December 14, 2003

Raft's Reaction*

The reactions from Howard Dean's followers are wide-ranging. There are many who are proud of the efforts of our troops in capturing Saddam. Some don't want this victory politicized by anyone. There are some almost neo-isolationists like a commentor named "turn" who wrote,

HEY GUYS WAKE UP!!!
THERE IS NO SUCCESS EXISTS IN THE UNJUSTIFIED WAR WHOEVER WAS CAPTURED!!!
IT IS ONLY A DANGEROUS ILLUSION OF SUCCESS WHICH MAY LEAD ONLY TO THE NEXT WRONG JUGMENT AND NEXT WRONG DECISION SUCH AS A NEXT WAR!!!

Term “success” in this war should be applied only in the light of bringing international community IN and USA OUT.
If that capture will help with it, then it is a “success”, otherwise – not.

There's the conspiratorial such as one commentor quoting a comment from another post that reads, "It seems the capture of Saddam is some huge success--ignoring the real motivation for invading Iraq, which was not to protect us, but to protect Bush's financial interests, etc." "Pat_K" thinks Saddam's trial is already rigged:

Whether an Iraqi court or world court, given that no weapons of mass destruction have been found, won't the legitimacy of the U.S. "pre-emptive" invasion come into question as part of any war crimes trial of Saddam? Or is the notion that this question can be avoided by "keeping it local" (in the hands of the Iraqis...largely under the control of the U.S.).

"REAL DEM" thinks this:

Some have said that a live Saddam might be a problem for Bush because he'll tell the truth about Republican support of his regime in the 1980's when he's put on trial.

This may be true.

But this fails to take into account what I consider a far more likely possibility:

They tell Saddam: "You say you had Al Queda connections, that you were involved in 9/11, and that you were six months away from a nuclear weapon, and we won't slowly torture you to death before we kill you".

THAT seems like the most likely possibility to me. Bush and co. will NEVER relinquish power if they can find a way to hang on, and NOTHING is beneath them.

"Anamericanabroad" believes "In this administration there are no coincidences, this just shows how frightened the DNC/DLC and the GOP are of keeping their jobs."

There's the display of historical ignorance:

The capture of Sadam is a victorie for the Iraqi people and the coalition forces. On this occassion I would like to thank the American armed forces: good work.

For Dean, I hope he will give a good statement concerning Iraq and that the American people will not leave the people of iraq now that Sadam is gone.

Finish the job with Dean in the White House and democracy will rule on[ce] more in the Middle East.

Democracy has never been the norm in the Middle East. Turkey and Israel are the only free democracies in the region.

There's the eerily cultish comment:

Don't forget--Dean has us--and that's what will carry him through this media rapture with Hussein's capture.

Then there's the cynical, political analysis like this from "Carrie B":

I can't believe this. I'm crying here. I feel that we now don't have a chance in this election.

Here's one from "gg" (don't these people have real names?):

I am feeling pretty upset as well. I think our chances are dropping fast.

But mostly it's the feeling that they're still right in opposing the war. Here's Silhouette's (who actually has a weblog) comment:

It is a trimuph for human rights that Saddam Hussein was captured. We should thank the troops and the intelligence gathering that we have caught him.

But do not lose sight that this was a war that we did not need to fight, justified with reasons that were either uncertain or downright fraudulent, and goaded into a conflict by a man who wanted regional influence, control of natural resources, and revenge.

The fact that we did not need to do all this still weighs heavily on my mind.

[via a small victory]

*According to this bird web page a group of ducks is called a "raft." I've never heard the word used that way before.