"We got him."
Those words, spoken by American ambassador Paul Bremmer earlySunday morning, mark the turning point in the Iraqi struggle forindependence and freedom. All day, praise could be heard throughvarious media outlets at the capture of the former Iraqidictator.
Now, the answers we have sought so fervently can be obtained. Weknow Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, because we sold themto him during our alliance during the '80s. We know he had WMDsbecause he used them on Iranians and innocent Iraqis. The questionis: Where are they now?
Was Saddam's posturing as though he had them and hisunwillingness to present evidence of their destruction because henever had successful weapons programs? Was his defiance merely ashow to present himself as the only leader who would defy theUnited States, or had he really developed chemical, biological andnuclear weapons?
If Saddam really did have WMDs (which every intelligence agencyin the world agreed that he most likely did) then what happened tothem? Did he transfer them to Syria or another rogue nation? Did hegive them to terrorists to wage Holy War on the United States, evenafter his nation fell? Or did Saddam, predicting the demise of hisempire, have the weapons destroyed in the long and wrangled lead upto the Iraq invasion?
I don't know, and neither does anyone else in the politicalsphere of this university. For all the libel and slander againstthe president that he had lied or exaggerated the truth about Iraqiweapons programs, we now have in custody one man who can set therecord straight.
Those who understand the markets feel that Monday will beginwith a strong stock rally (already having risen above 10,000 lastweek). Financial analysts also believe that the American dollar maybegin to rebound from its recent fall against the Euro.
With the capture of Saddam in Iraq, the Special Forces teamsthat were assigned to hunt him can now be transferred toAfghanistan to hunt the more-elusive bin Laden.
With Saddam captured, holdouts hoping that he would return topower now have to face the reality that those events will neverhappen.
Their wasted resistance will likely end soon, leaving Iraq freeto become an open and prosperous nation and the first Arabdemocracy in the heart of the Middle East.
With the economy on the mend, job creation at a brisk pace andthe Conference Board predicting 2004 will be the best economic yearin 20 years, this has been a very good year for America. With thecapture of Saddam Hussein, and the hopeful end of insurgency inIraq, America has a very good year to look forward to.
This is a great time to be an American. As with all obstaclesour country has faced, this one will be no different. We willovercome a simple recession and the opposition of hard-line Saddamsympathizers to create a stronger American economy and a freeIraq.
It is an even better time to be a conservative. With ourpresident seeing a rise in popularity and a skyrocketing stockmarket who is likely to face the anti-war, anti tax-cut andanti-defense Howard Dean, 2004 is going to be a very good year forconservatives everywhere.
Write to Russell at rlg@temporalfront.com
visit www.temporalfront.com
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