NBC's Richard Engel 'Moderately' Hearts Saddam Hussein

So NBC’s chief war correspondent Richard Engel claims that if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq, things would still be bad, but not as bad as before. His reasoning: Saddam Hussein would still be in power, but, “he was probably getting more moderate.”

So, what does he mean by “moderate?”

I suppose, maybe, “only gassing half as many Kurds?”

Kurds gassed by “The Moderate”

Perhaps he was going to instruct his sons to only rape women on “every other weekend.”

Or maybe, to help the environment, he’ll only electrocute citizens using recycled car batteries.

Anypoop – Engel’s wrong. He makes the point that Saddam would be more accommodating, but you can’t be more accommodating than when you’re dead. I think even Saddam would agree, if he were alive. But he’s dead, so he can’t.

In that sense, I guess he’s not that accommodating (which does poke a hole in my theory).

More important, Engel should remember that one of the real benefits of that war is reminding dictators and homicidal maniacs that they are not impervious. The U.S. can and will stand up against evil – and Engel knows that many evil bastards were against the war for precisely that reason. It scared them.

Finally, Engel bases everything on a basic premise: all war is bad, even wars we win.

But we all know war sucks. We hate it when people die. And a lot of people had problems with the Iraq War, myself included. But the fact is, we won, and Saddam -who Engel calls a very bad man – is gone. That is a major accomplishment, and it strikes me as wrong not to give our armed forces massive kudos for that tremendous achievement.

And if you disagree with me, you’re a racist Islamophobic homophobe.