Alaskan Bulgarian

"Nie Go Namerihme"

Since it will be English everywhere else, I thought it'd be appropriate for me to write the big quote in transliterated Bulgarian here. This morning, I put down whatever I had been reading to go eat some lunch. Food in hand, I flipped the TV to CNN and watched on the edge of the couch as skeptical rumor reporting became assured speculation, then a quote from the governing council, then "we got him" and finally cheers in a press room as one of the luckiest medical officers ever was shown picking through Saddam's hair and teeth on international TV. In the middle of all that, I got some news that my travel plans for New Year's might be in trouble, but that was something to deal with during the week. This news was important, exciting, and happy now.

This is a timeline Shakespeare would have written a great history around. Act 1 would be the prelude to war, Act 2: the war, Act 3: Uday and Qusay, the sons, are killed. Act 4 would be the hunt and capture of Saddam and Act 5 would be a long and detailed portrait of his trial and subsequent execution. Some critics would call the last act a weak point in the play, being much slower than the others, but most would agree that it reflected the just end to the man's life very well. The last line of the play would be a soliloquy from Bremer or Bush, with the last lines being something like "There's never been a greater pity/That such a man as he/Ever lived."

Whatever Shakespeare would have done with it, it's an incredible and terrific thing that it's finally done. That the shadow is off, and that Iraq can finally begin to move on without the worry that "he" might come back. They also move on with the knowledge that he probably lived much of his last few months of freedom in a hole. It's a triumph for America and our allies, but it's an even greater triumph for Iraq and its people, who can finally leave the worst memories behind.