In the YouTube era, it probably was inevitable that someone would capture Saddam Hussein’s hanging on video for all the world to download. Now an “official who supervised the execution” has been arrested and is under investigation for recording the execution on a cell phone, according to an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Others have suggested the offending videographer was a guard, rather than an official.
For a ruthless dictator, Saddam met his end in a fairly dignified way. Think of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s bullet-ridden body left hanging upside down in a Milan square and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s two-hour show trial and immediate death by firing squad.
Then again, Saddam’s ultimate punishment had the atmosphere of a sectarian revenge killing, with Shiites shouting the name of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, “Go to hell!” and other taunts. Not exactly the picture-perfect demonstration of the rule of law that the Bush administration might have liked.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
“The outcome of the elections has changed the balance of power in Congress, yet the priorities for keeping our country safe and prosperous go beyond party labels,” President Bush wrote in an op-ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. Among the priorities that Bush listed: Continue to fight terrorists, help Iraq defeat extremists, make tax cuts permanent, authorize the line-item veto, move to greater energy security and pass comprehensive immigration reform. “The American people have entrusted us with public office at a momentous time for our nation,” Bush wrote. “Let them say of these next two years: We used our time well.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The emerging 2008 presidential nominee of the week is outgoing Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who filed the paperwork Wednesday to set up an exploratory committee. He’s a fascinating figure with a solid record of fiscal management and creative thinking on health care and education. He also has a 37-year marriage and some good social conservative credentials, though some past comments have fuzzed up his stand on gay rights. His biggest liabilities shouldn’t be, if America is as pluralistic as advertised: that he’s a Mormon and a Northeasterner.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is unsure about the “surge” option in Iraq. He told the Washington Post he would favor more troops only it they were a “precursor” to political stability. “A short-term buildup in troops, if it simply is to impose military order without the possibility of political equilibrium, that doesn’t seem to me to be too farsighted,” he said. “We have got to get to some acceptable balance between the Sunnis and Shiites. We cannot impose a military solution.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Though President Bush’s legacy will be dominated by Iraq and Afghanistan, he deserves credit and praise for helping Africa. Bush has increased direct development and humanitarian aid to Africa to more than $4 billion a year from $1.4 billion in 2001, the Washington Post reported, and he recently vowed to increase it to nearly $9 billion by 2010. “He should be known for the largest single investment in AIDS and malaria, the biggest health investment of any government program ever,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. Well done. One area where Bush must do more: stopping the genocide in Sudan.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
What does it say about Americans when they develop affection for a vacuum cleaner, to the point of assigning it a gender and giving it a cute name?
Nothing good, I think, but the matter is explored in some depth by Washington Post writer Joel Garreau. The machine in question is the Roomba, the artificially intelligent floor cleaner that found its way under millions of Christmas trees this season.
Because it seems to move of its own accord, certain people seem to consider it sentient. Any bloggers get this for Christmas? Anyone who will admit to anthropomorphizing it? This is one of those times you might not want to use your real name.
Posted by Dave Knadler
