A Year On, Iraq's Rebels Unfazed by Saddam Capture

[Phaedrus]

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[size=-1]By Luke Baker[/size]
(Reuters)

BAGHDAD - [size=-1]What a difference a year makes. Or then again, maybe not. [/size]

<!--StartFragment -->[size=-1]Last December, a haggard-looking Saddam Hussein was pulled from a hole in the ground not far from his ancestral home of Tikrit and taken into custody by jubilant U.S. troops. [/size]
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[size=-1]President Bush hailed it as a breakthrough, saying he expected his arch foe to be tried, convicted and put to death -- adding that would be up to the Iraqi courts. [/size]

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[size=-1]"In the history of Iraq a dark and painful era is over," Bush declared in a television address the day after the capture on Dec. 13. [/size]
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[size=-1]"A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq." [/size]
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[size=-1]A year on, twice as many U.S. soldiers have been killed by insurgents since Saddam's capture than in the period before, and thousands of Iraqis have died. There are fears elections on Jan. 30 could be derailed by the mayhem. [/size]

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[size=-1]And Bush's hoped-for trial of Saddam appears no nearer to happening, despite repeated pledges from Iraqi officials. [/size]

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[size=-1]It all looked rosier when Paul Bremer, then U.S. governor of Iraq, declared: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!" It was believed then that Saddam's capture would put a damper on the insurgency, depriving it of a figurehead and financier. [/size]

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[size=-1]"Huge Blow" [/size]

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[size=-1]General John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said Saddam's detention had dealt the insurgency "a huge psychological blow" that would "pay great benefits over time." [/size]

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[size=-1]In the weeks that followed, evidence did seem to suggest the guerrillas may have been set back. Attacks on U.S. forces dropped to around 17 a day from as many as 50 before. [/size]

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[size=-1]Commanders grew confident that they were making headway. [/size]

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[size=-1]In January, Major General Ray Odierno, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, whose troops got credit for snatching the "Ace of Spades," declared the insurgency to be "on its knees" and only a "sporadic threat." [/size]

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[size=-1]"I believe within six months, I think you're going to see some normalcy," he told the Pentagon press corps. [/size]

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[size=-1]The confidence was infectious. [/size]

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[size=-1]"Systematically we have captured or killed the individuals directing the insurgency," said Major General Charles Swannack, the commander of the 82nd Airborne, in March. [/size]

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[size=-1]He was responsible for the volatile western region of Iraq, including the cities of Falluja and Ramadi. A month after he spoke, Falluja fell into the hands of guerrillas and was only wrested back following a massive U.S. offensive last month. Fighting continues. [/size]

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[size=-1]The insurgency has broadened and strengthened, attracting fresh recruits and finding new ways of striking U.S. troops and their Iraqi security force allies. [/size]

[size=-1]Trying to Try Saddam[/size]

[size=-1]Even in the capital, hardly a day has gone by without a car bomb or guerrilla attack. Some areas, including central Haifa Street, are insurgent strongholds. [/size]

[size=-1]Meanwhile, what has become of Saddam? [/size]

[size=-1]Iraqi officials said they thought he could be convicted and even executed by July. Saddam did appear in court that month and was informed of the general charges against him. [/size]

[size=-1]But since then little progress appears to have been made. The head of the special tribunal set up to try him, Salem Chalabi, has been replaced. Investigators are only beginning to sift through the evidence. [/size]

[size=-1]Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in August he wanted proceedings sped up and said trials against Saddam and his senior henchmen should begin by the end of the year. [/size]

[size=-1]Officials at the special tribunal could not be reached for comment on Saturday, but a U.S. embassy official said he would be urging Iraqi authorities to prepare a statement for the anniversary of Saddam's capture on the status of his trial. It was not clear when that statement would be made. [/size]

[size=-1]It's been a long year. [/size]

 

[docmercer--banned]

Phaedrus:

I've said time & time again, Bush has ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING in Iraq except for the deaths of 1200 American soliders, over 300 billion in American dollars spent and the thousand upon thousand of deaths of Iraqi children ...

Iraq was never the problem .. they had Hussein contained ...

Until you squash the Saudis and the form of Wahhabism that originates in that country, we can stay in Iraq and it will not make one difference

GONNA BE GREAT TO SEE BBLIGHT COULTER JUMP IN HERE AND SCREAM "HOW BUSH HAS DONE WONDERFUL THINGS AND HAS RESTORED AMERICAN CREDIBILITY WORLD WIDE" ... HE WILL PROBABLY CALL YOU A LOW LIFE SCUM FOR POSTING ANYTHING THAT COULD REFLECT NEGATIVELY ON THE GREAT MAN THEY CALL BUSH

 

[xpanda]

According to George Friedman, the US should have been better prepared for the insurgency the moment they realised Saddam was redistributing his army and generals from Baghdad into the Sunni triangle. Their failure to launch a massive assault on this region (due primarily to a severe lack of troops) allowed the insurgency not only to regroup, but to expand in numbers. The US's failure to follow through on promises made to Iran regarding the Shi-ia led to yet another uprising.

(http://www.americassecretwar.com/),

Andrew Sullivan theorised that much of this, plus the lack of border security, is all part of what he calls the 'flypaper strategy.' The idea, he says, is to literally attract sympathisers of the insurgency and trap them and kill them in Iraq. All well and good, I suppose, if you ignore the immorality and cowardice this implies, and the stupidity of believing there are a finite number of insurgents.

(http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20030906)

Clusterfúck doesn't seem a strong enough word most days.

 

[docmercer--banned]

Yep ...

GWB has always said history will judge him ...

I had a hard time doing that without laughing!

MISSION ACOMPLISHED !!!

 

[Marco]

"....and the stupidity of believing there are a finite number of insurgents."

They forgot that the mere act of invading would turn a number of the Iraqis towards the insurgents we were already planning to fight......they remembered this a decade ago when Cheney stated the impossibilities of invading Iraq, but then along came Halliburton and a little war profiteering later we're stuck in Iraq.....

Why does the Radical Republican's view appear more and more like Hitler's viewpoint of WWII where Germany can fight a two front war and lose whole armies and factories are bombed out and Hitler claims he's winning?

Get use to the fact of turmoil and war in the middle east. It's been alive since the crusades and it's here to stay. The only variable is how much money we piss away trying to convert culture and conduct that has been thriving for centuries.

 

[docmercer--banned]

Marco:

Yep, well said ...

The Hitler comment ... heck, yes, him and GWB both members of the same Satanic Cult known as the "Skull & Bones" Society (difft name in Germany - Thule Society)

The Bush campaign had a lot of similarities that were prevelant in Germany under Hitler during the 1930's ... and for the bblight Coulter's of the world who are too flapppin stupid to have it sink into their dense skulls, who cares? Not my flappin problems if the vast majority of Bushies are zombies ...