The Noble Pundit

Quick Links

This is the week I changed my mind about hanging - A death penalty opponent takes a long, hard look at his beliefs and has the intellectual honesty to realize that his actual belief was in conflict with his stated beliefs.

Arab Conspiracy Theories on Saddam's Capture - Is an event in the Arab world without a conspiracy theory really an event?

Revealed: the real reason for Gaddafi's WMD surrender - Intercepted shipment? Hmmm. Has anyone seen Kim Jong Il lately (rhetorical question, I know that he's been missing for over a month now)?

The Saudi Hate Machine - Interesting. Reeducating radical clerics. Why do I not think that it's going to be overly effective?

Iraqis Exact Revenge on Baathists - After 30 years of oppression, you knew that there had to be period of retribution after the fall of Saddam. Now that he has been captured and his reign is well and truly over, these acts need to be taken more seriously and cracked down on, in the name of law and order.

U.S. Contracting in Iraq Should Serve as Model for American Trade Policy - I don't know why there has ever been a question about the idea of not trading (not restricting trade, simply refusing to trade) with nations or companies that we find to be distasteful.

#1000!

And so, with this drivel, the first one thousand posts of this site are complete. I'm kind of surprised that it took nearly 10 months for me to get to this point, but here we are!

And now, on to the next thousand.

The New Job

I've had a few requests over the last month to blog a bit about the new job I started a month ago today. Seeing as how this is the penultimate post of my first millennia of posts, I thought I'd take a few minutes to fill that request.

In my last job, I was the office manager/store manager/administrative assistant/accounts receivable and payable/sales manager/warehouse manager/HR manager and a few other hats also - all for approximately $21K/year. The person who owned the company was one of those people who believes in personal responsibility, so long as someone else is personally responsible. Needless to say, I got blamed for many problems, most of which I had absolutely nothing to do with (a fact which was finally admitted in the last week). The pressure at work was enormous and the pressure trying to make ends meet on that salary (about half of what I was making as a stockbroker) was even worse.

So, in May, after a particularly offensive episode (ok, not particularly, but extremely offensive) I began looking for another job. After several months of looking with no success, a friend, who just happened to also be a sales rep for some of the furniture lines we carried, came across another of his customers who just happened to be looking for a new salesman.

So we met. And I liked the store; liked the owner; and was satisfied with an effective boost in pay if I switched. After some hemming and hawing during which I almost blew the opportunity, I finally hired on to a job selling pool tables, a product about which I knew almost nothing (and still have a lot to learn).

Over the last month, I've been learning product and refreshing sales techniques. I was told that I could expect reasonably to sell three to five tables a week once I was established, I've sold, on average, 2½ per week since hiring on.

It's been a challenge. Trying to learn the product, while making sales, during the Christmas rush has actually been fun. Before I started, I had no idea that pool tables came in any form other than what you would see at bars. So my learning curve has been steep to say the least.

But I've had good support. The owner has been extremely supportive. He has helped with every stupid question I had. He has been a cheerleader and a critic.

And I've been able to relax. He runs the business much the same as I would, so we have a good understanding. He treats customers the way I would, so we have few misunderstandings. And most importantly, he believes that personal responsibility is personal. Each person, himself included, is responsible for his or her own actions.

Part of the reason my posting has been so light is because I've been trying so hard to learn the product so that I can do a good job. Life is much more relaxing now as I have goals to meet, but they are attainable and I don't have to feel like I am the final line of defense between the customer and a miserable experience.

Changing jobs when I did was one of the best moves I've made in a long time.

Are The Chinese Headed For A Crash?

The CIA has released a report warning that China could be headed for a "crash" in the near future (link to the CIA report instead of a summary).

I tend to think along similar lines and could see an invasion of Taiwan as a reaction to a worsening domestic situation in mainland China. I also think that such an event could be the catalyst to a major conflict in the Pacific. That would certainly not be a good situation, to say the least.

