I happened to see the live TV coverage of the press conference in Baghdad Sunday morning announcing the capture of Saddam, and about an hour’s worth of fill before the briefing. CNN, for all of its spin, still has the best on-the-ground coverage in Iraq, and they actually showed some videophone imagery of Iraqis firing shots into the air, passing out candy, honking their horns, and yes, dancing in the streets. On this day, there was no doubt that they’re happy to have the Coalition’s troops in their country.
MSNBC was the first to bring a translator on-line for the press conference, which was good because the reaction of the Baghdad press was so amazing. About half-a-dozen Iraqi newspaper people were called on, but only two actually asked questions; both about the trial. The others simply thanked the US and the Coalition for capturing the monster, called out for his death, and generally praised Allah, George Bush, and Tony Blair. They weren’t pretending to straddle some imaginary line that makes murderous tyrants excusable, in other words. Howard Dean is probably on the brink of a heart attack, as is his Internet guru Joe Trippi who was bumped from Meet the Press by the story of Saddam’s capture, appropriately enough.
Somewhat lost amid the celebration is another large piece of news, the memo discovered by the UK Daily Telegraph on the training of 9/11 pilot Atta in Iraq:
In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta “displayed extraordinary effort” and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be “responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy”.
The second part of the memo, which is headed “Niger Shipment”, contains a report about an unspecified shipment – believed to be uranium – that it says has been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.
Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq’s ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.
I believe the memo is probably genuine, but we will see. If it is, then it means that the liberation of Iraq was anything but a “distraction” from the war on terror, and we can therefore say goodnight to Dr. Dean, Mr. Kerry, and Mr. Edwards.
The elation and relief that Iraqis feel over Saddam’s capture is something you can best read about in their own words; go to The Mesopotamian and then follow his links to Iraqi blogs.
UPDATE: The Atta Memo was most likely a hoax, which I should have realized all along. Most things that seem too good to be true, are.