So...

...bad things happen in soap operas, usually more fantastically than in reality. They also happen at Christmas. So why don't the major characters in each soap bugger off and leave town just before Christmas, only returning in mid January when the heat is off them? Oh, to be a fictional character!

Musing over: the phony anger of various politicians and governments (including the Iraqi's), over the release of Saddam Hussein's execution, exposing the taunts, etc. How can it be a surprise? After all, didn't the Iraqi's initially release footage, both in terms of photographs, as well as video without a soundtrack?

Also musing over: the fact that most often, imperialists (of whatever stripe) install puppet regimes that are at least as brutal and as incompetent as the administrations they replace.