According to the New York Times, when Saddam got hanged, Bush was asleep, and nobody woke him up to tell him.

Of course, very few people believe this is the case. Over at Making Light, Teresa Nielsen Hayden ponders what the truth probably was. But I’m kind of interested in the fiction. Assuming that the “Don’t Wake Daddy” story is the usual White House spin, what an odd choice it is.

What’s it supposed to convey? Obviously it’s supposed to appeal to his base, but how? How does, “I’m not losing any sleep over Saddam’s death” speak to the bloodthirsty fanatics who were no doubt popping champagne corks over the fact that Hitler II had Iraqi Boogalooed off this mortal coil?

I mean, this guy was the whole reason for the Iraq war, once the Wheel of Justification stopped spinning. Saddam was a vicious mad tyrant who had gassed his own people (51,400 hits for this phrase on Google) and needed to be gotten rid of. He’s the reason we had to go in and liberate Iraq. He’s the reason 3,000 of our soldiers and an unknown-because-we-don’t-bother-to-count number of Iraqis had to die. And while it was kind of Bush to recognize that Saddam’s death wouldn’t stop the violence, you’d think he’d have a few pithy words about Justice to mark the occasion. Something that would have the right wing holding their hats over their hearts while they fire their guns in the air. But “I sleepy”? What the hell is that supposed to be?

I’ll tell you where Bush should have been. He should have been in Iraq, in that execution chamber. Now, I know he couldn’t pull the lever, because we had to pretend this was a 100% Iraqi production. And I know he probably wouldn’t have been safe in there, because the guys we had executing Saddam are the same guys who’ve been killing our soldiers and who pledge allegiance to our new Evil Arab du Jour, Moktada Al Sadr, and would happily have strung George up as well. But considering that Bush’s hatred of the guy was enough for him to abandon the search for Bin Laden, abandon any and all efforts in Afghanistan, run the nation dangerously into debt, spread the military perilously thin, send 3,000 of our soldiers to their deaths, invade another country, kill , imprison, and torture innocent citizens of that country, and add even more fuel to the fire of militant Islam, you’d think he would have to be in the room when Saddam was put to death. You’d think he’d have to be a man and look his prey in the eye. You’d think he would owe it to both Iraq and America to be a fucking human being and acknowledge what was happening. It’s not like he’s uncomfortable with the idea of executions, what with his history as governor ofTexas.

Bush now wants 30,000 more troops to send to Iraq. Where they’ll come from and what they’ll do is anyone’s guess. Even the troops that are already there don’t think this is a good idea. But that’s what he wants. He’s looking for 30,000 more people to sign up to go fight, kill, and possibly die for something he can’t be bothered to get out of bed to hear about.