"Iraqis in the audience broke out in cheers, leapt up from their seats and pumped their fists in the air many had waited decades for that moment. This is a great day in Iraq's history, Bremer said, adding: The tyrant is a prisoner. I was in the audience that day in Baghdad, covering the Iraq invasion's aftermath as a correspondent for a US newspaper."
"It quickly became clear that Bremer and other jubilant US officials would use the occasion US soldiers dragged the disheveled former Iraqi dictator out of a hole in the ground where he had been hiding near his home town to declare that America's war had reached a decisive turn. Despite a growing insurgency led by ex-members of the Iraqi security forces, US officials in Baghdad and Washington projected confidence that victory was in sight now that Saddam was locked up and headed for the gallows."
Paul Bremer declared “we got him” after US troops captured Saddam Hussein on 14 December 2003, prompting jubilant Iraqi reaction. US officials framed the capture as a decisive turning point even as an insurgency led by former Iraqi security personnel grew. That optimism proved mistaken as the Iraq war and insurgency dragged on for years, making Saddam's capture a minor episode amid prolonged conflict that devastated Iraqi society and imposed heavy costs on the United States. A similar triumphalist framing emerged with claims that US forces seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, accompanied by warnings that other leaders could be targeted.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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