Times of India ,
India
Bush's Nightmare May Be Only Just Beginning
“After Saddam's execution, the U.S. is bracing for blowback that could last days, months or even decades.”
By Chidanand Rajghatta
December 31, 2006
India - Times of India - Original Article (English) 
WASHINGTON:
In an ironic moment near his ranch in Crawford, Texas on Friday, President Bush
was hustled toward an armored car which had been pressed into service as a
tornado shelter, even as Saddam Hussein was being readied for the gallows in
distant Baghdad.
The
tornado threat passed in about 10 minutes, enabling the President to resume his
working vacation. But after Saddam’s execution, the U.S. is bracing for blowback
that could last much longer - perhaps days, months or even decades.
Curiously,
while Saddam's capture three years ago occasioned much celebration in
Washington, his abrupt execution elicited an almost calm indifference. At his
ranch on Friday night, Bush went to bed shortly before the hanging in Baghdad
(where it was Saturday at dawn) and reports said he was not woken up to hear
the news of the execution.
In a
statement issued soon after the execution, Bush said, "Bringing Saddam
Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq," while describing
the development as "an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a
democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the
war on terror."
While
critics continued to question the process that sent Saddam to the gallows,
Bush, who believes unreservedly in the death penalty, insisted that Saddam was
executed only after a fair trial - "the kind of justice he denied victims
of his brutal regime."
"Fair
trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule. It is a
testament to the Iraqi people’s resolve to move forward after decades of
oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam
Hussein received a fair trial," Bush said.
In spite
of having backed many brutal dictators including Saddam himself at one point,
the U.S. is putting its own spin on what some analysts regard as the settling
of personal scores by the Bush White House.
[NEWSWIRE PHOTOS: Saddam Hussein].