WOOHOO! WE CAUGHT THAT SOB!!!!

[BLACK JACK SHALAQ]

OH YEAH!!

[El Pirata]

Yeah I saw that. Really cool beans.

[Captain Jack]

Great news! Kudos to the troops who are there, have been there, and will be there. Now on to the capture of Ossama.

[Rumba Rue]

I just saw that news on another site! WOW, fer once I feel good about our guys over there! You go Military!

RumbaRue

** **

[TalesOfTheSevenSeas]

*sigh of relief* Let's hope this will bring some peace at long last.

Here's the story on MSNBC

[the Royaliste]

"WHOOOOOOOOO-RAAAAAAAAAH!"...........

*Loads triple charges in all cannons, touches powder, and watches extermely startled marina residents wondering if'n the 'ole Pyrate 'as gone completely mad.......*

[capnwilliam]

I doubt that Osama will ever be captured alive: assuming he still is such. He's a zealot: he'll never allow himself to fall into the hands of the Crusader infidels. Saddam Hussein never was anything but a gangster.

Capt. William

[Charlotte Doyle]

I'm still in shock -- I can't believe, after all this time, that they finally got the bastard. (excuse my French) I think I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop . . . it's just so unbelievable.

But fantastic. Fantastically good news. 'Ere's hoping this means that our troops can come home now . . .

[Bilgemunky]

Indeed fantastic news, but I'd stow any hopes of our troops rushing home - these things take time. Now, more than ever, we're in danger of opening the door for one thug to replace another. On the flip side, the Iraqi people are within grasp of true freedom like they've never known.

We gotta stick around and make sure it's the latter of the two options that takes root.

[Lady Bassett]

Was that great big stash of weapons of mass destruction found as well?

Or is that still the missing piece of the puzzle.

????????????

Because the next step, I presume, is a trial? And I'm just guessing some evidence will be required ??

I stopped watching the news a good while ago, so forgive my ignorance of the matter.

[Billie Bonnie]

It looks like he will be tried in an Iraqi court,

******************

Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said

Saddam would be tried for his crimes against Iraqis, and would be

tried by Iraqis. "The terrorist, Saddam Hussein, the biggest

terrorist on earth, has been arrested," said Hamid Ali al-Kifaey. "He

will be tried before a special court in Iraq soon. With his arrest

the Iraqi people will begin a new life, and hopefully they will have

a democratic and pluralistic system and no more mass graves, and no

more Saddam Hussein and no more terrorism."

*******************

But the real question is, will this court (or the international court...where he will also probably be tried) also bring up the US, German and British support of Saddam in the 1980's during the Iran-Iraq war. Or will they bring Dow Chemical company before the court since they sold $1.5m-worth of pesticides to Iraq (despite suspicions they would be used for chemical warfare) in 1988 ????

Timeline:

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/armIraqP2W.html

National Security Archive (George Washington University):

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/press.htm

The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,276...,866942,00.html

-Billie-

PS: This thread is quickly moving toward the "Beyond Piracy" section

[Billie Bonnie]

Oh, Black Jack...

I just be wantin' ta let ya' know that it be nothin' personal lad.

I just disagree with you tis' all. Ya' seem like nice young man an' a fine pirate :)

-Billie-

[capnwilliam]

It's all a farce!

The US built up Saddam Hussein's regime as a bulwark against Iran. We gave him mixed signals about our stance on his invasion of Kuwait, before he made the move. No "weapons of mass destruction" have ever been found, because they have never even been defined!

We'll be in Iraq for another decade, it will cost the American taxpayer upwards of half a trillion dollars, and Bush, Cheney, Powell, and the rest of the REAL Buccanerin' Brethren will laugh all the way to the bank!

The US built up the Afghani freedom fighters against the Soviet invaders.

The US built up the Soviet Union and Communist China against the Axis Powers.

Saddam Hussein is a worthless tyrant. In other words, he's exactly like at least half the world's heads of state!

A pox on all of 'em, says I! Let's stay home and take care of our own country.

Bush wants to bring peace to the world? He couldn't even bring peace to the neighborhood around the White House.