I found the article originally on Free Republic and I thought that one commenter had an interesting comment:

If China becomes economically unstable, how in the hell would it help solve the problem by unifying with Taiwan by force? (question posed in an earlier comment)

That won't do anything but accentuate the crash and extend it into the distant future. But, as you mention, it would distract the populace from their bankruptcy. China has chosen to buy the large military items, especially Navy ships, rather than create an infrastructure to build them internally. This might indicate that China has short-term military goals and perhaps they don't plan for a necessity for a long-term projection of force through the Navy. They may be relying on their nuclear deterrent to keep China safe from major foreign powers. China's industrial expansion would be limited by two factors. One, China is a little short of oil. Two, the rest of the world might tire of buying cheap plastic electronic toys.

Posted by RightWhale, comment #13

I think that it is a very interesting point that China is buying technology rather than developing it. I hadn't really considered that point, but it does bear some serious consideration and thought about why they might be doing this. After all, their only real, substantial threats by water would be the US, Australia, or Britain and the latter two don't seem to come into conflict with mainland China anywhere near as much as we do. So why buy a navy?

If China really does experience a wreck, the worldwide ramifications could be substantial. Maybe the CIA is wrong with this assessment, and I certainly hope they are, but I'm also glad to see that they're considering and surely planning for the possibility.

Quick Links

Green Eggs and Spam? E-Mailed Scam Gets Into the Wrong Hands - Man. Of all the people to target for a computer crime. Serves the stupid crooks right.

Give Them a Chance - There almost seems to be a coordinated effort in Saudi Arabia to make nice towards us.

Al-Jazeera Khartoum office closed - Gees. The Sudanese are calling them liars. Doesn't say much for their credibility, now does it?

Parliament supports setting up U.S. military bases - New Europe, this time Bulgaria, is really doing well with proving themselves to be true friends and allies.

What Is Moammar Up To?

This is interesting. Libya approached the US and Britain about dismantling some of its weapons programs, in an unconditional and verifiable manner. Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but what is Moammar up to?

I know that he's been trying to rehabilitate himself in the world community. I know that he took responsibility for Pan Am 103. I know that this is a momentous step forward for him, and one that's fraught with risk. But why is he doing it?

I know he wants to have sanctions lifted and that he wants to distance himself from the spectre of international terrorism. But it seems to me like the man is beginning to protesteth too much.

I'll give Moammar credit. More than any other Arab leader he seems to catch the direction of the winds in Western politics. He seems to be able to strike just that right balance where he's a thorn in the West's side, but not enough to warrant any real action (since 1986, at least).

But the spotlight isn't on Libya right now. It is focused on Syria and Iran. There was no real pressure on Moammar to conform to international norms as no one really viewed him as a significant threat at the moment. There was no great outcry for him to surrender his weapons programs. So why do it?

I worry that Moammar is one of the better manipulators of the region. He may have recognized, particularly after the recommencement of hostilities in Iraq, that he has no earthly hope of truly threatening the West - at least not through conventional means, or even conventional unconventional means, like chemical, biological, or nuclear programs. Surely he's realized that the most effective manner for threatening the West is through small, al-Qaida like, plausibly deniable terrorist cells.

But finding funding for those types of cells isn't easy, even for Moammar. So how to free the money from the treasury while winning Western brownie points?

Dismantle your weapons programs. Or even better yet, bring in the inspectors, find a way to cry poormouth, and get the West to fund the dismantlement themselves - all in the name of good global citizenship, of course.

Pretty Machiavellian, but not a bad idea if you're in Moammar's position. So how should we react?

I say, play the fool. If he asks for money to dismantle the programs, find a way to fund it. But unlike the fool, we need to step up our monitoring to make sure that he's not ramping up terrorist production. Give him a little benefit of the doubt - he has been trying for a while to rehabilitate. Trust, but verify need to be the watchwords of the day, and the best way to effect that is through engagement.

He wants the sanctions to be lifted? Lift them. Let his kingdom get exposed, for good or for bad. Let his people meet with, work with and deal with Westerners and Americans on a daily basis. Perestroika didn't work too well for the Soviets, and chances are Moammar won't fare much better.

