"We got'm!"

By A F Rahman, Dhaka
18 December 2003, 18:00 PM
Paul Bremer, the leader of the occupation forces in Iraq was apparently excited and took pride to announce, "We got'm!" Did they really "get" Saddam or had he no alternative but to give in (as reportedly there was no resistance) as some of his own men guided the US forces to his secluded cellar! Whatever, I deplore'm (Mr. Bremer) for it is no achievement for the allied forces who could not trace him with all their might for a long 8 months. In fact, I call it a peaceful surrender. I do not know what was in the mind of the once-mighty-man of Iraq . Now we shall have to wait and see how he is treated and see if he will face the same fate as those prisoners in Guantanamo Bay!

We shall have to wait to see what will be the reaction around the world. But I cannot wait to express how disgruntled I was when I heard French President Chirac on TV saying he was "delighted at the arrest" and "his capture will help Iraq be safer" and when German Chancellor Schroeder congratulated Bush by telephone on the arrest of Saddam! Oh Selucas, what a world we live in! Yes, truth really is stranger than fiction! I only muse now while Tony Blair says, "Saddam has gone from power, he won't be coming back" and President Bush says, "You do not have to fear of the rule of Saddam Hossain," but in the same breath said, "The US will not rest till the war is over" and also admitted that saddam's capture "doesn't mean end of violence."

So should we rejoice in the voice of the Iraqi Foreign Minster who "welcomed the arrest" and called it "great news" or ponder on the TV speech of Mr. Bush? Or perhaps, in all fairness, should wait and see the aftermath.