Capt. William

"Isolationism: Proud to Call it Home"

(taken from a New Orleans bumper sticker)

[Lady Bassett]

Captain William, I agree with you on many points.

Our government has played the game both sides, down the middle, under the table, and through the back pocket. And the whole world knows it. Our foreign policy horribly sucks, to put it delicately.

And I think that's all I should say about this. Or maybe just a bit more...

I think it is in mankind's best interest for us to understand one another as much as possible; to appreciate the differences among us. Our strength is in our differences, not in our similarities. I'm speaking of the human race as a whole. Perhaps a bit too 'big picture' for this thread.

An appreciation for diversity and a respect for those differences, I believe, will be the only thing that will prevent us from destroying ourselves in the long run.

It's the "us versus them" mentality that keeps walls up... oh, I know I'm going down a dangerous path here, so I'll stop before I get mobbed.

[Coastie04]

I still say 'kudos' to the troops that nabbed that bugger. Sure, there are others like him, but now there's one less in power.

Coastie

[El Pirata]

I hate to start the conspiracy theory here but Saddam and his sons all had body doubles. The body doubles were trained to mimic their every move. The had their faces and teeth altered to look like their boss. In a country controlled by Saddam, how hard would it have been to have Saddam's medical records switched out with his body double's for things like DNA tests, blood type, etc... Did we really get him??? Will we ever know for sure???

[the Royaliste]

"Hmmm....'brings to mind somethin' I been wonderin' fer a while..How's come we ain't got a cell-full 'o them body doubles? I all the time figured it would be hell lookin' like Saddam, but, Jeesh!..Where are THOSE guys now???"

[Viperpirate]

Me thinks ye be readin too much into it, lad. Thar be a man, down in a hole, with a large bit of swager. Add to dis be them new fangled test called DNA. Yer can't out run yer jeans,(or tis that genes). Just be good not noe of them fightin boys was hurt, and that criminal can stand trial and Keelhaulin.

I am tawkin with a good Pirate friend called GW. Suggest he use the CVN-76 for the ship to keelhaul with

Here be her imaige. A small boat but with lots of heart.

[Zorg]

Th main thing I finds disturbin is its obvious this confused Walter Mattau lookalike living in a hole (anybody notice that resemblence but me?) wasn't directing attacks against ANYbody.

I wouldn't feel too joyful, If I were Iraqui. The US caught it's former pet despot living in a hole. The next one we put in power over them may be worst.

[capnwilliam]

Coastie,

I have the deepest admiration for all of America's soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and coast guard, who do a tremendous job under often horrible circumstances.

My point is that we removed a dictaror from office. Now he'll stand trial. We have caused tremendous physical destruction to a country that was already in bad shape. Now we're going to rebuilt the place.

This process has already cost the American taxpayer in the neighborhood. The real work is not even started.

Do you really think this war brings US any positive results?

Our own national physical infrastructure is in sad shape. Our passenger railroads are an antiquated shambles. In Japan, our "former enemy, now our friend", high speed bullet trains whisk people arounf the country in comfort and safety.

Our roads, tunnels, bridges, and subways continue to deteriorate. About 15 years ago a water main burst in Manhattan. Excavation revealed it was made of wood! The damn thing was probably 150 years old, yet was servicing one of the most densely populated areas on earth.

Of course, there's no money to fix such things.

My 81 year old mother can't speak or even stand up unassisted. Yet she has to pay a TAX on the nursing home bed that she occupies! Is that not obscene?

We don't have jobs for our own people, but we encourage every hominid who can drive, walk, or swin across the border to come here and cut our own wage structure even further.

Here in New Orleans, "my" Congressman, David Vitter, is applauding the fact that Bush has reduced steel tariffs; will do wonders for the port of New Orleans, he says. But what about the people in Pittsburgh and Cleveland who once had good jobs in steel mills?

More to the point: what future is our nation heading for? We won't manufacture steel, ships, automobiles; we won't drill for oil; what will we do? Watch CNN and talk on cell phones?

No, shipmates, pardon me if I don't get excited over the removal or capture of a tin horn dictator. It benefits us nothing, and it costs us $200 billion already. It surely was NOT money well-spent!

