Dancing in the streets!

[Boris Godunov]

Actually, from the footage I saw, the crowd was no bigger than 300 people. But a lot of people were still afraid of getting shot/bombed/etc., so naturally they'd hesitate to come out in the open. Those that did come out were likely as interested in showing the new powers that be that they love them so they wouldn't be suspected of anything as they were in celebrating.

Iraqis are very fearful now, as well over half the population have only known Saddam as their ruler. The frighteningly creepy attempt by certain sheiks to try and get the U.S. Marines to go after "bad guys" probably shows why a lot of people my have good reason to fear, as there are a lot of groups that will now be vying for power. To top it all, the CIA has declared that our current favorite to be Saddam's successor is not fit for the position, which doesn't inspire much confidence.

[Jack the Bodiless]

I don't think we can read much into the small size of the crowd.

This wasn't an organized demonstration, just a spontaneous gathering of those who were nearby and prepared to show themselves in the middle of what was, after all, a battle in progress. And many were busy elsewhere, defacing other monuments to Saddam all over Baghdad.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
BTW, did anyone hear Rummy's excuse for why they may not find bio/chem weapnos? They may have been snuck out of the country.

Spin cycle continues...prepare for the white wash!

[GePap]

Originally posted by Jack the Bodiless
I don't think we can read much into the small size of the crowd.

This wasn't an organized demonstration, just a spontaneous gathering of those who were nearby and prepared to show themselves in the middle of what was, after all, a battle in progress. And many were busy elsewhere, defacing other monuments to Saddam all over Baghdad.

The crowds in berlin were spontaneous as well.

We arer talking about a city of 5 million. Sure, there are plenty of statues of Saddam, butif huge crowds were there, we would have seen them on TV. After all, those are the osrt of images reporters would expect and be looking for on such a day.

[chequita guevara]

I'm not gonna read anything into the size of the crowd, given that fighting was still going on in the city. The most important thing to remember is Iraq's refusal to fight for Hussein. An army of a quarter million doesn't just vanish, and yet much of it did.

We shall see.

[GePap]

IN the section of the city that statue was pulled down there was no moe fighting.

I agree that the vast majority of Iraqis did not fight for Hussein at all, far less than I had expected eve from those that had made their lives thanks to him. Still, if most people stayed home out of fear, then that is an issue the Us has to start to deal with: I have read in the papers several accoints of how US commanders are hesiatnt to use thier troops as police and law enforcement at this time, hoping Iraqis start doing that very soon for themselves. The thing is, who will do it until thopse Iraqis that are trained police decide its worth it for them to go back out in uniform?

[Menlas]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
BTW, did anyone hear Rummy's excuse for why they may not find bio/chem weapnos? They may have been snuck out of the country.

Yeah, i wonder when Rummy will "reveal" they have been carried to North Korea

[Spiffor]

Should they not find anything, they'll plant WMds here and there. But I trust Saddam to have kept some remaining weapons, and to have kept some labs.
Rummy will simply tell these mere toys are the greatest threat the world has ever known.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Should they not find anything, they'll plant WMds here and there.

It must be nice to have the ability to KNOW AS A FACT what other people are thinking and what they will do...

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Spiffor's simply repeating the propoganda of Chirac again I see.

[Spiffor]

Ming :
Should there be no WMDs, do you seriously think your admin will say "Oopsie, we were wrong" ?

Don't get me wrong : it is extremely likely there are traces of WMDs and programs in Iraq, and as such, planting false proofs would be useless. The admin will simply explain these few WMDs are extremely super-duper mega everybody-run-for-your-lives dangerous.

Ogie :
I have not seen anywhere in the French media this theory. Maybe some have claimed Bush will plant WMDs to look good, but I don't know because I'm not very exposed to my country's media.
It is my thinking. It is my strong belief your admin cannot afford to be wrong.

[Japher]

Spiffor: What does it matter if there are or are not WOMD?

I know - It doesn't matter at all.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Ming :
Should there be no WMDs, do you seriously think your admin will say "Oopsie, we were wrong" ?

The FACT is, I don't know what they will do... and neither do you. I'm willing to wait and see what happens... You are assuming the worse... and you know what they say about people that assume

[Ned]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Considering the half-assed job we're doing in Afganistan, we' can't guarantee 1 or 2.

I noted this earlier and I will note this again. The liberals and leftists on this forum are continuing to advocate ongoing "supervision" of Afghanistan's government and propose long term "supervision" of Iraq.

Yet they say they are against Imperialism.

[Ned]

We see in the left's comment what the Arab street will believe if we find WMD.

This is the OJ case all over again. The all black jury beleived the blood evidence was planted by racist cops.