I Was Wrong

They got Saddam...alive? I assumed that eventually they'd trot out his body after bombing some village to rubble, though I figured closer to election time. Why did I assume dead and not alive? Well, first off, was the history of their previous attempts. You remember, don't you, how many times they announced they'd killed him. Once, right before invasion actually began, once after flattening a restaurant and other times as well. Every time, there were many bombs dropped..not usually the way one captures someone alive.

But more importantly, of course, is what Saddam knows. He knows who provided his chemical weapons. He may still have the receipts. He knows Donald Rumsfeld personally, as pictures circulating on the internet make quite clear. He knows his past relationship to the U.S. He remembers his conversation 8 days before the invasion of Kuwait with U.S ambassador April Glaspie in which she said the U.S. had no opinion about his pending invasion. Here is an excerpt:

U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - We have no opinion on your Arab - Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America. (Saddam smiles)

Ambassadors do not express their own opinions. They convey the opinions of their government. Read the entire transcript here: Glaspie Transcript

Of course, he probably also knows enough to keep his mouth shut. Still, I wouldn't be too suprised if an Iraqi Jack Ruby popped up sometime soon and took care of any embarrassing PR he might generate.

If you don't understand how the CIA has related to these sorts of dictators in the past, read this excellent article about a CIA agent who was set up to support Qaddafi in Libya, whom the CIA was trying to use to carry out their agenda in the region. Policy changed, but to hide their past support, they turned on the agent who was Qaddafi's handler, putting him in jail for over 20 years. A judge recently overturned the conviction but the government still refuses to release him. Here's an excerpt from the article:

It is terrifying to see government’s massive weight crush an innocent man. Wilson became America’s `Man in the Iron Mask.’ Judge Hughes called the case `double-crossing a part-time, informal government agent.’ She aptly used the term `framed’ to qualify this disgusting legal outrage. High Justice Department officials involved in this crime are today serving judges. They, and the retired CIA official, should be prosecuted.

That quote was from a judge...not some leftist lunatic such as your humble blogger. The larger point here is that CIA is in the business of overthrowing governments and supporting bad guys. It's what they do. They do it on behalf of our government. People are hurt as a result.

Here's the whole articleCIA and Libya

These are two examples, dear readers, that point out the larger reality. These wars are a show, a way to manipulate the public at home and control the world (or at least chunks of it) abroad. Mostly, these days, it's about oil.

I'll leave you with this...cleverly hidden in the public records. Just after WWII the U.S. found itself in position of world power. The main goal since that time has been to preserve that power no matter the cost. Here is the State Department's philosophy:

U.S. State Department Policy Planning Study #23, 1948:

Our real task... is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity [U.S. military- economic supremacy]... To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming... We should cease to talk about vague and...unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization... we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. George Kennan, Director of Policy Planning. U.S. State Department. 1948

Read this article about all the wonderful dictators the U.S. has been in bed with. Learn to watch the "news" with a critical eye. Dictators

Happy Holidays.