By Jed Babbin on 12.15.03 @ 12:07AM
Saddam is our prisoner and should remain so through any trial.
VIRGINIA -- Looking out at the snow falling on the rolling hills
of Loudoun County, Virginia, would for me be enough to make any
weekend beautiful. The deer are prancing and leaping around,
foraging on the lawn, and in the cedar forest. An owl perched on a
tall cedar a while ago. But even without the view from my study,
this would be a wonderful weekend. We got Saddam, the EU imploded,
and Big Dog's Deputy visited a little justice on the Axis of
Weasels.
The pictures of Saddam, freshly dug out of his Tikrit
hidey-hole, showed the would-be emperor of a pan-Arab colossus
tugging at his scraggly beard, submitting quietly to a medical exam
and mouth-swab for DNA testing. (One evil genius editor of my
acquaintance whose initials are WP suggested that our medics
weren't sufficiently expert for this. Maybe the Russians would be
better at searching Saddam's hair for lice. Saddam kinda looks like
Karl Marx on a bad hair day.)
President Bush -- smiling as he hasn't since he landed on the
USS Abraham Lincoln -- said on Sunday that the people of
Iraq will never have to fear Saddam again. Saddam is a mass
murderer, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Kurds having died on
his orders. His crimes are more than enough to justify his trial
and a death sentence. It's a shame that Saddam was taken alive,
because he still can be used -- or use others -- to affect Iraq and
America.
Saddam is our prisoner and should remain so through any trial.
Some will want Saddam transferred to the International Criminal
Court for a show trial that will become a trial of America and
George W. Bush, with Saddam as the innocent bystander. The Iraqis
could be persuaded to allow this, if we let it happen. We mustn't.
Keep him in isolation, without contact with the media, Arab
delegations (which would make propaganda out of whatever is going
on) or anyone except our interrogators, one lawyer and the
International Red Cross. He's a POW. Nothing more, nothing less.
There should be no speeches, no Al-Jazeera, BBC or CBS interviews
for him. Set up an Iraqi or Coalition tribunal now, and don't wait
for the Governing Council to spend another two years drafting a
constitution to set up the framework. Let's keep it simple. Try
Saddam for the poison gas murder of Kurds in Halabjah in 1988, and
send him to the gallows.
There's a growing chorus on the left that says we should
question Saddam about WMD -- missiles, nukes, chem and bio, the
whole lot -- and see if what he tells us is helpful. Ask him if he
was a 9-11 co-conspirator. Oh, please. Unless you shoot this guy so
full of sodium amatol or Versed that he thinks he's talking to
Allah, all you'll get is garbage. In fairness to our efforts to
find the WMD and the money he stole, we should be interrogating him
enthusiastically with the proper chemical assistance. It may or may
not work, but we have to try. Get it on, and end it quickly.
Because as soon as he is being questioned, the leaks will begin
about what he's saying. At that point, every leak will fuel the
Deanieboppers, the Axis of Weasels, and everyone else who doesn't
want to fight the war we're in. More importantly, the leaks and any
extended trial will distract Iraq, us, and the rest of the world
from what is vastly more important. The Iraqis won't make progress
toward democracy until this guy is taking a grass nap.
It's pretty funny how Howlin' Howie and the Trailers are taking
the news. Wesley Clark rubbed his knuckles and said, "I hope this
will see a diminishing in the violence against American soldiers in
Iraq." Gee, Wes, so do I. But doncha think there may be some other
effects? Like giving the Iraqis a big boost toward freedom and
democracy? Vichy John Kerry said, "Our problems in Iraq have not
been caused by one man and this is a moment when the administration
can and must launch a major effort to gain international support
and win the peace." John, when you're right, you're right. Our
problems in Iraq haven't been caused by one man. Saddam had a lot
of help, and the Axis of Weasels has been giving it. So what you
want to do -- turn the whole thing over to those who were some of
the main troublemakers -- is (as usual) precisely the wrong thing
to do.
Howlin' Howie -- dare I even say it? -- almost sounded
presidential in his reaction. Almost. Dean proved his political
smarts by saying that this is a day to take pride in our military
(!!) and a great day for the Iraqi people. But that was too much
for the principal Deaniac. He slipped back into Kofi-ism, saying,
"This development provides an enormous opportunity to set a new
course and take the American label off the war. We must do
everything possible to bring the U.N., NATO, and other members of
the international community back into this effort."
It's really not relevant which of the Dems you listen to (unless
it's Ol' Joe Lieberman, who at this point is starting to sound
almost like Zell Miller). All the rest are desperate to surrender
America's foreign policy to our betters so they can pay attention
to what's important, like saving the environment at Camp Pendleton
from all those noisy guys in olive drab. The Dems just don't get
it, and never will.
MORE RELEVANT -- AND EVEN MORE amusing -- is the EUnuchs' comic
opera, and how Big Dog's Deputy shoved a hot poker up their
dignity.
On 5 December, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz signed a
common-sensical ban on companies from Axis of Weasels nations being
awarded prime contracts for the construction of the new Iraq. There
was about $18.6 billion in those contracts about to be awarded, and
Dr. W. told the world -- or at least news leaked out a few days
later -- that those who march behind the bare behind of Jacques
Chirac could count themselves out.
The timing was beautiful because the Wolfowitz decision came out
only a few days before the rancorous EUnuchs were scheduled to meet
in Brussels to negotiate the final details of their new
"constitution," a thousand pages of wishful thinking no one really
believed would work, except the bureaucratic horde that now
occupies Brussels. The rather unsubtle message from Dr. W. wasn't
lost on the folks who met in the Belgian rain. Wolfowitz's action
was not the proximate cause of the EUnuchs' failure, but it
certainly didn't help them, and the timing was perfect.
The EUnuchs -- led by Wacky Jacky, the most pompous jerk the
earth has seen since Charles de Gaulle passed from this vale of
tears -- are now talking about a "two-speed" EU, with France and
Germany forging ahead before the others. First, he blamed Tony
Blair for the EU summit's failure because Britain didn't back the
plan France and Germany proposed to Weasel on the deal previously
cut with smaller nations on their voting rights in the EU. Gee, how
unusual. The Brits are trying to stick to a promise they made, the
French are reneging, and then blaming the Brits when the whole
thing falls apart. The wogs still start at Calais.
Perspiration may be the ordure of the day at the Elysée
Palace, because Chirac is going to be working hard this week. He
has two immediate tasks. First, he'll be spending a lot of time
with his lawyer, burning records and preparing for whatever Saddam
may choose to rat him out on. Second, he'll have to work with the
Germans to lead the few nations still dedicated to the EU off a
cliff. The "two speed" Europe they envision will begin as a sort of
Franco-German nation-state with their inferiors volunteering to
join later as subordinate members of the new empire. I have a
suggestion for the national anthem. How about, "Bring in the
Clowns"? Stock up on popcorn. This will be the most expensive and
least successful movie since CBS produced "The Reagans."
topics:
Foreign Policy, Environment, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Russia, NATO