I want to believe that this is a step in the right direction. I want to believe that Moammar is truly committed to becoming a functional member of world society. This could be one of the great bloodless victories of the war on terror.

If Moammar is being honest in his intent. Trust, but verify.

Morning Linkage

The amazing depth and extent of anti-Semitic hatred in the Islamic world - and why it threatens every American - We already knew about the depth and extent of the hatred, but it's always good to remind ourselves anyways.

From the spiritual world:

Well you won't die laughing. It's deadpan humour only as Church bans jokes at funerals - (link requires registration) It's in Ireland, but it just goes to show how far we've slipped if they feel they need to ban inappropraite behavior at funerals. Personally, I like the Celebration of Life idea better than the morbid, depressing funeral, but that's just me.

Lawton woman burns apartment to get rid of ghost - In keeping with the spiritual theme... Apparently the ghost lived in her bathtub, so she torched to entire place. There's no accounting for some people....

Man Accidentally Killed When Posing As Piñata For Kids - You should just instinctively know that it's never a good idea to put a rope around your neck and stand on something like a chair. Never.

France to ban "symbols of stereotyping", introduce customer service - Ah, if only it were true....

Close encounter with a US diplomat - US Ambassador to Egypt David Welch "discusses: issues with Al-Ahram weekly. Actually, it's not much of a discussion as he pretty well takes them apart. Great read!

Sorry, 'Bout Yesterday

Got home from work late and when I tried to get on the internet my cable connection wasn't working (which that was the first time in a long time that that has happened, so I guess I can't complain too much). It's probably just as well, though, as I had a comment left on this post (although it doesn't show a comment when looking at the post, just click the comment link, trust me).

Mr. Karbiru Ahmed of the Bank of Africa is offering me the chance of a lifetime! If I just send him my banking information, he will wire me $14 million USD of which I can keep 30%! Such a deal!

I'm almost tempted to send them the information for one of my old bank accounts that has something on the order of 38 cents in it.

Just remember:

Please,you have been adviced to keep top secret as we are still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you.

So don't tell anyone!

BTW, the IP address this came from, has been banned.

Light Posting Tonight

I'm watching the History Channel Wright Brothers specials, so I probably won't be posting much tonight. In the meantime, here are some of the stories I had pulled up tonight:

Are We Going the Way of Rome? - There are parallels between Rome and America and we could certainly be well advised to learn from our ancestors, but that does not mean that we are inevitably heading down the same path.

Israel Defense Minister Converses with Radio Listeners in... Iran - Amazing. I have no other words besides amazing.

Morning Quick Links

P-3s Saved; Dutch Parliament Over-rules Military - A good move by the Dutch

Al-Qaeda "Recruits Bulgarian Students"

How The ACLU Stole Christmas

Should Hillary Be Tried For Treason? - I'm going to say no on this one. Her speech may be offensive and ill-timed, but treason should carry a very high burden of proof and telling our troops that the outcome is still in doubt, while completely tasteless, does not, in my opinion, meet that burden. Censure her in the Senate. Use her statement against her in her next campaign. But expressing an opinion, even if it is wrong, is not treason. This just doesn't meet the burden, even if I would love nothing more than to see her get kicked out the government in disgrace.

The Racism Of Diversity

Top Ten Secrets From Saddam's Papers

Letterman took his shots at Saddam last night in his Top Ten List:

Top Ten Secrets Learned From Saddam Hussein's Papers

10. "Saddam" is Kurdish for "Duane"

9. Had just acquired a New York City cabdriver's license

8. Surprisingly, dots his "I"s with hearts

7. You won't find a bigger Clay Aiken fan

6. Four of clubs? Gay

5. His "divine plan for world domination" was written on back of Blimpie's coupon

4. Continued to name himself "Iraqi of the Month" right through November

3. Was working on a book of "You Might Be a Dictator If..." jokes

2. Funneled money to ABC to throw Trista and Ryan a fabulous wedding

1. He wrote letters to "Penthouse" under name "Sexy in Spider Hole"

Onward To Mars!

