U. S. Turns Power Over to Saddam
copyright © 2004 by Robert L. Blau

Special to the Daily Dishrag - The Bush administration announced today that it had sacked the entire Iraqi Governing Council and returned power to Saddam Hussein in a brief ceremony.  Presidents Bush and Saddam were seen smiling broadly, shaking hands, and kissing each other on both cheeks.  By way of explanation, Vice President Dick Cheney remarked, "One thing you've got to say for those Baathists:  They sure know how to keep order.  Al-Sadr'll never know what hit him."
    DD's own Brian Beegle caught up with the happy presidents after the ceremony and recorded this exclusive interview:

BB:  Mr. President, I must admit I'm surprised.
GB/SH:  Which "Mr. President?"
BB:  Um, the elected one.
GB/SH:  That would be neither of us.
BB:  Fair enough.  President Bush, after all the bad blood between you and Mr. Saddam here, how come he's suddenly President of Iraq again?
GB:  All of the ... unpleasantness was just a little misunderstanding.  All water under the bridge.
SH:  Or into the sand.  Hee, hee.
BB:  A little misunderstanding?
SH:  Oh, yes.  Take that whole Kuwait thing.  The American ambassador told me it was ok for me to annex it.  If my ambassador had made a mistake like that, I would've be roasted her over a slow flame.
GB:  Oh, me, too.  But that was my dad's administration.  Remember?
BB:  But what about all the blood that's been shed?  The massive destruction?  What about the Governing Council and democracy?
GB:  That'll all be revisionist history in a couple of days.  Never happened, once we work out the correct spin.
SH:  George and I simply realized that we had a common enemy.
BB:  A ... er, common enemy?  And who would that be?
GB:  The Iraqi people, of course.  Ungrateful little sods.  Wouldn't stop shooting at us once we'd bombed them out fair and square.  And the soldiers we trained stabbed us in the back.  Wouldn't kill other Iraqis, they said.  Little chickenshits.  So, I thought, what's that about?  Then General Abizaid got the ball rolling by bringing back officers from Saddam's army.
SH:  Yeah.  They have lots of experience in killing other Iraqis.
GB:  And I thought, hey, I've got an election coming up and a war that's out of control.  So, who's the last guy to successfully pacify Iraq?
SH:  Oh, George, you make me blush.
BB:  So, President Bush, let's see if I can get this straight.  You said that we invaded Iraq because they abetted al-Qaeda.  That turned out not to be true.
GB:  Right, Brian, but it wasn't important.
BB:  Then, you said it was because of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.  But there weren't any.
SH:  Didn't I tell you?  But you wouldn't listen.
GB:  The WMDs weren't important, Brian.
BB:  So, then, it was to save the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator - no offense.
GB:  That wasn't important, Brian.  Certainly less important than my election campaign.
BB:  What about freedom and democracy in Iraq?
GB:  I'm still four-square behind that, but a real, patriotic Iraqi like President Saddam is better suited to force democracy on those people.  Safe democracy.  Not the kind where they're allowed to choose someone I don't like.
BB:  Gentlemen, I ... just can't think of another question.