Saddam Hussein has been captured, ALIVE, in Tikrit by coalition forces.
Read about it here. This CNN link is a bit more circumspect, saying that his identity has not been confirmed. Iraqi council member Dara Noor al-Din and IRNA, the Iranian news bureau were quoted in the FOX/AP news piece, which appears to be more recent than the CNN article.
This is GREAT news for the people of Iraq, great news for the coalition forces on the ground in Iraq, and great news for the Bush administration. Congressional Democrats and the Nine Dwarfs (with the notable exception of Joe Lieberman) will have to scramble for a new issue.
The people in Iraq are ecstatic.
"We are celebrating like it's a wedding," said Mustapha Sheriff, a resident of Kirkuk. "We are finally rid of that criminal."
"This is the joy of a lifetime," said Ali Al-Bashiri, another Kirkuk resident. "I am speaking on behalf of all the people that suffered under his rule."
Capturing him alive is better than killing him because we can now hold him responsible for all of the atrocities he committed, and to shame those (France, Russia) who openly supported him.
I wonder if the New York Times will attempt to bury this as they did the pro-Democracy marches of last week. Somehow, I doubt it, although it will be interesting to see how the Beeb and Al-Jazeera (and Al-Jazeera on the Husdon) will try to spin this, which will surely dismay them mightily.
As I write this, it is still a bit early for the news conference (to be held at Noon London time, an hour behind me), but I will add another post as soon as I find out (about 40 minutes).
UPDATE: Ananova is reporting that Tony Blair has confirmed his capture and arrest. Here is another Ananova story. (Thanks to Samizdata for the link to Ananova.)
posted on December 14, 2003 03:13 AM
