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December 14, 2003

We Got Him

As you're undoubtedly aware unless you live in a cave, Saddam Hussein was captured in late night raid yesterday. This is incredible news, and it's a great thing for the United States and for Iraq. Most of all, it's an opportunity.

The work in Iraq is no closer to being done today than it was yesterday. The rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure remains a critical task. Helping the Iraqi people develop a more democratic society is even more important. Both of these tasks will be marginally easier with Hussein captured, but they will hardly be easy simply because Saddam is no more. But the capture of Hussein gives us a big boost of momentum that we can use to move our programs in Iraq forward, if we take advantage of it. Alternatively, we can celebrate the capture, be justifiably pleased that we got him, and squander this chance to use the capture to greater advantage.

Posted at December 14, 2003 07:26 AM

Andrew Olmsted

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» Hussein Caught from Fables of the reconstruction
This is really good news. It presents two opportunities. First, since the Iraqis will try him themselves, it gives the new government a chance to demonstrate how the rule of law can work, even as applied to a tyrant. [Read More]

Tracked on December 14, 2003 09:48 AM

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