Category: Mideast

Hangman, hangman, slack your rope awhile,
I think I see my sister coming, riding a many mile.
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand,
Lead him to some shady bower, save me from the wrath of this man,
Please take him, save me from the wrath of this man.

–The Ropeman’s Ballad

Sentence has been passed. For his part in the murder of more than 150 in the town of Dujail (neither the least nor the worst of his crimes), the Iraqi court has determined that, on a day yet to be determined, former tyrant Saddam Hussein shall be removed from his confinement and taken to a suitable place of execution; there to be hanged by his neck until he be dead, dead, dead.

Predictably, reactions have been varied around the world. Is it justice, or just state-sanctioned murder? While my own views on capital punishment have already been made clear (I’m against it), this situation begs two questions: first, what do we do with a monster like Hussein when we find one and second (and perhaps more important), what would be the consequences of allowing him to live? Could this be one of those extremely rare instances wherein the death of one can prevent the deaths of hundreds, or even thousands? How are we to resolve ourselves in the face of such potential ghastly arithmetic? Just what is the lesser of the two evils?

One can hardly argue that Saddam, if kept alive, would serve as a symbol and rallying point for his followers who yet remain in Iraq, and who are the primary motivating force behind the insurgency that is relentlessly trying to destabilize the country. After all, they had it pretty good when the butcher of Baghdad was in charge; now, they’re just as vulnerable everybody else. Contrary to any sunshine talk you may have heard, Iraq is teetering on the brink of a civil war that could cost the lives of millions and it behooves those in charge to do everything they can to prevent that. Will executing Saddam put an end to the insurgency? Of course not. But without him as a figurehead, the insurgency will at least be weakened. How many lives would that save?

Yes, I would very much like to see this butcher locked away in an oubliette someplace to spend the rest of his days like a rat in a cage. But the truth is that, with Hussein still alive, his followers will only be even more predisposed to do everything that they can to bring him back. Impossible, you say? Perhaps not. Remember, Saddam has been sentenced to death in Iraq before, only to come back and turn the country into a living hell. Hindsight may be 20-20 but one really can’t help wondering how many lives would have been spared, had he been hanged all those years ago?

Is this really one of those rare occasions where a life sentence is actually the greater of the two evils? Is letting Saddam live possibly even worse than killing him?

I am loathe to admit it, but this time, I don’t know. Damnit, I just don’t know…

Yup. Mean, nasty American imperialist troops running amok in Iraq, slaughtering the innocent, torturing civilians, generally being bad people. Totally.

A picture really is worth a thousand words, isn’t it? Hat’s off to Celestial Junk for posting this before I did. Behold the unspeakable evil that is the American imperialist crusader in Iraq:

That’s been a question on a lot of lips lately. Well, we need wonder no more, since Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has set it clear for us. In an exclusive CBC interview with Nahlah Ayed, Siniora as much as admitted that it is Hezbullshit, NOT the Lebanese government, that runs the country.

I have to admit, I for one am damned surprised that he had the guts to come out and admit it like that.

Good news for a change. It seems that the Grits have actually done something right, even if it was done more for optics that out of any sense of right and wrong (Grit morality twists and turns in the wind of public opinion, after all). Amid a barrage of criticism from virtually every non-islamofascist corner of the land, including within his own party, Ontario Grit MP Boris Wrzesnewskyj has resigned his post as as deputy foreign affairs critic. And none too soon.

Now all we need to do is get this terrorists’ useful idiot out of Parliament altogeather.

Wrzesnewskyj, you might remember, is the clown who earned the endearment of every terrorist sympathizer in the country by saying it would be a good idea for Canada to open up a dialogue with Hezbullshit and remove them from Canada’s list of terrorist organisations. How the hell do idiots like this even get elected in the first place?

Oh, yeah, I forgot. He’s from Toronto.