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a mostly excellent editorial in today's paper: From Kitty Hawk to Mars in which they propose that the US should dedicate itself to landing a man on Mars.

I agree with them and I think that today, the culmination of the first centennial of flight, is the perfect opportunity for us to rededicate ourselves to push the envelope; to expanding our dreams, wishes and capabilities.

Is there a practical purpose to going to Mars? Maybe, maybe not. We won't know until we get there. But was there a practical purpose to going to the moon? No. We did it simply because it was there. We learned some things about the moon from the samples brought back, but in the end it wasn't the trip to the moon itself that was so important.

It was the achievement. It was the pushing of boundaries. It was the sense of pride that we figured out how to beat gravity and space to fly a man millions of miles, to land him on another celestial body and return him safely. How many advances were made during the early and mid 1960s, that were related to the space program, that are considered to be commonplace today? Hundreds, if not thousands. When Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon for the first time, that didn't advance the state of the art. It was the process of getting him there that advanced it. It was the achievement that spurred us on to greater heights. It was the inspiration.

Since the shuttle program started up, we have become complacent. We seem to fear the idea of pushing the envelope, of testing our boundaries. We make excuses about practicality. We feign disinterest.

It's time to stop acting scared. It's time to believe that we can do this. It's time for us to want to do this. We may not learn a single thing from putting a man on Mars, not one thing, but think of what exotic advances may come of the process of getting him there. Think about what new technologies may be created that will be commonplace in twenty years.

Think about what we can achieve, not what we have already achieved.

Mars is waiting.

100 Years

It's now been 100 years since the Wright Brothers made their first flight on the Outer Banks at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In the time since those first flights we have progressed to supersonic flight and airplanes that can carry up to 500 people. Not bad for a first century.

A couple of articles about the day:

Celebrations Mark 100th Anniversary of Wright Brothers' First Flight

Wright brothers unleashed world-altering force

The Mixed Blessing of Wright Brothers' Milestone - Reuters can't avoid their negativity even on such a momentous occasion. Gees.

Quick Links

Despite Saddam’s Capture, Iraq War Was Wrong: Experts - The Arab News goes looking for someone to still preach the "the war was wrong" line and they find someone in the CATO Institute.

Small Submarines Increasingly Appeal to Terrorists, Criminals - An interesting look at how subs might be used against us. But my favorite part is that the North Koreans have a sub class called "Yugo." I certainly hope that it is better than the car (and yes, I do know that "Yugo" is our term for the sub, not theirs)!

Talk of Blockading North Korea "not in our thinking" - I have to admit that I hadn't thought of using a naval blockage against the North Koreans. OK, so it's not in our thinking now, but maybe it should be?

Arafat Won't Be Celebrating Christmas This Year

The Arab News is reporting thatIsrael has again Barred Arafat from making a trip to Bethlehem for Christmas. More specifically, they said he could go, they just couldn't guarantee that he could return to Ramallah.

For some reason, I just don't see Yassar as the kind of guy who has the spirit of Christmas in his heart. The holiday is already commercialized enough as it is, we certainly don't need it to become politicized anymore than it already is. If Yassar has to stay home and doesn't get to participate in the festivities, well that's just fine. It's not like he's a Christian. He's probably just going to look for a gift from the EU anyways.

I know that I'll be one very disappointed Christian when I don't see Yassar's terrorist mug staring back at me this year in the televised services at the Church of the Nativity. Very, very disappointing, indeed.

As an aside, I'm curious as to what possessed the Arab News to chose to run the particular picture they did in conjuection with this article. They're taking about Arafat and Bethlehem, yet run a picture of a kid shot with a rubber bullet in Balata. What gives with that?

Finance Section Added To The Book Recommendations

For those who may be interested, I've added the first 23 books of who knows how many to the Finance page on my book recommendation page.

Go over and take a look for that perfect Christmas gift!

Should Saddam's WMD Equal Life For Him?

DEBKAfile is speculating that Saddam will try to trade his WMD secrets for his life. Personally, I don't particularly care for the idea, but DEBKA does throw out some interesting scenarios regarding Assad of Syria.

