Gee, that's the nicest thing a U.S. general ever said about Saddam...

... and he's not alive to hear it.

from the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Conway's remarks at the National Press Club yesterday.

There is sectarian violence. But if you talk to Iraqis, they would say, hey, my wife's a Sunni; my father-in-law is a Sunni -- or their father-in-law might even be a Shia, you know. I mean, they're just that intermarried.

And Saddam demanded one thing. That was that whatever you are, whatever sect you are, that's second; you're an Iraqi first. And I think we need to be able to capitalize on that.