by James Glaser
December 15, 2003

Finally the Iraqi people will get to bring Saddam Hussein to justice, that is, if we let them. From American reports, Saddam is responsible for the deaths of between three hundred thousand and one million of the Iraqi people.

The only catch for the United States is that Saddam was "Our Boy" for many of his killing years. Saddam was bought and paid for by our government, even when he was reportedly gassing his own people.

From the reports that I have read, Saddam had a pistol, a couple AK-47s, and a bunch of cash when he was captured. There was nothing in the report saying if the pistol was the one President Ronald Reagan gave to him as a present, nor did they say if he was wearing the Golden Spurs that Donald Rumsfeld presented to him as gratitude for his work in helping America.

Nobody has said if Saddam was holding as a fond memento, one of the letters from George Bush's dad, in which he was congratulating Saddam on his election victory.

These letters, pistol and golden spur along with other presents we sent to Saddam over the years, if brought up in court, will tell the Iraqi people just how much blood we have on our hands. Will the Iraqi people wonder if Saddam killed any of their fellow citizens with the Gold Medieval Spiked Hammer our nation gave to him as a sign of friendship?

America will have to control whatever court system Saddam Hussein is brought before. It might be better for our country if he some how had a heart attack and died before any trial can start.

On Sunday, the day after this capture took place, 17 Iraqi policemen were killed and 30 wounded in a car bomb attack in the town of Khaldiyah, in western Iraq.

The capture of Saddam Hussein is a great victory for the Iraqi people and a real morale booster for the American troops, but I remember how elated I and all American troops were when Ho Chi Min died in North Vietnam, but our friends were still getting killed every day.

I hope that those attacking our troops will stop now, but I doubt if they will. Just from the looks of Saddam in the films of him after his capture, I would have to say that that man was not leading anybody in the resistance. This capture will be a psychological victory and those are always nice, but some how we still have to convince the Iraqi people that the reason we are in their country and the reason we have killed thousands of innocent citizens there, is that we want to help them. Yes, it does sound like a bit of a stretch to me too.