Saddam is Dead

That was efficient and now everyone is happy. Those that hated Saddam (Shiites) are happy because God answered their prayers with the execution of Saddam. The Sunnis are also happy because Saddam died as a warrior for God and now sits with God in heaven as a revered martyr. I guess God wins either way.

The date for hanging Saddam was perfect. The Feast of Sacrifice (Eid-al-Adha) begins today. It commemorates Ibraham's (Abraham) willingness to obey God by sacrificing his son. Muslims believe the son to be Ishmael rather than Isaac as told in the Old Testament. Ishmael is considered the forefather of the Arabs.

Shiites celebrate the feast on Sunday and Sunnis celebrate it on Saturday. Iraq law forbids executions on a major feast day. Looks like the Sunnis lost out on this one.

It's Hard Work....It's Hard Work!

President Bush needs more time to plan his new Iraq War strategy. But, he did work hard today.

President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch on Thursday to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq, then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.

Saddam Hangs Tomorrow

I don't see the point of this - although is anyone really surprised with the outcome of the trial. What's the rush to hang him? I'll go on record as opposed to executing Saddam. It won't change a thing in Iraq and may actually make things worse.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said. (Excite News)

Why is al-Nueimi even talking about what Americans want? Wasn't Saddam tried in an Iraqi court? How does one get executed respectfully? And, whatever happens to Saddam, Americans are going to be blamed. Isn't there enough killing in Iraq and the Middle East?

Meanwhile, US TV networks are planning "tasteful" coverage of the execution. Do you think Fox News will air the execution?

President Bush is Stressed

Op-Ed in todays Wash Post.

The stress of the job -- so well hidden for much of the past six years -- has begun to show on Bush's face. He often looks burdened, distracted, haunted by a question that has no good answer.

He got himself into a big global mess with "a question that has good answer." I don't feel sorry for Bush but I do feel sorry for our country. Bush made his bed and now he has to sleep in it and we and the rest of the world will suffer for years to come because of his pig-headedness.

"I believe that we're going to win," and then adding oddly, as if to reassure himself: "I believe that -- and by the way, if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have our troops there. That's what you've got to know. We're going to succeed."

Ok, great. Define success and tell us precisely how we are going to succeed.

$125 Million Dollar Courthouse in Gitmo

That amount of money would fund 25 research scientist for 5 yrs. Instead it's being used to build a courthouse to try 80 "terrorists".

"Although the Pentagon estimates that no more than 80 of the 400 or so terrorism detainees here will ever be tried, it is moving forward with plans for a $125-million legal complex.

I suggest that after the 80 prisoners are tried and they no longer have use for the new "courthouse", maybe they can turn it into the G. W. Bush Memorial Library.