Monday, December 15, 2003

Sic Semper Tyrannis: Saddam Hussein is a slow learner. Right after he was discovered hiding in his rat hole, he told the U.S. troops, in English, "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate," according to The Associated Press. A U.S. Special Forces soldier then replied, "Regards from President Bush."

What, was Saddam Hussein willing to call it a draw? Oh, how life imitates Monty Python.

It took us nine months to invade Iraq, fight a war, topple a brutal regime that had supported international terrorists, and track down a fugitive dictator. All in all, that sounds like good work.

In the coming months, we will continue fighting terrorists in Iraq in our war against terrorism. Osama Bin Laden has announced that Iraq has become Al Qaeda's front line for its war against the United States. This is what we want. I believe the U.S. military is much better equipped to fight terrorists in Iraq than civilians are in New York City. And over time, we will defeat the major terrorist groups.

Now we still have to continue building a democratic government in Iraq, complete with a constitution and an assurance of liberty for all Iraqis. This is the first step to promoting democracy in the Middle East, which will make the region less hospitable for terrorism.

All this will take time. But as we saw yesterday, success can come through patience and determination.

We're going to win this war. It may look ugly now, but the victories are coming. And we'll all be safer in the long run.

Just ask Saddam Hussein about his experience and decision not to fight the U.S. troops who found him hiding, according to The Washington Post:

"Why didn't you fight?" one Governing Council member asked Hussein as their meeting ended. Hussein gestured toward the U.S. soldiers guarding him and asked his own question: "Would you fight them?"