Capt. William

[Bilgemunky]

To this point the white house has been very cautious about making any claims at nabbing Saddam. I seem to recall a couple of months ago the media speculated he was hit in a bombing raid - but the white house kept its distance from these rumors. They knew this question would be asked, and I'm confident they'd make no such claims if they weren't certain, be it through DNA, medical records, or getting Saddam's own mother to identify him.

As to the weapons of mass destruction issue, it's really a non-issue. According to the cease-fire agreements from the first gulf war, Saddam agreed to full disclosure of his disarmament efforts. By refusing to do so, it was Saddam who instigated the second gulf war, not us. I believe proof of these weapons will soon be found. There's already been a ton of evidence, but people believe what they choose to believe.

What's more, the videos of iraqis being tortured, the discovery of rape-rooms, the children's prisons, the thousands of iraqis killed by Saddam's regime - this was a good thing we did.

[capnwilliam]

I don't believe that the non-existent "weapons of mass destruction" IS a non-issue. It was King George's whole point in getting us into this unnecessary war - have you forgotten that?

I certainly HOPE that it won't be a non-issue when the bastard decides to try to inflict a second term upon us.

You are absolutely correct, Bilbemunky: if people want to believe that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was bristlingl with nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles - or whatever "weapons of mass destruction" were supposed to have been - then the fact that they never have been located, and never will be, isn't going to deter them from their belief in this fairy tale; not one iota!

Capt. William

[Bilgemunky]

No, I haven't forgotten why we went into Iraq. We were afraid Saddam was developing WMD in violation of UN Resolution 687. There is no doubt that in the recent past Saddam HAD weapons programs, the only question is whether or not he halted these programs as required to do so by the UN. The burden of proof was on him, not us.

Saddam needed to account for 17 metric tons of Biological warfare growth media. He did not.

Saddam needed to offer proof of the destruction of over 150 R-400 aerial bombs and over 25 chemical/biological Al-Hussein ballistic missile warheads. He did not.

Saddam needed to allow investigators unlimited access to the nuclear scientists, technicians, and suspected test facilities in his country. He did not.

So no, our motive for the war wasn't that Saddam HAD weapons of mass destruction - it was that we believed he did. And according to the cease-fire agreement following the first gulf war, Saddam was required to fully cooperate in PROVING he had no WMD, and PROVING that his WMD programs had been dismantled. Instead he stalled, gloated, and threatened. He defied the UN resolutions and hindered any efforts to prevent this second gulf war.

Combine this with the fact that Saddam is a man who's tortured his own people, raped his own people, gassed his own people - why on earth should we give him the benefit of the doubt?

[capnwilliam]

Bilgemunky,

An American police officer would not even have been granted a search warrant on the basis of such flimsy evidence!

Picture the scene: judge says, "so tell me what evidence you have that Bubba has fully automatic AK 47's in his apartment?" And the cop replies, "well, he was arrested for possession of one 10 years ago. Hey, judge, tell me what evidence you have that he DOESN'T have any!"

One would hope, for that officer's sake, that he didn't wake the judge up at 2:00 AM to apply for that warrant!

And yet, it is precisely such illogic and bilge-water "evidence" that Bush and his defenders used and continue to use to justify the destruction of hundreds of billions of dollars from the American taxpayer; not to mention the loss of human life.

Anyway...I will send no more messages on this topic.

Anyone who still believes that there are, or were at the time we entered Iraq, any weapons that posed a threat to the United States - provided we'd stayed the hell home and minded our own business - is operating on religious faith, not objective logic. Evidence and logic will not overcome religious faith.

One hopes only that by November, the Bushite True Believers will be few enough in number that those of us who still live in objective reality will be able to return their guru to private employment.

:)

Capt. William

[Bilgemunky]

Your analogy is flawed. This is more the case of a man on parole, and one of the stipulations of his parole is a weekly search of his home by the police. If that man were to lock his doors and refuse to let in the investigators, that violation WOULD justify the cops breaking in and arresting him.

I'm done too. Pyracy and politics shouldn't mix. How 'bout that Blackbeard?