"Executioners" in black ski masks guarding Saddam... they don't even make the connection on CNN

[KeepItReal]

...that those ski-masked folks leading Saddam to the gallows look just like the images of insurgents or Al Qaeda-types holding hostages we have seen time and time again on the news.

For the record - f*ck Saddam. I really don't give a flip about him.

However, masked "Iraqis" "executing" Saddam in the middle of the night on a Friday night news dump right before a major holiday (and Democrats taking over Congress and starting oversight on what the fudge is going on in Iraq) looks extremely shady, at best, or a Bush & Co. way of handling a bad situation like they always do, at worst.

Our troops are gonna catch even more hell there after this. Damn.

[saigon68]

1. A few dozen more will be blown to bits next week

[AussieDave]

3. Not that Shrub will care

Freedom is on the march !!!!!!:sarcasm:

[saigon68]

4. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[dipsydoodle]

12. AWOL Chimp aka

Private Snafu.

[cassiepriam]

2. Not only wrong morally but stupid as well. This will haunt us for a long time.

[KeepItReal]

6. I fear you are right in the long-term. Short-term, the troops stuck in Iraq are more screwed now.

This is that Bush & Co. "Bring it on" bravado crap all over again.

[cassiepriam]

9. Also if I were Iran and N Korea I would get nuke capability pronto.

They need to get some protections in place.
Or they are the next victims of a public lynching.

[cool user name]

5. I wouldn't read too much into it ... but, yes, black masks ...

not a good thing to bring to the bash.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven, and our TROOPS WILL PAY. No one cares. I was at a bar and everyone rejoiced!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. Love him or hate him or think him a shit, you have to look at this pragmatically. This is not going to go well.

:(

[Dudley_DUright]

7. That's the problem

Some people (including the "Decider") don't think through the consequences of their actions. This is going to blow back big time.

[KeepItReal]

8. You got it exactly right.

<eom>

[magellan]

10. I heard that brilliant reporter for CNN on this -- is it Michael Ware?

The one with the Aussie accent who reports from Baghdad. He's a rarity; gets stuck in and really seems to know his stuff. Anyway, his opinion is that there are very few Sunnis left who are loyal to Saddam, and that if there is any reprisal it would undoubtedly be lost amid all the other violence that goes on there daily. IOW it would be hard to say that a specific attack was revenge for Saddam's execution and not just the usual sectarian violence.

It was a harrowing perspective.

[KeepItReal]

13. I hope Ware is right, and the Iraqis have no love left for Saddam.

(eom)

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Yep, Michael "Mick" Ware is the best on cable news...

The only cheering going on is in the Iraqi expat neighborhoods of Dearborn, MI and on a certain pig farm in Crawford, TX. You know, I'm a bit surprised we've not heard a peep from King Abdullah of Jordan. His dad was a friend of Saddam's...

[leftchick]

16. a CNN reporter was in Jordan

trying to get a statement from the King, he got ZIP!

[Nordmadr]

11. I can not explain just how empty and sad this seems. Puppet governments

equal puppet justice. We just showed the world how hollow this Nation has become. I guess it really is the "We brought you into this world, we can take you out" attitude. Perhaps what it really is for me, is all of the loss. Our soldiers, the Iraqis, civil rights, trust in government, and at least for me to some extent, innocence; though that may be a painful, but good thing. It all seems to culminate in this pointless moment.

"Dead or Alive"; except it was the wrong guy. Bush showed his bravado, and tossed us all in the slop. It's dirty and I don't want it on my hands.

On Edit:

It will NOT help our troops. I think that should be clear. Bush wanted this to happen, so it did.

Olafr

[teryang]

15. 108 active duty killed in December

Only god and TIA know how many decapitated and tortured Iraqi corpses turned up last night courtesy of the "death squads."

This is a media show for US consumption, the lesson from the great decider: summary executions equals the "rule of law."

US media has gone totalitarian.

[GenDem]

17. And a US death toll milestone quickly approaching

which they will want to play down and distract from.

[KeepItReal]

19. December the deadliest month this year. Damn.

(eom)

[originalpckelly]

18. It is a common practice around the world to hide the faces of executioners.

[KeepItReal]

20. They looked like a bunch of dudes in street clothes and ski masks - not govt. troops or cops

or any sort of law enforcement personnel in the pictures I saw.

They could have at least made the crap *look* official.

[Ian David]

21. I didn't even know they had skiing in Iraq. Where do they get so many ski masks? n/t

[KeepItReal]

22. I dunno, but that business is now booming there

<eom>