DEBKA is working on the assumption, gathered from their sources, that the US has a reasonably good idea as to the general location of the weapons in the Syrian desert. This would, of course, complicate the search for the WMD and could be a reasonable explanation as to why none have turned up in Iraq so far.

But is confirmation of our suspicion sufficient grounds for letting Saddam live? In my opinion, no. Look back at the mass graves. Look back at the pictures of kids of Halabja. Think back to the horrors of his torture chambers. Does the man whose government used a people shedder really deserve to live out the rest of his life in a natural manner after he unnaturally ended so many others? I don't think so.

But the decision is not mine to make. If Bush and Co. decide that trading Saddam his life for accurate information then so be it. That's why they get paid the big bucks for making decisions and I sit here pontificating for free.

Perhaps the capture of Saddam can lay the groundwork for the fall of the Syrian dictatorship. Perhaps. If we try to trade life for information, I certainly hope it does.

I said yesterday and I'll say it again, we have an obligation as Americans to conduct our affairs surrounding Saddam with a higher standard than the norm in the region. Machiavelli cannot be our guiding author. We must hearken back to the ideals of Jefferson and the other Framers. It would be great to use Saddam to bludgeon Syria into compliance with the world standards surrounding WMD possession and then still execute him. But it's not right. We cannot let the ends justify the means in this case.

I believe that our intelligence community could locate the WMDs without the help of Saddam, which is why I believe that we should not bargain away any possible consequence - death included.

A Special Offer For My Readers

OK, I'm feeling in the Christmas-y mood so I'll make a special offer for my readers.

I run another site, Noble Books and Ancient Coins. From now until Christmas, I will offer any coin on the site for sale at 50% of the stated price - and I'll include free shipping!

This is a wonderful opportunity to buy a small piece of history if you're so inclined. All the coins I sell are ancient including Greek coinage, Judean coinage, Roman Imperial and Provincial coinage, and Byzantine coinage. I also have a few ancient artifacts for sale (also at 50% off!)

All items are subject to prior sale. If you have any questions, please shoot me an email at blog - at - cbnoble.com or questions - at - cbnoble.com. Also, please note that books are not included in this offer, as most are actually being sold through Amazon.com and I have no control over the pricing of those books (although for ones I personally have in stock I might be able to work something out. Email me if you have a question)

30,000 Visitors!

Woo Hoo! I just passed the 30,000 visitor mark about half an hour ago! #30,000 came in from Google searching for "business pundit" and was from the 207 IP address block.

Pretty soon and I'll be up to half of Glenn's daily traffic!

Onward and upwards to 50,000! Wonder if I can make it before my blogiversery in February?

Defending Saddam

I know that a bunch of people are going to rip on these two lawyers, but they are right. If we intend for Saddam's trial to be considered fair, he must have reasonable counsel and should be allowed the presumption of innocence.

No matter how blatent and obvious his crimes (and you'd have to have been dead for the past 35 years not to be aware of them), he still should be afforded all the protections normally given to common criminals. The prosectution should have no problem proving his guilt beyond any sort of reasonable or even unreasonable doubt.

Give him a fair trial and then take care of business. If these two think that there is any sort of defense against the charges that will be brought against Saddam, then they should defend him.

They will fail and Saddam will swing, but such is the fate of the tyrant. Tyrant, terrorist, or thief, we still owe it to ourselves (not to him) to do things right.

Saddam's Capture Was A Conspiracy!

Or so goes the inane ranting of Baghdad Jim McDermott D-Washington.

Now I know that I'm not a political spinmeister the likes of Karl Rove or Dick Morris or James Carville, but it just seems to me that if you were going to stage the capture of Saddam that you would probably want to do it a little closer to the general election. It's not like Bush is in a fight for the party nomination. It's not like the Saddam bump is going to bask for 11 months.

If we were 6 months from the election, I might buy (a little) the suspicous timing argument. But we're not, and I don't.

