Saddam swings, Iraq sings

So, Saddam now has flames licking at his ass. And there isn't a wet eye in the Western Hemisphere about it, and probably not in the Eastern Hemisphere, either. This is not in doubt.

Above, Saddam tries on a large hemp necklace on his way to meet Adolf Hitler...

... and the aftermath (above) - Saddam suffers from one wicked hangover. Personally, I think we could have done better. ...

Yea, this would have been a righteous and funny way to send Saddam on his way, but then again, Dick is such a poor shot, he probably couldn't have done the job anyway.

I don't mean to sound like a typical bloodthirsty American. In fact, in a minute I'll get to how I find a lot of American bloodlust very distasteful and disgraceful, but first, more pictures. These are powerful images, and I'm not posting them to glorify Hussein's execution, but these pics are part of history, part of history for this absurd war.

Most Iraqis seem to be celebrating Saddam's demise, but then again, I don't trust what the American media shows us. There's lots of distortion and people with agendas who publish pictures like the one above. Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt that many Iraqis are quite happy that Hussein is dead. ...

...Like these people, who hanged Saddam in effigy in Baghdad.

However, when you consider what Iraqis are now suffering through, it's not like they are living in paradise. Instead of Hussein slaughtering people, now terrorists are doing the same thing because of America's occupation of Iraq. And YES, it IS an occupation.

Honestly, though, I'm surprised that our bloodthirsty government didn't air the execution on pay per view. And if you think that's ridiculous, you sure as hell haven't been paying attention since this war began. Only a government like ours could come up with fucking playing cards to promote all of the terrorists it wants dead. And we wonder why people around the world hate us.

I don't mean to sound so sarcastic (wait, yes I do), but it's hard not to be cynical about the publicity surrounding Hussein's execution. This administration has tried to manipulate the media to its benefit at every single turn before and during this war. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Anyone remember the "spontaneous" toppling of the Hussein statue in Baghdad? This has been written about at length, but it was anything but spontaneous. It was a goddamn PR sham. If you watched it as much as I did on TV (and it was impossible to avoid the coverage, if you had your TV on at all - I think QVC even broke into programming), you realized the whole spectacle was blatant pseudo-spontaneity. Remember the American Marine climbing a ladder and putting an American flag over Hussein's face, only to be replaced by an Iraqi flag a few minutes later? Ooops.

I love the fact that this picture exists, and I'm sure it irks the shit out of Rumsfeld, Bush and the rest of this administration. It's from 1983, when Rumsfeld flew to Baghdad to meet with Hussein. The historical record reflects that as long as Hussein was OUR dictator, we turned a blind eye on what he was doing, and that included when he was slaughtering thousands and thousands of his own people.

In the 1980s, when Iraq was fighting Iran, we sold Hussein millions in U.S. weaponry, including poison gas, which he used on his own people and Iranians in the Iran/Iraq War from 1980-1988. Of course, these gassings were used as one of the many justifications for going to war in 2003.

And many conveniently forget that Hussein gassed hundreds of thousands of Kurds following the 1991 Gulf War, and we did NOTHING. Yes, you read that right - NOTHING. And that was after the CIA promised the Kurds that we would intercede on their behalf if they raised up against Saddam. But again, the current Bush administration used 15-20 year old atrocities that we did nothing about at the time as a reason to go to war in 2003. And soooo many Republicans I know bought into the Bush administration's PR spin machine.

Ahh, forget about all of this crap. Just one question - anyone remember Osama bin Laden? Oh, I forgot - Bush is keeping us safer by spending billions of dollars and hundreds of our young in Iraq.

Three of the most incompetent people ever to hold public office after the announcement of Saddam's hanging (above). Bush announced today that Hussein's execution "would not bring an end to the violence" in Iraq. Thanks, genius. You're just full of wisdom, aren't you, Mr. President? Oh, and someone tell Dick the dick that you don't close both buttons on a two-button jacket.

I wouldn't trust these three to organize a class reunion. Only 674 days to go until the 2008 election. It can't get here quickly enough.