After spending nine months on the run, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003. During his 24 years in office, Saddam’s secret police, charged with protecting his power, terrorized the public, ignoring the human rights of the nation’s citizens. While many of his people faced poverty, he lived in incredible luxury, building more than 20 lavish palaces throughout the country. It was fitting that, in the end, he was hiding in nothing more than a hole in the ground covered by plywood.
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
This has been another entry for Round 80 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
- A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
- A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
- A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
- DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
- Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
- A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
Second Prize:
- A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
- A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
- A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
- A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
- Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
- A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
- A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
- Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
- Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.
Round 80 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
As bad as Saddam Hussein was, does any American believe that Iraq is better off today because America waged war on that nation based on non-existent WMDs?
Hussein was captured in 2003. Yet 13 years later we were at war with Iraq, dropping 12,095 bombs in 2016 alone. Is that not evil?
Do you really believe that there were no WMDs. Do you remember the caravans of trucks from Saddams secret wharehouses and military bases headed into Beqaa valley in Syria? Do you remember Russia sending in cleanup crews to remove the bio warfare equipment and supplies so that they wouldn’t be tied into Iraq’s WMD production? Do you remember France, Germany and Holland delaying the invasion into Iraq at the UN because THEY had built many of Saddam’s WMD processing facilities? Do you remember the 550 tons of yellow cake found in Iraq? Do you remember the U.S. forces discovering a massive underground nuclear weapons facility during the invasion? DO you remember that for years Saddam disobeyed the treaty he made after the 1st gulf war which required a military response from us? Do you remember Saddam stonewalling the UN team that inspected his facilities for WMDs? Or is your memory selective?
I remember the US Marines that were illegally in the inspection teams that reported all weapons had been destroyed as required. I remember a lot of phony reports from Colin Powell,Bush,Rumsfool(who sold the weapons to Iraq) et al. I remember the “factories” that turned out to be fertilizer makers. If you believe any of what you just purported I have a bridge to sell you cheap.
Oh yea, I remember. Saw it on TV.
I hear ya @Roger. Glad we could help. HA HA HA. I’m sure that “liberating” Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and now Yemen for the glory of the islamo-fascist wahhabi sect and tribe to roll out strict Sharia, even up into Europe, was the right thing to do for the House of Saud. For whom does our government do its work?
Well,all I know is I still have a rew decks of the “52”wanted cards somewhere.
Good thing he’s gone, it was definitely worth 1000s of America and the Commonwealth’s girls and boys, plus the Lord knows how many Iraqis. We’re all safer now in the aftermath of Saddam’s regime’s destruction.
(That’s sarcasm by the way)
Wars are created to support the military industrial complex. We were warned about this by Eisenhower when he left office back in 1961. If there ever was one that would know about the military industrial complex, it would have been Ike.
Answer.
There’s a Muslim girl now elected to Congress and wearing a hijab against the rules make a wake. Her first order of business is Imigration Reform. She gave a long diatribe on how we need to open boarders in america and allow all the persecuted in foreign counties to enter America immediately.
You people on SuvivalBlog in this [comment thread] I’m ashamed of being called an American. Even an Afghan war veteran.
What’s the first thing Demtards and Libtards do when elected to congress. Bring all the troops home. That’s when the Saddams of the world rally creating more refugees that Libtards I’ve to open their arms to embrace at our doorstep.
Look. No one likes war and especially losing loved ones or brothers in arms. But you have to fight them over there and clean up the messes of the world or else Liberals will want them all in this country for voting groups.
I’m dismayed. At these comments today. Not good.
Agreed!
Thx for your service.
“She gave a long diatribe on how we need to open boarders in america and allow all the persecuted in foreign counties to enter America immediately.”
Good. Then we should allow the persecuted CHRISTIANS in IMMEDIATELY from the Islamic countries.
A simple test to distinguish the true Christian from the taqiyya muzzie……..have them desecrate a Quoran, see how they react.
Brother, regardless of how politicians wasted our efforts, our generation…the 1% who took the oath and put on the uniform, anyway…can always remember that when called, we answered. We stood against evil in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other places, and no one can take that from us.
Because if we don’t clean up the Saddams of the world they will be at our doorstep asking for asylum.
Liberals pull all of our troops out of foreign lands and create vacuums for dictators to advance.
How many bases did Clinton close? Why did we lose Vietnam – it was a Democrat in the Oval Office.
Why was there a vacuum in Iraq – because Otrauma pulled the troops. Like in one day.
Get the Syrians out of Europe and back to their homelands. Get the the illegals out of our country and back to their homelands.