Why can't these "I Hate Bush"™ crowd just simply admit that our military and intelligence community had a major score this weekend? Why can't they accept that it was hard work and perseverence that brought Saddam to his "I look like Fidel on a bender" mugshot glory? Is their hatred of Bush so great that they cannot find it in their hearts to feel good about the job the guys in the field did?

The timing here was not suspicuous. But the politicizing of the timing is despicable.

Quick Links

I looked into his eyes and I was looking at pure evil, says victim -A description of Saddam and his victims finally getting together for a little more intimate meeting than their first.

France Pledges to Help Reduce Iraq Debt - It's a nice start, but they still have a ways to go to rebuild any kind of real goodwill in the international community when it includes the US.

And from Debkafile:

Russia has sold Iran advanced 300-A air defense missile system – against Washington’s objections - to defend its controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor. This was discovered Sunday when two missiles were fired accidentally during installation, killing at least two and injuring 20 aboard a minibus and causing heavy damage in town. Casualties and damage believed more extensive than admitted by Tehran.

Hmmm. Maybe the reactor is not so peaceful in intention after all. At least Israel now knows what it's facing if and when they go to neutralize the facility.

When Flag Burning Is Not Free Speech

Getting away from Saddam for a while, we have an article about a man banned from the Columbia, SC courthouse grounds for burning a Confederate flag.

Flag burning is a protected act, right? So why is this guy being punished for engaging in a protected act?

Burning a flag is protected speech, and should be, provided the flag is yours. The problem that this guy really ran into was that the flag belonged to the state.

He is now complaining that his sentence is restricting his right to petition his government. Well, it does. But he abused that right by destroying public property. His right to petition has not been denied. He may not have his favorite avenue available to him, but he is still permitted to petition for redress.

The best part of the story though: he burned the flag - dressed as a black Santa Claus. Got to give him creativity points for that one.

Saddam Broken?

Via Drudge.

Reuters is now reporting that Saddam Hussein may have broken and begun telling his interrogators useful information. I especially love the comment that "He felt safer with the Americans."

It's too bad that he is such a pathological liar that most of the information he gives us will have to corraborated before it can be acted on. If he has truly broken it could be potentially an intelligence goldmine.

"Psychologically runied and very demoralized." I can think of no better state for the man to be in.

Nothing To See Here!

Post removed. Duplicate of the preceding post (how did that happen?!?)

The Arab Humiliation That Is Saddam

You just knew that it wouldn't be long before the gnashing of teeth began about the humiliation of Saddam's capture. It is the humiliation endured by Saddam that they all vocally deplore, but it is their own personal sense of humiliation to which they are truly referring.

Now I can understand there being a degree of shame associated with the capture of your national leader. Regardless of just how evil the man was, for many Iraqis he was the only leader they ever knew. A sense of shame and/or humiliation is not only reasonable, but to be expected to a degree.

What concerns me more, however, is the constant expressions of discontent with his Saddam's "last stand." Regardless of the shame of Saddam's capture they should take solace in the fact that Saddam will get a fair trial - and a correspondingly fair punishment. But, to this point, the concept of fairness is still unknown.

Guilt is a societal issue, not a personal one in the Middle East. A trial of Saddam is feared not because it might detail out his crimes, but because it will rehash his crimes in a public manner, reminding the people of what they allowed to occur. Saddam's guilt is viewed as all of their guilt and they still wish to remain in denial that there was ever a real issue.

And so they decry Saddam's capture. They complain that he lost the nerve to commit suicide. They despair that he hadn't the nerve to stand up to the Americans. They rail against the 4th ID for taking him alive. So upset are they that Saddam is still alive, that they accuse the Americans of using non-lethal weapons to capture him.

They simply cannot accept that it is possible that Saddam was more fearful of death and the afterlife than he was of facing the Americans and the Iraqi court. They do not want to face the fact that they allowed a murderer within their mist. And they most certainly don't want to admit that their "fearless leader" might have actually been human.

