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« No Free Ride | Main | Colorado Blog Roundup » December 14, 2003Doubling DownOne of my favorite movies of all time is the baseball classic Bull Durham. It tells the story of how gifted minor league pitcher Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) learns how to be a true baseball player from veteran catcher 'Crash' Davis (Kevin Costner). Towards the end of the film, Nuke is throwing an incredible game, and at the close of one inning comes bounding into the dugout beside himself after striking out the side. He sits down next to Crash and they have a quick conversation: Nuke: "I was good, huh?" Crash: "Your fastball was up and your curve was hanging. In the Show [the Majors] they would have ripped you." Nuke: "Can't you let me enjoy the moment?" Crash: "The moment's over." It is this exchange that I am reminded of today. Yes, it is phenomonal news that Saddam has been captured, and I've been fairly bouncing up and down with excitement since I heard the news. (Check out the Command Post's roundup of reactions for a sampling of how great the capture is.) But as good as this news is, this moment, too, is over. There remain an unknown number of Iraqis and foreign terrorists who will continue to work to try and return Iraq to Ba'athism or theocracy or some other form of tyranny. American soldiers and Iraqi civilians will continue to die in terrorist attacks. The war will go on, even with Saddam sidelined. But we've got one hell of an opportunity here. The Husseins are now gone permanently (assuming we don't turn Saddam over to The Hague), meaning Iraqis can now look forward to a real future again, without any nagging fear of a return to the bad old days. That elation will hold them over for a little while, but like our original invasion, it will only last a short time. If we can accelerate our reconstruction (and construction) of Iraq's infrastructure in that time and do what we can to place at least some limited power back into the hands of the Iraqis, we could emphasize the impression that things are really getting better in Iraq. (In fact, things have probably been following a slow but steady upwards progression since the fall of Baghdad, but slow progression is generally difficult to discern on a day-to-day basis.) A few big gestures now in the wake of this huge event could go very far to reshape Iraqi public opinion. And if the U.S. is seen in a generally positive light throughout Iraq, it will spell the end for the Islamofascists, as they just won't be able to be effective if the average Iraqi is turning them in whenever he or she gets the chance. The moment's over. Let's hope that the Administration and the CPA are doing their best to take advantage of it.Posted at December 14, 2003 01:41 PM
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