Saddam's last days

There’s a story in today’s NY Times about Saddam Hussein’s last days before capture. There is this remarkable detail that when he was caught, he was staying in some bunker or something in Tikrit, a ragged little place with a picture of Noah’s arc on the wall, and among his few belongings were a screwed up suitcase, some ragged clothing, and a heart-shaped clock.

A heart-shaped clock? A heart-shaped clock? The guy is wanted, dead or alive, by the most powerful military in the world, along with millions of enemies from his own country, he is moving from safe house to safe house, pursued by troops and heavy bombings of suspected hideouts, and he is running around with a heart-shaped clock? There had better be a shitload of sentimental value attached to that clock.

Anyway, this story, along with Saddam’s incredibly insane behavior and appearance during his trial, make me wonder what the first thing he said was upon being confronted by his captors. Here are a few possible theories I came up with:

• “Does one of you guys have a mint or something?”
• “No thanks. Not interested. Please remove me from your solicitation list.”
• “According to my heart-shaped clock here, you guys are about an hour early.”
• “Stop right there, and I’ll bring back the sun.”
• “Now take me to the Hague. Shotgun!”
• “Saddam Hussein? Who the hell is Saddam Hussein?”
• “Welcome! Come on in and make yourself at home; dinner is almost ready.”
• “Would you mind stopping at an ATM on the way back to base?”
• “Goddamnit! Always when I’m eating!”
• “Will you at least permit me the dignity of reattaching my mustache?”
• “He went that way! If you hurry, you can catch him!”
• “Don't come any closer! There's a WMD wired to this heart-shaped clock!”
• “Whatever Bush is paying you, I'll double it.”
• “I noticed that none of you guys is wearing proper body armor. Why is that?”
• “If I surrender quietly, will you let me ride in the tank?”
• “You guys could at least wipe your feet.”
• “If you think I was bad, wait until you try and establish a new government.”

Its the troops, stupid...

The Bush Administration seems to be down to one major defense of the Iraq War - Support Our Troops. No matter what the substance of the criticism leveled against the war, "Support Our Troops" is the inevitable refrain. However, I must say that I don't quite understand the nuances and implications of this argument.

Maybe this issue has already been covered thoroughly, but I haven't heard it, at least not in a while. Namely, does the "Support Our Troops" argument imply that one must do so even if one disagrees with the war? The fact that conservative commentators and the Administration use this argument to respond to virtually all explicit and implicit criticism of the war would seem to suggest that indeed we must support our troops even if we are against the war. Furthermore, the argument strongly implies that insofar as dissent against the war amounts to an unpatriotic failure to support our military personnel, and insofar as such failure is wrong, then we must deduce that dissent against the war is wrong.

Well, if my premises are roughly correct, then this is certainly a nifty little logical trap that has been set for us. In sum, it means that one cannot be against the war, lest this person commit the treasonous act of "emboldening the enemy" and costing American lives. What a cute little maze of circular logic! The sad part is that I'm sure this counter-argument was thoroughly polled and focus-tested and apparently it performed particularly well (as did the mention of 9/11 in conjunction with defenses of the Iraq War). That it did so makes sense - who wants to appear to not care about our troops risking and losing their lives?

Quite frankly, the "Support Our Troops" argument, were it not inherently bullshit, would be totally brilliant.

P.S. The Johnson and Nixon Administrations used the same tired refrain during the late pre- and post-Tet Vietnam War period - that every time an editorial or young demonstrator voiced anti-war opinions, he or she was emboldening the Vietcong or NVA, and costing American lives.