Don't know about you ladies but I find it amazing that he has been captured. I think it's like finding a needle in a hay stack.

While I'm grateful he is now in custody there's a part of me that's fearful of what may happen next. Do you think there could be a plan of attack for the time he was captured?

Personally Dotsie -- I think this is the beginning of the end of tyranny in our world.

There truly is a chance for international peace and good will with the ALIVE capture of this maniac. The people of Iraq no longer have to fear that this regime could come back and they can now feel FREE to live FREE -- and until this man was caught ALIVE -- they couldn't do that.

He didn't die a martyr -- he didn't fight to the death in battle for his regime -- he was captured quietly and with no resistance in a hole in the ground like a trapped animal -- and this will take alot of wind out of the young men's sails that worshipped him.

America will bring democracy to the middle east. We will respect their religion, free their women, and honor their dead.

And as funny as it may sound -- when McDonald's and Wal Mart open stores in Iraq and the rest of the middle east sees how WONDERFUL our capitalist system is -- they will all follow suit quickly

Retaliation ???? oh I'm sure we will have many obstacles to overcome -- as there are always going to be madmen in our world -- children misled by fanatics -- but I truly believe that with the capture of Saddam Hussein --
the "Hitlers" of the world have come to an end.

The mid eastern countries will eventually realize that we didn't go to war on Iraq for their oil -- well let's be honest -- of COURSE we want their oil -- but we want to deal with a FREE country where EVERYONE can profit -- not just a select few. And personally -- I don't give a DAMN whether they find weapons of mass destruction or not -- we did the RIGHT THING !!!!!!!!!!!!! by taking this madman out of control -- and YES -- we did it for economic reasons -- but we mainly did it to keep another 9/11 from happening again.

Now there can be a better world for our children and our children's children -- and it will all be written down in history as the day President Bush, our armed forces and AMERICANS stood up to Saddam !!!

Well said Lionspaw. I'm not as confident that there will not be other hitlers. But I felt that we fought a difficult war with honor and we conquered with grace. Today I was proud for the President and I am proud to be an American.

I too am very grateful Saddam has been captured. However I'm much more pessimistic than lionspaaw: the history of the world has been written by and about madmen willing to kill and destroy all in their path in the pursuit of power, and I don't believe that stopping one blood-thirsty megalomaniac will put an end to it. Unfortunately, there always seems to be another despotic "leader", and hordes of morality-challenged idiots willing to follow.

Let's take it one step at a time.

Today we acted justly to help eliminate the inhumanities in Iraq. Let us be thankful for our strong nation and all the mothers who sacrificed their sons for this to be.

Maybe we can move forward in the knowledge that we stopped this one and maybe next time there will be more countries lining up at the fence to take on whoever is next.

We women know that you can't let the bully run the play yard.

God Blessed America.

I'm curious about where you all get your news? I hope you're not relying on television?! I hope you're actively seeking out information by reading, weighing and examining the reports. The greatness of the US is about self governance, but self governance relies on education. These days to be educated about events you have to work a little harder. As has been observed elsewhere on this forum, TV is about entertainment, not information.
Yes, Saddam Hussein was a bully and a coward, but we already knew that -- we armed and trained him for years because we were enemies with Iran.
I said it before and I still say that invading Iraq was a diversion. We were after Osama Bin Laden, not Saddam Hussein. Whatever happened to him anyway? To add to the confusion, the administration has acknowledged that Iraq was not responsible for 9-11, although Dick Cheney rhetorically links the two, which creates confusion in the minds of most American citizens. However, since our invation, Iraq has become a breeding ground for Al Qaida. Before we went in there alone, the world loved us and was willing to help.
And speaking of Wal-Mart, that one company is responsible for ruining many shopping districts around the country. That so many people support it is a shame. If you could go to some of the towns in the Midwest that were once vibrant and are now ghost towns because of Wal Mart, you wouldn't shop there ever again -- they go in and under-sell everyone, so the small businesses go under. Then the former owners get hired back at low wages. And Wal-Mart doesn't carry the great variety that the little stores used to carry. Plus, everything is made in China. so how patriotic is it to shop there?
And in case you're wondering, I do not belong to any political party. My dad is a Republican and my mom is a Democrat. I inform myself, and don't vote parties.