Congratulations to Tory MP Jason Kenney for being one of the first to really grab all the egghead apologists for Hezbullshit by the scruff and truly rub their noses in some of the crap that they’ve been feeding us for so long. Not only that, but he did it in terms that even the most dense and logic-resistant socialist could understand.

Several Grit and commie NDP MPs have lately dropped the huge clanger on our rug of national discussion that Hezbullshit is a bunch that we should be engaging in dialogue with. The logic being that, since they have a political wing, it should be all fine and dandy to talk with that bunch as long as we aren’t talking to the ones actually doing the bombing. Sort of like saying that you should hire a NAMBLA spokesman to babysit your kids because all he does is talk…

And then, along came the Big Bad Tory to just bugger their wonderful little delusions all up. Kenny bluntly pointed out that having a political wing doesn’t mean that you aren’t scum. In the 1930s, Germany had a political party (the National Socialist German Workers’ Party) which ran in elections and provided social services but, like Hezbullshit, had an agenda of genocide and conquest and made little effort to hide it. The world (with a few notable exceptions) tried to appease that gang for a while, and look what that got us.

Fortunately for the rest of us, however, Kenney and company seem to have actually cracked a history book or two in their lives:

“Their idea of a balanced approach is one where Israel is always wrong,” Kenney told a news conference on Tuesday. “This represents a totally irresponsible approach to foreign security policy.”

“The Liberal Party of Canada cannot claim to be prepared to be ready to govern Canada if they can’t establish a coherent position on such a clear cut issue as the terrorist nature of Hezbollah.”

The Grits, to nobody’s surprise, have been backpedaling like hell on this issue,

“I’ve said all along that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and will continue to be,” Borys Wrzesnewskyj said.

but everyone knows it’s already too late for that. They’ve shown themselves for what they really are. Again.

This can’t be right. It just can’t be. There has to be some kind of mistake, some kind of misunderstanding, some miscommunication, anything. Not even a Liberal can possibly be THAT God damned stupid. Can they?? Somebody, anybody (I don’t care who), tell me that I’ve missed something here. Or that I’ve suddenly developed dyslexia (ironic how tricky that word is to spell, isn’t it?) and just can’t read right anymore. Or that I’ve just finally lost all my marbles and am now permanently delusional. Anything is better than the obvious.

What the hell am I on about, you ask? Oh, you’ll see; and then you can have some fun acting just like me for a while. The Grit and NDP MPs currently scurrying around Lebanon have finally taken the Big Header down the rabbit hole. A CBC article quotes Grit MP Boris Wrzesnewskyj as follows:

Wrzesnewskyj stressed that he considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but said he is concerned that Ottawa’s list of terror groups doesn’t differentiate between the militant and political wings of the party.

What the hell…??? That’s like saying that you don’t mind if your kid plays with a rattlesnake’s tail, because that’s not the end that bites. And NDP bobblehead Peggy Nash doesn’t seem to be any brighter:

Wrzesnewskyj’s comments were echoed by Nash, who is also from Toronto. She said many Lebanese regard Hezbollah as resistance fighters.

“It’s just not helpful to label them a terrorist organization,” said Nash.

“If the political parties can figure out a way to work with Hezbollah and try to get along internally, then we should perhaps take a cue from that.”

Where the hell is this coming from?? Are these Hezbullshit-huggers so damned dense that they aren’t even familliar with the concept of the useful idiot? I’ve never been one to overestimate the intelligence of the meatheads on the left, but could I have possible been that wrong? Or were they really that stupid the whole time and I somehow missed it?

Fortunately, there are some more level heads around Ottawa. Captain Wetsuit announced today that, so long as the Tories are in power, there is no way in hell that Hezbullshit is getting off the list of banned terrorist organizations:

“I can’t think of anything more damaging for the hope of peace than to encourage the very group, Hezbollah, that is intent on the genocide of the Jewish people and the annihilation of Israel. To preserve Canada’s credibility, there is no way we will delist Hezbollah and I hope these MPs deny these remarks outright or claim they were taken out of context.”