Hey, here's a surprise: Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death.
You'll hear this story repeated a lot today, though you'll hear the whole story less often: How the U.S. intervened to make sure the verdict was announced two days before the U.S. mid-term elections. And you'll hear about how joyous Iraqis are so excited they are literally dancing in the streets, but you won't hear as much about the bitter resentment in the Sunni strongholds of Iraq, or that even Iraqis who lived infear of Saddam recognize Saddam's trial as a cynical U.S. publicity ploy, or that anger towards the Yankee invaders still grows stronger every day.
Why would you even want to hear any of that, when it's so much easier to shout, "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
More interesting is that today is Election Day in Nicaragua, and the front-runner is ex-Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. He's talked a lot about trying to forge a good relationship with the U.S., but that hasn't kept the Bushinistas from sending covert operatives down to try to throw the elections. (Our country has a long history of trying to manipulate Central America politics, usually by deliberately usurping democratic processes. This happens under both Republican and Democratic administrations.) The upshot of this meddling is, if he wins, there will probably be anti-U.S. sentiment, and if he loses, there will be the same.
One of Ortega's biggest boosters is Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, himself the survivor of a Bush-sanctioned attempted coup. Why Our Beloved President is so focused on his so-called Axis Of Evil half a world away, while ignoring the seething hatred he's fostering among people loiving just south of us is mystifying. True, these nations are not nuclear powers, but they have the power of truth on their side, and no matter what Bush may think, that is ultimately the greatest weapon of all.
