There is a report in the news today that Saddam Hussein came within 24 hours of being captured/killed by the US.

But, what is more interesting to me is the statement made by the General Richard Myers (Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff). He said that he does not think that Saddam is behind the "pockets of resistance" that the US military is facing nowadays. He goes onto say that Saddam is probably "too busy trying to save his own skin".

I think that is the first true and accurate statement made by a US official this month (It's July 27th by the way). Saddam knows he has no chance of outstaging the US now. All hecan do is try to flee and save his own hide. He has never and is never going to care about the Iraqi people. Definitely not enough to risk his own life to lead a resistence movement against the most fearsome amy ever.

So.. now the question arises... if Saddam isn't forcing/supporting/motivating these people to attack the American forces and rise up in protest against them.. then who is? I believe that is the wrong question to ask actually. I think that rather than asking who is motivating them, we should focus on the whats. What do these people have against the US? Why do they kill the ones that have freed them? Why is their a popular resistence movement. Do not be fooled, this is not an underground movement made up of guerillas. This is a popular movement. People come out in thousands everyday to protest the presence of American forces. Certainly, there is a violent side to this movement. But, that side is overshadowed by the peacefull side. The violent side remains on the fringes of the movement. It is true that we never hear about the hundreds of peaceful protests on CNN, ABC, FOX and NBC but that does not mean that they do not exist.

The answer tO what motivates these people is simple. Hatred for the United States. Simple... why? Because they are intelligent too. These are not stupid people. They have brains. They can tell when they are being exploited. First of all, the US was the power that provided enough support to Saddam for him to become such a dictator and oppress his own people. Then, when he went against US wishes, the USA was the one that led the charge in terms of sanctions. They continued this tactic even when it was proven that it was not working because Saddam had even more power than ever before.

Moroever, people were dying of diseases like Polio while the US stayed content with its sanctions. Then, this is the same power that indiscriminately bombed these folks' houses and killed their friends/family and destroyed what little they had in order to find weapons which never existed. Iraqis understand that this attack and the presence was/is for nothing more than oil. They understand that everyday that they stay silent against the US soldiers is another day that their country loses more of its precious oil that could and should be used to rebuild a country in tatters.

They understand all this and more of the hypocrisy and bullshit being fed to them by radio and tv stations maintained by America, that sound Arab/Iraqi but carry the foul stench of deciet and lies in their "product of free press" news bulletins.

Would you embrace someone after you had been reportedly kicked down by them? Would you open your house to people that intend to rob you of the same home you are presently welcoming them into? I wouldn't. I don't support the killings of US soldiers but I do support the resistence agianst them.

Like the Zapatistas motto goes... Ya Basta!