December 15, 2003
AUSTRALIAN REACTION TO SADDAM'S CAPTURE
Let’s set the tone with this photograph of celebrations in Nasiriyah. That same ecstatic mood is seen among Iraqis in Australia:
Mrs Sakina al-Amein, who lives in Shepparton after coming to Australia from Iraq 14 months ago, last night cheered the capture of Saddam Hussein.
"We are very, very happy. I hope they strip the meat from his body and cut into small, small pieces," Mrs al-Amein said.
And from the Sydney Morning Herald:
The capture of Saddam Hussein was a turning point for Iraq, said Abbas Boskany, an Iraqi Kurd who fled his country after the first Gulf War.
"I feel very, very happy and I'm shouting all over that Saddam Hussein is in the rubbish bin of history; he's finished. I'm buying drinks for everyone."
The president of the Iraqi Migrants Council, Kassim Abood, declared the capture of Saddam Hussein wonderful news.
"Its amazing, the best thing I've ever heard in my life."
The Age’s Tony Wright speaks for many:
One of the most perfidious regimes of the past century is now no more. Saddam is finished.
Long live the new Iraq.
And long live the new Sydney Morning Herald, which seems to have discovered an attitude that isn’t exclusively anti-American:
So close were the links between Paris and Baghdad that there have long been rumours that the Iraqi leader had been a regular contributor to Mr Chirac's various election campaigns, although nothing has been proved.
Paul McGeough, the SMH’s correspondent in Baghdad -- who opposed the coalition invasion -- says that things can only get better:
The US administration in Iraq will be anxious that his capture not become a rallying point for what it likes to dismiss as the regime "tail-enders".
It need not worry. In the coming weeks it is more likely Iraqis will be gloating at a Saddam brought to heel.
Since the fall of Baghdad on April 9 all the Saddam statues and portraits have been destroyed or defaced. It was kick-started by the US demolition of some of the statues, but now Iraqis are consumed by anger and hate for their former leader.
And Greg Sheridan in The Australian considers the effect of Saddam’s capture on other soon-to-be-run-down tyrants:
Perhaps most significant of all, the pictures of the captured and humiliated Saddam Hussein were being watched last night in Syria, Damascus and Pyongyang. Axis of evil dictators should know this is the end point of the defiance of US power.
Yes.
Posted by Tim Blair at December 15, 2003 03:57 AMSyria and Damascus? Wow, that's a lot of locations for these watchful tyrants. He probably meant "Tehran" in place of "Syria".
Posted by: Yaron at December 15, 2003 at 04:17 AMAWWWWWWWWWWWW RIGHT!
Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the NEWS is so delightful
And since we’ve no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
* * * * * * * *
:) :) :) :) :)
From Woodside, Queens, THANKS TO SPECIAL OPS, 4th ID & TO ALL OUR ARMED FORCES EVERYWHERE! THANK YOU STEADFAST AUSSIES, THANK YOU AUSSIE ARMED FORCES & THANK YOU TIM BLAIR! YES!
What next? Iraqis may start revenge attacks against Ba’athists.
At www.DemocraticUnderground.com, one thread begins by complaining that too many there, of all places, are happy about Saddam’s capture!!!
Saddam FAILED to keep his promise to commit suicide in order to avoid capture. Meekly he came out from among the mice & rats in that dirty hole. Saddam, you’ve broken your last promise!
When Saddam is tried by the tribunal in Iraq, he will doubtlessly speechify & spin about how the USA used to help him. Get ready. American ABC News already just ran a story about How We Used To Be Saddam’s Friend.
D’ya think the Iraqis are happy, too? D’ya think?
This, surely, is the mother of all days for us.
The heroes of our valiant Pesh Mergas, and the heroes of the U.S. Fourth division have done it. Now is the time to unleash the Iraqi Counter Terror; now is the time to go for the kill. Let us go after them. Don’t lose this moment. They want to recant and live in equality with the people? they have a chance - otherwise they will have to go. I am too overwhelmed with emotion to write coherently; please excuse me. The foul mouths of the enemies of our people everywhere and the neighboring vultures and hyenas be stuffed with dirt; we will come after you; your time will come.
Long live the great alliance of Mesopotamia and the United States of America and her allies. Now is the time, now is the time; Do not delay; unleash the Counter Terror.
God Bless Iraq; God Bless America; God bless the Allies. ....
—an exultant Alaa, The Mesopotamian, http://messopotamian.blogspot.com
Posted by: ForNow at December 15, 2003 at 04:34 AMMaybe Sheridan means Syria, Virginia:
http://www.ohwy.com/va/s/syria.htm
Tremble, O Mayor of Syria!!!
