Revolutionary Moderation

Dust off the "Mission Accomplished" banner



Saddam Hussien has been captured. This is obviously good news, if not as good as the White House and American news outlets are going to be making out. And the celebration among Iraqis, unlike the whole statue/liberation made-for-television moment in the spring, appears real, and so it should be.



I hope, but don't expect, that this moment will take the legs out from under the insurgency. I hope, but don't expect, that this moment will mark a serious beginning to shifting power from the United States to Iraq.



I need to remind everyone of this "Get Your War On" classic from March. Sure, Hussien's a bastard. He was a bastard when the west was supporting him fighting Iran, too. I hope that under interrogation, Saddam tells us what Donald Rumsfeld knew, and when he knew it.



I also need to remind everyone of a basic principle of the democratic rule of law - justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. This was done very poorly or not at all in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic - we need to learn from that experience. There may be nothing that can be done about the conspiracy theories that will spring up among the more paranoid types in the Islamic world (the same people who are convinced that the Mossad was behind 9/11, for instance), but a fair and open process led by people who have no revenge motivation will help considerably in reducing their resonance.



(Hey, Prime Minister, some free advice - it's not "Iraqians")