bad guy in this) they turn to Saddam and say hey he's got weapons of(U.S.A. APPROVED) mass destuction. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO we do the old shock and yall ( as Toby Keith would say) on them and..............................................................................................................................well I hope you get the point.

 

[Thijs]

I just want Saddam Hussein killed as fast as possible

Out with the trash already

I rather see him in prison for the rest of his life. Is a much bigger punishment. And I'm against death penalty. Always.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Ah, Buck Beaver, I don't think you could say all that if you weren't in Canada and being protected by our United States forces next door

You might be in a torture room now if you said that in Kuwait and were captured by Hussein on the border

Ah, Canada-bashing. How quaint.

Mark, I was really offended by this post for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I said what I did because it breaks my heart to see so many Americans losing their lives and their families grieving. I too would personally like to see Hussein offed as quickly as possible (and it sounds like the Iraqis have the same idea) and it's a truly great thing that Iraq has been liberated.

No sane person can suggest that it's right that Saddam Hussein stayed in power. He should have been removed at the end of the last Gulf War. What I personally don't agree with was the way all this happened. It's obvious to everyone (except maybe the folks at Fox News) that there were few, if any weapons of mass destruction. The intelligence that linked Saddam to 9/11 was bad at best and falsified at worst. I also believe that the war in Iraq also has also created an ideal battleground for anti-US terrorists and distracted the world's attention from real threats - al queda and rogue countries that have real weapons of mass destruction like North Korea.

If we're going to get rid of all the undemocratic terror-supporting states in the world sign me up. Just someone please explain to me why it's necessary to kill thousands in Iraq to remove a tin-pot dictator like Saddam Hussein while we negotiate a peaceful, UN solution to a government of nuclear-armed, hopped-up maniacs who sell terrorists weapons (North Korea).

I was also really offended because your comment kinda suggests that Canada is some kind of miltary wimp - a myth that right wing commentators in the US like to spread. The fact is there is a lot of wrong information about Canada spread on the US news channels unfortunately.

Canada has never been soft on tyrants. Canadians were fighting and dying by the tens of thousands in WW1 and WW2 years before the US decided to enter those wars. Canada didn't fight in Iraq because since WW2 we have a stated policy of not particpating in any war unless the UN Security Council sanctions it or there is an undisputely clear and immeadate threat to us or one of our NATO allies. I think Canadians know sometimes you have to fight war. But we also know you kill a lot of people in the process, so if we're going to be mixed up in that we have to be 100% sure those deaths are necessary.

The only major conflicts Canada has sat out since WW2 have been Vietnam and the recent Iraqi war (ironically the two most controversial wars of the past century in America).

We don't just blindly follow the UN either. We fought in the first Gulf War (and would have even without UN permission). When the UN refused to act in Kosvo, Canada joined the independent US-led action there because we believed there was - again - a clear and immeadate threat to general European security. When the US was attacked on 9/11 Canada was one of the first countries to offer whatever military assistance we could.

It's true that our defense spending here is an embarassment (we seem to be busy spending $$ on pesky liberal things like universal health care ) but fortunately we have a new Prime Minister who has promised to better fund and equip our armed forces.

Despite a real lack of numbers and funding, the Canadian military is heavily engaged in the "war on terror." Our elite anti-terrorist force (Joint Task Force Two) is deployed to aid in the search for al queda terrorists and Osama Bin Laden. CSIS (Canada's own mini-CIA) has been hunting down and arresting suspected "sleeper agents" that may have entered Canada to attack the US and helped foil several terrorist plots against Americans. The Candian Army is commanding the US/NATO force in Afghanistan and we have thousands of troops serving over there, a mission that the White House asked Canada to take on so they could send some of their troops there to fight in Iraq.

So we're not by any means soft on security issues or dictators. We just sometimes take a different approach to national and international security than our US neighbors.

I guess my point here is to be careful not to suggest that Canadians should be lumped in with some of the more self-serving truly anti-American countries in the world.

Oh, that and don't believe everything (ok, anything) you hear on Fox News.

 

[Phantom]

I have been reluctant to say anything in this thread because I have both agreed and disagreed with things that have been said. I don't come to Muppet Central to have political discussions!

Whether you agree or disagree with the methods used, the world and the Iraqi people are rid of a brutal dictator and their future is now in their hands.

Enough said.