Posted by: Joe Geoghegan at December 15, 2003 at 04:46 AMI need a bigger hole.
I wonder what I'd look like in beard?
Posted by: KimJongIl at December 15, 2003 at 05:05 AMLooks like Mr. Abbas Boskany has adapted well to Australia. His first reaction is "I'm buying drinks for everyone."
(Sorry, I know it was obvious, but I just couldn't resist it.)
Posted by: Polly at December 15, 2003 at 05:44 AM"Thankyou Cofi Anan!"
did I miss something? Was it Cofi who finally 'fessed up and told them where Saddam was hiding?
Posted by: Raindog at December 15, 2003 at 05:54 AMI've missed you and your ongoing battle to be dumber than the dumbest of the dumb. You're in excellent form and I hope you'll be around for a while.
Sorry, my comment was directed to the ongoing net hoax, Puce.
Fat Treach takebreak from LIES as let Puce say TRUE CLICK
Posted by: Puce at December 15, 2003 at 06:04 AMThe loons at the Democratic Underground are having a rough day and the conspiracy theories are already flying: it was all about covering up the overcharging by Halliburton! You can't make this stuff up.
Here's a gem from the DU:
This is sick... we can watch video clips of Saddam getting a medical exam. Yes, he was a bad man, but this is just makes me sick. We treat him like an animal.
Poor Saddam. We're really the animals.
Bonzer!
Huge congratulations to our great American allies on their wonderful achievement! Yippee-ki-yay! Joy, joy, joy! YES!!
Posted by: David Blue at December 15, 2003 at 06:54 AMAHHH...life is good!!!
Mike Lawson
....Support Operation Give by buying my CD!
"We treat him like an animal."
Only if that was a vet who was checking him out.
Posted by: Steve in Houston at December 15, 2003 at 06:58 AMI don't know what you exotic furriners south of the Equator do, but here in the Wild West we're filling the skies with bullets. Sorry, lefties.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive at December 15, 2003 at 07:48 AMAnd here is the ABC's Jane Hutcheon talking about the possible response by Palestinians to Saddam's arrest (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1009822.htm):
"He said while Saddam was a dictator and the Iraqi people suffered under him, it was the Americans who caught him and there could be a sense of public confusion.
Until the outbreak of the war against Iraq, the strongman sent millions of dollars to Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel."
How anyone - even at the ABC - can describe suicide bombers as "Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel" with a straight face is beyond me.
Posted by: Chris at December 15, 2003 at 07:54 AMMan did Saddam look like shit. Reminds me of my drinkin' days.
On the next rainy day he should be paraded--by IRAQIS--through the streets of Baghdad in shackles and pelted with rocks and garbage.
If I were Bush:
I vaunt zee location of zose veppons of mass destruction and I vaunt them now, Saddam! And you vill tell me!
Posted by: S.A. Smith at December 15, 2003 at 08:15 AMI saw the news conference live last night - my favourite 'question' was from a female Iraqi journalist (paraphrasing)
"I am too happy to formulate a question, I am shaking. Thankyou."
Posted by: Pig head Sucker at December 15, 2003 at 08:28 AM
Check out this auction on e-bay - bwahahahaha!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10868&item=3645805355
When I first saw the video clip of the grey bearded captor my first thought was "what was Fidel Castro doing there?"
Wouldn't that have been a great double?
amortiser
1) I amazed he's captured. I thought he'd do an Osama and continue to send out the odd vid every now and then to confuse wheather or not he's dead.
2)I cannot wait to hear about how he was captured and the lead up to the arrest. It should make for very interesting reading. I wonder if any Oz SAS were involved?
3)YAAAAAAAAAY!!!
Posted by: Jake D at December 15, 2003 at 08:55 AMI was listening to the radio last night for news of Saddam but the only coverage was on the ABC.
Within seconds I was enraged. A group of left wingers sneering that it was good that Saddam was caught but the whole Iraq story was a big mess and should have been handled better by America etc etc etc.
No suggestions on how it should have been handled.
A collection of pus-suckers and snot-gobblers.
Posted by: Michael Gill at December 15, 2003 at 08:55 AMa great day!
for the record, AM on ABC this morning was 30 minutes of upbeat reportage on the subject...not a hint of sneer or negativity.
hope alston doesn't waste any more of my taxes trying to suggest otherwise.
and hutcheon also referred very clearly to the evil one paying families of suicide bombers $25k per death.
let the celebrations continue!
