John LeBoutillier
Monday, Dec. 15, 2003

Now, before Saddam is turned over to Iraqi control, here is what U.S. forces need to do:

1) Saddam needs to be interrogated – thoroughly – preferably under the use of the best 'truth-inducing' drugs we now have. (This is being done on other captured combatants – Iraqis, al-Qaeda and Taliban.)

No one needs to know – including Saddam himself – that these drugs were administered to him. The last thing we need from the Left is a 'human rights' debate over the human rights of this murderous bastard.

Let's get on with it. The truth is more important than a legal debate in the World Court or The Hague.

2) Key Questions: First, we must get to the bottom of the Scott Speicher mystery – now! Presumably, we have thoroughly interrogated all other captured Iraqis about our only missing POW from the first Gulf War.

Maybe it is true that Speicher was held under the personal control of Saddam and his oldest son, Uday. If so, when Uday went to meet Allah and receive his 72 black-eyed virgins, he took invaluable knowledge with him. We need to get Saddam to answer each and every unanswered question about Speicher – now!

Speicher is our first priority. Our government has bragged that "we never leave anyone behind." OK, then let's recover Scott Speicher – hopefully alive, or at least his remains so that his family can rest in peace.

3) Next, of course, is everything to do with WMD – the justification for our pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. Included in this line of questioning should be everything to do with the acquisition of nuclear material: What did he buy, from which country, and where is it?

4) Next is Iraqi connections – if any – to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Let us find out once and for all if this link truly existed. Was there an Iraqi role in 9/11 and the 1993 WTC bombing?

5) Also, what role did the Russians – especially their military – play in re-arming Iraq in the 12 years since the first Gulf War? Did Moscow help in WMD acquisition?

6) Let's also put to rest once and for all the role behind the scenes of the French government. Were they 'on the take' from Saddam? Was that the reason they were opposed to the war?

What may happen next in Iraq

With Saddam in captivity, American media talking-head pundits are speculating that this will improve the situation 'on the ground' in Iraq. Prediction: It won't. Here is why:

1) With Saddam under Iraqi control, the Resistance's anger will focus ever more at the Provisional Government Authority. The bad guys will furiously try to free their hero or to kill new Iraqi leaders. (In fact, this has already been going on for several weeks.) Look for it to increase now.

3) The Shiite community – the majority of the Iraqi people – are now going to say, "America, thank you for freeing us from Saddam and for capturing him. Now that he is in captivity, please leave Iraq and let us run our own country."

The Shiites have suffrered decades of brutal oppression under Saddam. Thus, they have tempered their religious fanaticism during the months since the fall of Baghdad last April. But they have been chafing at the bit and increasingly desirous of the U.S. leaving Iraq.

Saddam's capture will now precipitate even more anxiety among the Shiites that the American 'occupation' must end before elections are held that would again favor the minority Sunni Muslims.

The Shiites have always been the wild card in the postwar Iraq political equation. The nightmare scenario is that they will take to the streets in an Iran-style religious uprising. If they do, all bets are off for peace and democracy in Iraq.

Like Yugoslavia under Tito, Iraq's three distinct peoples were held together by their common fear of the jackbooted dictator. With him now out of the equation, Iraq may go the route of Yugoslavia: civil wars, lawlessness, paybacks, ethnic cleansings and a totally unmanageable situation – all leading to the formation of independent new nations.

Yes, it is a great, great day. Saddam's capture is a victory for our wonderful troops. But it may be the beginning of an ever worse situation on the ground in Iraq.

Editor's Note: Saddam Hussein – "The Ace of Spades" – has been captured. Get your set of the official Pentagon playing cards – first offered to the public on NewsMax. You can celebrate America and George Bush with these cards, soon to be a collector's item. Also check out our FREE offer for these cards – Click Here Now.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
War on Terrorism