Cipherdom (deprecated)

The Mud Hutter

Yesterday U.S. troops saved Saddam from an existence that was probably more unpleasant than the brief one he's about to endure in an Iraqi prison, where he'll be shown the type of humane treatment he denied to his people. Evidently, he spent the past seven months on the receiving end of an especially bad Trading Spaces makeover. Or maybe it's Green Acres -- "Darling, I love you, but give me a mud hut on the Tigris." One day, he's got palaces farther than the eye can see, the next he's curled up underground with a few books, some hot dogs, and a bare fluorescent light. Sic Semper Tyrannis. In that indelible video of his medical exam, he looked like an early-stage Alzheimers patient, so forlorn that you could almost forget he's a bloodthirsty butcher who deserves much worse than the execution he'll get next September, according to my estimate.

Tonight on Fox News, liberal strawman Alan Colmes lobbed his usual softballs to the exultant Sen. Orrin Hatch. Among other inanities, they agreed that the debate over whether the war was justified is now over. Nice try. Just watch the Howard Dean bashing begin in earnest now. In the GOP echo chamber, a story is being stirred to portray the presumptive Democratic nominee and Moveon.org as pawns of foreign interests. This will seem quaint before the election is over. Dean's greatest challenge is to convince middle America that it is not unpatriotic to express dissent during wartime. Don't bet against him, since he's already convinced a lot of liberals to overlook his "A" rating from the NRA, among other, um, quirks.