Some Arabs are starting to realize with the capture of Saddam that the US has taken a different stance than years past. We are engaged and in for the long haul. This bothers them. They want to pretend that his death in a "blaze of glory" might have precluded us from taking this stance. But in doing so, they fail to recognize that the actual shift in US policy took place in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Saddam was irrelevant, dead or alive; suicide, execution, or death in battle. We are in the Middle East, for good or for bad, until such time as we feel that they have come far enough along that another Saddam or Osama or Mullah Omar is extremely unlikely to ever be spawned by the region again.

Saddam's capture by the Americans is and should be a humiliation for the Arab world. Not because of the way in which he was apprehended, not because of the lack of fight in him, not because of a lack of machismo on his part, but rather because they allowed him to persist in his reign of terror against his own people, his neighbors, and the region. They should be humiliated simply because it took the Americans to come in to police their own.

The capture of Saddam should be an Arab humiliation, just not for the reasons they proclaim.

Carnival Of The Capitalists #11 is Up!

Rob Sama over at SamaBlog has the eleventh edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists up, ready for your reading pleasure. Looks like there are a bunch of good posts over there today, so enjoy!

A Sampling Of Arab Reaction To Saddam's Capture

Being the curious sort I am, I decided to go over and take a look at the Arab reaction to Saddam's capture as reported in the Arab News. The page is very slow to load, but it is interesting nonetheless.

At first, the article has all the expected quotes of praise from various officials. But towards the end there are a couple of interesting quotes:

"It is happy news but we wish it were the Iraqi people who had captured him, not US troops, because this will give Bush a boost in the upcoming election," said Bahraini salesman Hussein Jaafar.

"I don't like Saddam, but as an Arab I wouldn't like to see them (Americans) dragging him around Baghdad," said Syrian student Abdul-Nasser.

The first quote is interesting, but not really all too surprising. I've seen quite a few Americans making very similar statements. The "I Hate Bush"™ crowd is working itself into an absolute fit over the capture.

The second quote is the one that really, I think, highlights a big problem in our relationship with that part of the world. Remembering history is one thing. Trying to live in a historical era that no longer exists is another.

Christians already have to overcome the Muslim perception that we are on a perpetual Crusade. They never acknowledge that the Crusades ended hundreds of years ago. We no longer fight a Crusade, but because the Muslim world will not accept or acknowledge that fact, we must constantly fight the perception that we are Crusaders.

The second quote harkens back, not to the Middle Ages, but rather two millennia to ancient Rome. Rome used to hold triumphs in which captives were paraded around captured cities and/or Rome for public spectacle.

America does not do that. Yet we have to fight the perception that in our triumphs, we will be holding a Triumph. There is no recognition of a difference between the subjugation of Vespasian and the liberation of Bush. There is no realization that we are not there to dominate.

How many misunderstandings between our two cultures are rooted in this persistence? Probably more than a few.

Looking back for historical parallels or historical guidance is never a bad idea, but life still has to be lived in the present.

America has not paraded Saddam and is not going to. He will be treated with the respect and dignity to which he has shown himself to be singularly unworthy of. It's too bad that large swaths of Islamic society will ignore that fact in their zeal to find the proof of the new Christian Crusade or of Roman style Imperialism.

History is history.

Do They Never Learn?

As I mentioned earlier, I went down to my parents' house tonight. One of the occasional benefits of doing so is that I get to read through one of my favorite magazines, Aviation Week & Space Technology. Tonight, my Dad gave me last week's issue to take home with me.

So as I'm reading through it, I come across an article on pg. 34, titled "Planning Ahead: Washington again hits back at European military HQ scheme - but more lightly." (sorry, no link found on the Aviation Week site - and even if it was there it would require a subscription)

In the article was this line, which I found to be most interesting:

"The three nations [France, Britain, and Germany] also agreed that select countries could forge defense ties beyond those desired by the EU at large, as in the case of the Euro zone, and that the EU could provide a mutual assistance guarantee in the event of an external threat." (emphasis mine)

A mutual assistance guarantee? Weren't those part of what dragged all of Europe into World War I? Wasn't it a mutual assistance guarantee what brought France and Britain into conflict with Hitler's Germany when he invaded Poland in 1939? This isn't to say that the pacts are evil, but they haven't exactly been real effective as a deterrent. If they haven't worked in the past what makes this time so different? Why would someone still want to use them when they have done nothing but rapidly expanded previous conflicts?