Posted by: chico o'farrill at December 15, 2003 at 09:19 AMI found some other crazy reactions. My favourite idiots were from the aus.politics Google Group:
Now that Saddam is captured, Bush loses some competition in the contest to be the world's worst dictator.
And he's still not letting loose with the nukes!
Posted by: Marty at December 15, 2003 at 09:54 AMTelling moment in our newsroom when assorted subs expressed disgust at the cheering which broke out at Bremer's press conference. They wouldn't accept that the cheering probably came from Iraqis in the conference. For some stupid reason they thought US journalists were cheering the capture. Silence descended when reminded that at least 10,000 people protested against terror in Baghdad last week and not one major US or Australian correspondent reported it.
Posted by: slatts at December 15, 2003 at 10:41 AMI see the SMH's lead story focuses on Hussein's denial about having WMDs. Good to see that they can still manage to put some anti_US slant on such good news.
Posted by: Toryhere at December 15, 2003 at 10:54 AMThe reaction of the CNN anchor to the celebratory shots being fired in the streets of Baghdad was rich.
"This demonstrates that the efforts of the US administration to get people to hand their weapons in have been a complete failure!"
Somehow I don’t think those guns are the ones that the US is worried about.
Ummm the Americans have allowed every household to have one AK-47 and a pistol for defense - dont they even know that? How pathetic are these guys.
Posted by: Rob at December 15, 2003 at 11:39 AMCan't find the transcript Rob. I don't know the CNN anchors but he sounded like a pom and had just finished interviewing Satinder Bindra.
Posted by: Pig head Sucker at December 15, 2003 at 12:14 PMTo answer Jake D, it sounds like the actual operation was carried out by US forces, but the pressure provided by your contribution in other operations surely helped and is deeply appreciated.
Oh the civility of John Shovelan! On Early AM this morning, he was complaining that by capturing Sadam alive this would cause a lot of problems for the US and that they would have been better off had he been found dead.
Posted by: john at December 15, 2003 at 10:07 PMThe Bek'aa valley in Lebanon is the birthplace of modern terrorism, the development of techniques, and the training of terrorist in military scale numbers. It was down under the watchful, protective, and often funding eye of the Syrians.
On another matter, why don't we set up a Google bomb where Howard Dean's bio is linked to the word: "The Bongmeister", "whiner/whinger" or "panderer"
Posted by: Joe at December 16, 2003 at 02:20 AMWith regards to Tony Wright's concerns over Saddam getting a fair trial: Why should he get what he never gave? Pump the bastard full of giggle juice, squeeze him for all he knows, then take him out to the fields, dig a hole, and shoot him in the back of the head.
Sic Semper Tyrannis.
Posted by: mojo at December 16, 2003 at 04:15 AMThe reaction of the CNN anchor to the celebratory shots being fired in the streets of Baghdad was rich
Yeah, I noticed that one too. The asshat anchor is Shihab Rattansi. He was spinning the news desperately. One of the CNN losers (probably Rattansi, but I don't recall) also said something pissy in response to Jane Arraf commenting on how disheveled Saddam looked. He said that it made one wonder why it took the Americans so long to find Saddam. Poor little anchor dude, he was so disappointed in his hero.
Posted by: wadicat at December 16, 2003 at 06:27 AMmojo, your scenario is good. But how about we put him in the middle of a field and let the Iraqis throw stones at him. Takes longer and they'll get more satisfaction (more closure for the feel-gooders around).
Posted by: rabidfox at December 16, 2003 at 06:30 AMrabidfox, a good idea. Or better yet, let's get all muli-cultural and impose an ethnic Iraqi penalty:
Give him to the women.
Posted by: mojo at December 16, 2003 at 06:48 AMHonest to god, all of this is an elaborate conspiracy formed by george bush and the illuminati to do a number of things:
1) to gain control of the iraqi oil assets, cos we all know texas is running dry.
2) there are no weapons of mass destruction, seriously who would keep a pile of bombs lying around only to be eventually found guilty of posessing such weapons. even if he did have them why would he use them? I mean what could possibly stop him?
3) to further the "new world order" or in latin novus seclorum ordo, which can be found on the american one dollar bill, this phrase also happens to be the very same slogan that the illuminati use in aspirations for world domination, or otherwise known as the luciferian conspiracy.
And another thing, why on gods green earth would saddam bury himself alive, eight-feet under, with nothing but a pistol for protection (or suicide) virtually in his home town? if you ask me the whole thing sounds a little to suss.