I don't believe anything that comes out of the White House anymore.

Even if it's true, he'll probably watch the DVD of the execution hourly for the rest of his life.

Let's do the math on that-
Saddam was executed just before 10pm ET.
Bush is in Texas, which makes that just before 9pm CT. I believe he's been there this whole week, so you can't really argue he's still on east coast time.
Now, figure Bush went to sleep more than a short time before 9pm CT, because he proably would have stayed up to hear the news if it was close, and because to be "roused" you have to have fallen asleep first. So say half an hour- meaning Bush goes to sleep around 8:30.
Can we assume this is his regular schedule? We all know Bush likes a good night's sleep, but this is just bizarre- is he an infant, a narcoleptic, or what?

Riiight.

Bush keeps Saddam's pistol on display in the Monica closet in the Oval Office. He likely watched the execution live on a secure feed, commentingin sadistic glee. He'll have a lock of Saddam's hair from his executed corpse as soon as it can be flown from the TV studio in the Green Zone where Saddam was hung.

If not Saddam's head in a bag.

no, power play. He "doesn't have trouble sleeping" over anything he's done in Iraq. He claims not to be interested in the execution of the man who made an assassination attempt on his father, except to say that it is a step forward or whatever. Etc. Come on. He's basking in the fact that he slept (or says he did) while Saddam died, after he set it in motion.

I don't regret Saddam's death any more than I did, say, Ceausescu's, but while the window dressing might have seemed a little prettier an ocean away on this one, I really wish we could have done this better.

Most importantly, why on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice (Abraham and Isaac/Ishmael)? This couldn't have waited four days? (though I was grateful it wasn't yet again clearly positioned for Bush's political advantage, right before the state of the union, I wonder if this isn't, worse, positioned for some Iraqi politicians' advantage - to take advantage of the religiously charged timing, especially with Sunnis celebrating the Eid starting today, and Shiites saying no, it doesn't start until tomorrow.)

duplicate

Reports of Bush allegedly sleeping through Saddam's execution makes a great metaphor for his handling of the whole war...

I believe he slept through it. Though the capture and execution of Saddam has always been a primary goal, I doubt he had the stomach to actually watch him dangle on the rope.

Maybe he had consumed too many "pretzels".

Why indeed on the first day of Eid-al-Adha, a day like Easter or Christmas on the Christian calendar. Why, indeed? Perhaps hanging Saddam wouldn't be enough incentive for Sunnis to step up their insurgency so let's get them REALLY angry and hang the guy on a day sacred on the Mulim calendar.

Why did Sharon, shortly after taking office, and thousands of Israeli military march on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the third most sacred site in all of Islam? Palestinians weren't rebelling enough? (It worked. They graduated from rock throwing to blowing themselves up in buses and cafes.)

What was with sending Bolton, a guy vocally and vociferously committed to hating the UN, as our diplomatic representative to the UN?

Why did Sharon make a special, and well advertised trip to India, a presently subdued but vowed enemy of Muslim Pakistan, to sell it Israeli arms? Certainly guaranteed to rouse enmity in the Muslim world.

Wave a red cape in front of a bull and it charges, which is what you want it to do if you're in a bullring. So are these moves by the US and Israel meant to make "the bull charge?" Or, is this "bully" behavior, king of the playground stuff, power plays to make everybody run scared. It's obvious that whatever it is, its architects are committed to sticking to the plans.

Create a world dominated by war and rumors of war. Should peace raise its ugly head, kill it. I challenge anyone to deny this reality.

Bush has never been 'glued' to anything, unless you mean his bottle of Hooch when he was an alcoholic.

Some folks think that after hundreds of thousands Americans have served months or years in Iraq, and tens of thousands have died or been wounded, Bush might have enough interest to awaken at the hour of Saddam's transport by US forces to a US base for his execution by Moktada al Sadr supporters.

Gettsburg is such an exceptional judge of human nature.

Bush presided over 152 executions while governor of Texas, more death sentences fulfilled than any other governor in modern history. Bush, contrary to Gettysburg's opinion, seems to have a stomach of iron for executions.

He also was very eager to start two wars, one of which has resulted in half a million or so dead, including 3,000 American service members.

Just like his own military experience (or lack of it) he's eager to talk tough, and put countless others in harms way, but when the time came to put his own neck on the line, he ran the other way.

Bronto

You seem to forget that most prison executions take place late at night. Ironically, Bush probably slept through most, if not all, of those as well. It is not as if he were in the chamber watching the convicted person die.

Well responsibility is a different argument. The thesis of this thread is that Bush was asleep at the time Saddam's neck was snapped by the rope.

Is it a bad thing that Saddam is dead?

It is not as if he were in the chamber watching the convicted person die.

No. But he does seem to have a somewhat special attitude towards capital punishment

Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer criticized Gov. George W. Bush for making fun of an executed Texas woman in an interview Bush gave to Talk magazine. "I think it is nothing short of unbelievable that the governor of a major state running for president thought it was acceptable to mock a woman he decided to put to death." Just before her execution date, Tucker appealed for clemency on the grounds that she had become a born-again Christian. Bush's reply: " `Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, `don't kill me,' "

Is Bronto1 conflating GWB with Osama? Welcome, Bronto!