DJ, I would be the first to agree with you about trusting the mainstream media. I fully expect them to put a negative spin on this whole event sooner or later.

I understand that we put Sadam in power in the first place and even supplied him with materials that he later used to kill his own people. But then how does our country or even we as individuals know who to trust? Whoever goes into power in Iraq may become as bad as Sadam or worse, who knows? But after seeing the mass graves and other aspects of his cruel dictatorship which appeared only on late night TV, I became convince3d we were right to take him from power.

I find it difficult to believe that Sadam Hussein, a corrupt leader of one the wealthiest countries in the world, and right in the middle of the terrorist locations, is completely innocent in the 9-11 bombing. As to the media reports that Iraq has only recently become a haven for terrorists and that their arrival there resulted only from our presence, I'm not sure how they would know that. What sources could they trust to give them that information? It sounds like pure conjecture to me.

I believe it was Colin Powell who said something along the lines of, "The only land taken by Americans when they have won a war is the space necessary to bury our dead." In the same speech, he gave specific examples and supplied ample evidence to support that statement. I cannot now recall all of it, but it made a profound impression.

I 100% agree with you in distrusting the media. And I think we are at a historical juncture in the area of information dissemination . As a result of the Internet, we can now conduct our own research and are no longer limited to what has been pre selected and edited for us by a publisher. And today, just like the large publishing conglomerates though not as easily yet, we can reach the world with our opinions.

This bulletin board is one of the many examples of how any American can publish their viewpoint and make an impact on the world. Boomers have seen a lot and don a lot and we are surely living in a historic time.

I am still proud for our leaders and even more proud of my country.

If I may augment DJ's comments on Walmart: the money you "save" by shopping there comes directly from the paychecks of their women employees. They have had a class action suit against them for (2?) years because of unequal pay scale and lack of promotion opportunities for their women workers.

You can say good things and bad things about everything in this life -- but I tend to be an optimist -- my cup is ALWAYS half full -- and I think the mid eastern countries are finally coming around to the 21st century -- and as awful as our media can be -- it's also why we won't have another Hitler -- you can't blow your nose now adays without the media reporting it. We will always have these small groups of lunatics in our world -- but I still don't believe the world will allow the likes of another Hitler or Saddam.

There are times in American history that I shudder at our actions -- consider our attempt to wipe the American Indians off the face of the earth -- but we're growing as humans -- and we've done alot of GOOD things too -- so I will still say proudly that I'm an American.

As far as WalMart goes -- you will always find critics when a small company makes it big. But like everything else in the world -- you have to look at the BIG PICTURE. Yes, WalMart has put alot of Mom and Pops business' out of business -- but as one of those mom and pop business's I have to say -- I couldn't offer competitive wages to HUNDREDS of people in my little yarn shop. I wasn't able to give TERRIFIC health insurance and dental insurance to HUNDREDS of people in my mom and daughter shop. I couldn't put money in weekly in every single full time employee's 401K -- whether they contributed or not -- like WalMart does. My stock wasn't worth $55-60 a stock and I wasn't able to allow an employee to buy $2 - $5 - $10 or more a paycheck towards stock -- and not even most other big companies allows their employees to buy stock that way. And as far as the class action suit goes -- that isn't against the WalMart's in general -- only aimed at a few of the MANAGERS in a few WalMarts -- out of 4 WalMarts in our area -- 3 of them have women as their general managers, assn't managers and regional managers. And I will mention one more thing that WalMart's do -- hire cheap labor in the poorest of countries and turn arould and sell them to us cheaper than other companies -- but have you considered that $1.00 a day to families in these countries is like $70 a day to families here in the US ? If there wasn't WalMart and other companies like that in these poor countries these families wouldn't even be EATING that week. I would ask critics to go ask those families if they wish WalMart would stop offering them wages and go home. I would venture to say they would thank WalMart for allowing them to feed their children that night. Should they pay them more OF COURSE but alot more than nothing goes along way.

We could go back and forth all night long about the pros and cons of life -- there will always be something we could do better -- always be more that politicians and big companies can do -- always have the pains of growing as people -- but at least we're big enough to say we were WRONG -- we backed the wrong horse and now we're trying to make things right -- if you can't forgive the past how are you able to learn lessons for the future ??????

Thank you Lionspaaw for sharing your full cup.

And for reminding us to look for the good and ignore the bad except to change it.

smile