Even NATO has been less than wonderful in this regards. A guarantee is only as worthwhile as the nation or organization granting it. Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland and others backed up their rhetoric in the aftermath of 9/11. NATO to a small degree and France and Germany totally shrank back. Their guarantees, their promises were worth squat. If France and Germany are really pulling the marionette strings in the EU why would anyone put any faith in a mutual assistance guarantee backed by either of those two nations?

Mutual assistance guarantees need to go the way of the horse and buggy. They serve no purpose other than to drag uninterested parties into an everwidening conflict. The assassination of one man once before dragged the Europe into World War I. We should not allow a system to be set up that might do so again.

Lieberman On Saddam

I just turned on the TV and while switching over to the football game, I stopped on Fox News where Bill O'Reilly was interviewing Senator Joe Lieberman about the capture of Saddam. I've often said that Lieberman was the most reasonable of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination. Tonight he proved why.

When asked about the political bump that Bush will inevitably get from this, Lieberman responded to the effect of: So be it. This is a night to disregard party affiliation and to celebrate the victory that is ours as Americans. (This is not an exact quote, but a pretty close paraphrase.)

That is classy. I've seen quotes from other candidates (most notably John Kerry) which tried to minimize the magnitude of the success or to play politics.

Tonight is a night where we can and should celebrate. One of the most evil men on the planet is, for the moment, neutralized.

I'm glad to see that Lieberman understands this.

So We Finally Got Saddam

So after months of hunting and searching, a tipster finally pointed the US 4th Infantry Division in the right direction to capture our old friend, Saddam. Having grown a long beard, he kind of looked like a hung over Fidel Castro when captured. So we have him. Now what?

If he's executed, he becomes a martyr. If he's not, then the US looks weak in the opinion of the Muslim world. If we put him on trial after the Iraqis, the world will decry the trial as a sham. If we allow the "world community" to put him on trial, the spineless weaklings will make it a sham.

After I got out of work today, I ran down to my parents house and I talked with my Dad at some length about where we could go from here and this is what I would like to see happen.

1.) We interrogate him (maybe we let the Iraqis provide some "assistance" with their Saddamite training) until we are sure that we have all the useful information that we could ever milk out of the man.

2.) Afterwards, or even concurrently, let the Iraqi people put him on trial, with the US providing "prisoner security" (in other words, we house him and transport him back and forth every day to the court). Let the new Iraqi government detail out all of Saddam's evils in a most public and damning way. Let them hold him to public account for his actions.

3.) Once we know that he will not give up any more useful information, and once the Iraqi court has had a chance to provide him with a fair trial, we need to "let slip" an Achmed Ruby to assassinate him Lee Harvey Oswald style. Or, we need to allow him to take the Hermann Goering way out, letting him commit suicide. Let him go to meet Allah thinking he cheated the hangman, while actually using it to show just what a weak human being he was.

Since he was taken alive, we have got to make sure that he is absolutely and thoroughly discredited in Iraqi society. The Iraqi people, in particular the guerillas, need to understand that he will never be returning, that his government was despicable, and that personally he was an evil and morally bankrupt person. Many people will go to war for a man they consider to be a great and infallible leader. Virtually no one will go to fight for a murderous, evil thug.

The easiest part of dealing with the Saddam problem is over. The military did their job and did it exceptionally well, bringing one of the two most wanted men in the world to sit in the dock; to face justice. For that they should be commended.

Now we have to condemn the man in no uncertain terms and with no uncertain consequences. But we have to do it right. We should not murder Saddam (execution is another story, of course), but should he choose to take the weak man's way out, at an appropriate time we should allow it to happen. His easy way out is also an easy way out for us.

I hope that somewhere, Osama is messing his comfy little cave. You can run and you can hide, but if we want you, we will find you.