Word: saddamism
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...forces since Baghdad fell in April. Some ten U.S. soldiers have been killed in the week since Uday and Qusay were shot dead at a house in Mosul, and it's not clear that their slaying has had the desired effect. Of course even if the deaths of Saddam and his sons would end the insurgency, the effect might take some time to filter down. But U.S. commanders on the ground in Iraq say they're facing a multi-layered, decentralized fight, and aren't betting that it will necessarily be subdued by the decapitation of the old regime...
...reported response among ordinary Iraqis to the death of Uday and Qusay Hussein was wildly mixed, with some simply refusing to believe it (although Saddam's mournful message would presumably diminish their number), some welcoming the news, and others criticizing the U.S. for having killed them rather than capturing them and allowing Iraqis to put them on trial. There was also criticism of the U.S. for parading the bodies in a sometimes macabre media ritual, and for failing to observe the Muslim tradition of burial within 24 hours. Those comments, as well as the calls for trial rather than summary...
...allies in Iraq last weekend suggested that capturing Saddam and putting him on trial would be preferable to killing him. Britain's UN ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who takes up his post as deputy to U.S. administrator in Baghdad Paul Bremer in September, argued strongly in a BBC interview that Saddam should be taken alive and brought to court. That call was echoed by Ahmed Chalabi, once the Pentagon's most-favored Iraqi exile and now serving on the Bremer-appointed Governing Council. Putting Saddam on trial would allow Iraqis to own the process of their liberation from his regime...
...course, Saddam's fate may be in his own hands. He could refuse to be taken alive. Then again, if he's been following the trial of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic - which has been anything but plain sailing for his accusers - Saddam may be tempted to fight on from within the dock. After all, Iraqis and most Arabs haven't exactly bought into the U.S. narrative of the war. Conspiracy-minded Iraqis opine that, like Milosevic, Saddam could reveal uncomfortable facts about his dealings with the U.S. over the years. (There would certainly be major media interest...
...given the disposition of the U.S. forces currently after him, to make it to court Saddam would likely have to surrender pretty soon. Given his track record for miscalculating, if the Pentagon futures market in Mideast events was up and trading, it would have been a relatively safe bet that Saddam won't be taken alive...