Time Magazine has an exclusive report that says, "As soldiers were handcuffing him after he was extracted from his "spider hole," these sources say, Saddam spit on his captor.
As the incident was reported by the military, according to a U.S. source, a soldier promptly slugged the old tyrant -- probably the first time in more than two decades that Saddam was powerless to exact lethal revenge on someone who stood up to him. "
I can fully understand the impulse to hit Saddam, but after the restraint that was shown by not shooting him when they found him, it surprised me a bit that a soldier would react to spitting. Even though I think Saddam got better treatment than he deserved and I have doubts about the truth of this incident, watch for (more) complaints that he was mistreated.
The article also says that there are doubts about whether someone actually said, "Regards from President Bush." It is a good line and we all have had those "I should have said ____" times when we think of a snappy comment after the chance to use it has passed. Those times happen, though, when we are caught by surprise by an event or comment someone else makes. These soldiers have known for a long time that one of their goals is to capture Saddam. Just as Neil Armstrong had time to come up with his "One small step for (a) man..." remark, the soldiers have had time to think what they want to say. It could also be that one of the soldiers there is good at off the cuff witty remarks. Regardless, as far as I'm concerned, "Regards from President Bush." is a part of what happened. It was the message that Saddam was given whether it was spoken aloud or not.
Link to the Time.com report found via Aaron's Rantblog.
Posted by marybeth at December 21, 2003 12:16 PM News