> Chuck, Marc and Stephen all make good points...
>
> And Stephen's media analysis is right, in my humble estimation. The TV
> talking heads are all subdued this morning. There is an open admission
> that this is not going to stop resistance because it isn't related to
> resistance.
>
> But I do wonder at the "trial process" that is upcoming.
>
> Aside from the irony of the U.S. trying to set up some international
> criminal court...
>
> Saddam sitting in a box may confuse the images of resistance. It may tie
> _any_ resistance to him -- "it" being the media manipulators employed by
> various interested parties.
And now there has already been a car bombing in Baghdad.
Some analyst on TV or NP this morning pointed out early on that the Iraqi resistance can now distance themselves officially from Hussein. I can't believe that the Bush administration doesn't understand this, which may be why Bush said some stuff in his address about the fight not being over.
Now, those of us who understand politics well--such as some of us anarchists--can tell you that power abhors a vacuum. Saddam Hussein may have provided some inspiration for his Baath Party loyalists who enjoyed the perks of being in power, but now the door is wide open for the future Saddam Husseins to struggle for power. Why did so many anarchists reject political assassination as a tactic a century ago? Because if you kill one bad guy in power, another one takes his place. The problem is with the system of power, not the existence of non-human bad guys who are the exception to the rule.
Of course, it will take some time for the next Saddam to gain full power in Iraq, but the struggle for power is going to collide with the American occupation. We'll see how this affects the election next year, but hopefully more Americans are understanding that what we have seen today is yet another former American-supported bad guy have a bad hair day.
<< Chuck0 >>
Homepage -> http://chuck.mahost.org/ Infoshop.org -> http://www.infoshop.org/ Monumental Mistake (blog) -> http://chuck.mahost.org/weblog/index.php Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/ Infoshop Portal -> http://portal.infoshop.org/ Infoshop Science -> http://science.infoshop.org/ AIM: AgentHelloKitty
"The USA PATRIOT Act (a.k.a. Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing the Appropriate Tools Required to Infiltrate and Obstruct Terrorism)
was originally named "Unarming and Stripping Americans of Freedom and Allowing Secret Cops to Intimidate Scapegoats and Minorities",
but they thought USA FASCISM didn't sound all that great."
-- Patrick Dempsey