September 17, 2003
NO, REALLY, WE'LL GIVE YOU SAFE PASSAGE:
Saddam Proposes Negotiations With U.S. On Pullout: "I tell Bush, in the name of the Iraqi people, 'you lied to yourself, to your people and the whole world'" (Islamonline.net, 9/17/03)
In a new tape aired Wednesday, September 17, ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein called on the U.S.-led occupying forces to leave the country."I ask you to withdraw your army, as soon as possible and without any conditions," said the voice in a recording broadcast by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
"Your withdrawal from our country is unavoidable, if not today then tomorrow… Our aim is not to kill more children of the peoples of America, Britain or elsewhere," said the more than 20-minute message.
It also offered withdrawal negotiations with members of the previous government who are in U.S. custody, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"If you want to negotiate the modalities of the pullout ... you can open a dialogue with officials from the Iraqi leadership who are held by your army as prisoners of war," the voice said.
The speaker, who signed off with "mid-September", urged Iraqis to continue to fight against the U.S.-led occupation.
Why not offer Saddam direct negotiations through a neutral intermediary, even the UN, and then put a pill in him or whoever shows up in his place?
If anyone's been watching MI-5, there was a delightfully incorrect episode last week. An Islamic cleric in Birmingham is learned to have ties to terror organizations and to be preparing to bring suicide-bombing tactics to the streets of Britain. MI-5 recruits a former Algerian agent whose family was killed by an extremist bombing and he penetrates the mosque. when he learns that the cleric has trained several teenage boys and there is indeed about to be a bombing he asks: "Why not just kill him?" The MI-5 guy looks pained, but says nothing.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 17, 2003 7:13 PMSaddam's comments make it sound like he's moving closer and closer to a formal announcement of his intention to run for president in the Democratic primaries next year, though his media people should have timed the release of the tape as to not conflict with Wesley Clark's announcement in Little Rock early this afternoon (were Baghdad Bob still on the job, I'm sure this scheduling error never would have happened).
Posted by: John at September 17, 2003 8:09 PMThat scene on MI-5 was dead on. It signified the real world problem that despite our overwhelming military and technological superiority we have the tendency of not finishing off the enemy when we have them down. As oj has been saying all along we should arm some of the Shiites and finish off the sunni/islamist goons as soon as possible. Right now the majority of Iraqis seem to be accepting of the occuptaion but that could change real fast, we only have so much time to play around.
Posted by: andy at September 18, 2003 12:10 AMMr. Judd;
I note that there's no mention in the piece about not killing children of the peoples of Iraqi. That's also in line with current Democratic Party thinking.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at September 18, 2003 11:18 AMI've often wondered why, both in fiction and in reality, the participants engage in convoluted plots, when the obvious and simple solution is simply to kill Mr. X.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at September 19, 2003 7:18 AM