12-23-2003, 03:09 AM
Saddam Hussein will probably be kept alive. America doesn't want him to become a martyr to inspire more jihads.
As for the grenade-in-the-hole thing, the American government has done political assassination before, but not to much success. During the Cold War, Chile became a communist republic under the President Allende. Fearful about the ramifications of having a communist country so close to us, the government sent some agents to assassinate Allende, even though he had not shown any actual threat to us. We then chose a new capitalist leader for Chile, and he ended up being a military dictator. The Portenos were understandably pissed about that.
Thus, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea for us to kill Saddam on sight.
As for the grenade-in-the-hole thing, the American government has done political assassination before, but not to much success. During the Cold War, Chile became a communist republic under the President Allende. Fearful about the ramifications of having a communist country so close to us, the government sent some agents to assassinate Allende, even though he had not shown any actual threat to us. We then chose a new capitalist leader for Chile, and he ended up being a military dictator. The Portenos were understandably pissed about that.
Thus, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea for us to kill Saddam on sight.