Tyrant caught, time to move ahead
Published 2:27 pm Wednesday, December 17, 2003
By Staff
'We got him'
There have seldom been three words more welcome to Americans than that sentence spoken by Paul Bremmer on the capture of Saddam Hussien.
Whether you personally believed in the mission of the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, this makes it a whole new ball game.
Not necessarily a safer place to be for Americans, though, at least in the short run. There are bound to be some repercussions from loyalists who still believe that Saddam was the best thing for the nation.
But the money he had stolen from the nation and hidden away to keep those loyalists loyal will be found and returned to its rightful owners, the people of Iraq, or it will simply dry up and disappear, as those kind of funds are apt to do when a dictator is deposed.
Then those loyalists – read here mercenaries – will move on to other pursuits, or they will fall in line with the new government.
That is when Iraq will become safer for American and coalition forces. That is when the nation may begin to be returned to the rule of its own people.
That is when every mother, father, sister, brother or child of the American soldiers working to make Iraq free will hear the words they long to hear: 'I'm coming home.'
Let us not forget, either that it was not a capture made by intelligence officers, not because the man made an error, was spotted in public.
This was plain old-fashioned leg work that allowed us to see this man caught like a rat in a trap.
And that work was done, not by computers, but by our American warriors.
Good job, guys. Way to go.
Now on to find Osama bin Laden.
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Atmore looks great
Isn't it great to see the town a decked out for the
holidays? The lights on buildings downtown twinkle like diamonds and the train station by night is picture postcard perfect.
We get the best of the winter weather because the snowflakes are on street lights rather than drifting down on our noses and eyelashes. We get to see those lovely lights without the wet nasty mess the real things make when they melt.
Businesses are lit up, decorated with the styles and
colors of the season. Everyone seems to be less worried about day-to-day problems and steps a little lighter. It does a heart good to see the transformation.
When you think about it, Atmore is like a grand old lady.
From time to time the weather may cause her to be a
little bedraggled, but for the most part, she looks fine.
And when there is a party, such as Williams Station Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas, she pulls out all the stops to get dolled up and look great for the company sure to stop in for a visit. So take a stroll downtown, take a look, do a little shopping.
It's Christmas in Atmore!