“Because if we don’t clean up the Saddams of the world they will be at our doorstep asking for asylum.”
It’s not our fight. It’s up to the citizens of those countries to clean up their lousy governments. I’m happy to sell them all the weapons they need to do the job. But it is not worth even one American life. Ask yourself, is it worth the lives of my grand children?
“Liberals pull all of our troops out of foreign lands and create vacuums for dictators to advance.”
In Ukraine our government promoted (make that backed) the coup d’etat that put in a brutal NeoNazi dictator that has caused untold deaths throughout the Ukraine. All while putting us on a path that could lead to nuclear war with Russia. An incredibly stupid idea.
“How many bases did Clinton close?”
Clinton didn’t, congress did, a Republican Congress. This in an attempt to start cutting operating costs for the bankrupt US government.
“Why did we lose Vietnam?”
I am a Vietnam War veteran. We lost Vietnam because 1) we were in over our heads, even MacArthur knew to stay of of a jungle war. 2) we should not have been there in the first place. We didn’t stop the spread of communism, we promoted it. Look at the good old uSA, today. Communism actually won.
“it was a Democrat in the Oval Office.”
No it was Richard Nixon, a Republican. Then Gerald Ford, also a Republican. The Democrat Lyndon Johnson was too stupid to pull out when he should. John Kennedy wanted to pull the troops out by 1965, that’s why the deep state cabal in DC had to kill him. Too much money at stake for the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex (Eisenhower’s original wording).
“Why was there a vacuum in Iraq – because Otrauma pulled the troops. Like in one day.”
No the vacuum in Iraq was caused by destroying the government of Iraq. The same goes for Libya, Somalia, the Sudans, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc, etc, etc. Oh, and we never completely pulled out. Almost 16 years later, we are still in Iraq, 18 years later we are still in Afghanistan.
“Get the Syrians out of Europe and back to their homelands.”
Maybe we should have left Syria alone, then there would not be a bunch of Syrians in Europe. Maybe if the EU parliament would acquire a little knowledge and realize these Mohammedans are incompatible with European society, they’d stop importing the “refugees” into Europe in the first place. Maybe if the European elites didn’t hate their own citizens so much, maybe if they promoted European society instead of trying to destroy it, the Syrians and the Iraqis and the Somalians and etc, etc, etc, wouldn’t be there in the first place. There is something seriously wrong with the mentality of the folks the Europeans keep electing to run their countries and the European parliament. Goes for the folks WE keep electing to public office in America as well. Socialism is a serious mental defect. Unfortunately it’s probably an untreatable disease.
“Get the the illegals out of our country and back to their homelands.”
There you go. Build that wall, bring home our troops from South Korea, Europe, Japan, Africa, the middle east, etc. and put them on the border with Mexico and maybe Canada (Trudeau is an ass**le who also hates his own citizens, especially those in Canada’s flyover country).
Whatever you think about his methods… they WORKED! Saddam kept the splinter groups in fear of their lives! (and Iran worried) Harsh but effective.
The American Indian Wars lasted from the Jamestown Massacre of 1621 to the last engagement with Yaqui Indians in Arizona in 1918 at the Battle of Bear Valley. Some three hundred years.
The Clash of Civilizations ongoing between the West and Islam started in the Eighth Century, and is still simmering.
Don’t expect it to cease until one side or the other loses. My sons generation may not see the end of this fight, nor their grandsons.
There is no one Islam. Sunni and Shia Muslims have been killing each other since the eighth century, also. Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Muslim countries are struggling for the upper hand in the Middle East.
Let’s get real and recognize the enemy in our midst. He looks and talks like us. He has no interest in Sharia Law, just in consumer law. He wants you to fear “them” so you don’t look too closely at him. Buy that Made in China junk and make him rich. Generally his name is preceded by the title “billionaire”. He gives money to both parties, bankrolls Tea Party and Antifa. Working to create division among us, as we compete for status (Rolex, Springfield Armory, Land Rover) and power (the aforementioned Tea Party and Antifa). Beware the big bucks guy who is ready to write a check to “support” your cause. He seeks to put a velvet collar around your throat.
Carry on.
Saddam Hussein was not captured by us he was sold to us for multimillion dollar”reward”,he was portrayed in this manner as part of the “psychological warfare” against us. He came to power as a functionary of US/CIA foreign policy. Everything he did was with US permission and support until hw bush changed his mind after he gave Saddam written permission to invade Kuwait to stop oil thefts,then he became a empbarrassment and was removed.