Hey, we got our October Surprise—a couple days late—but how surprising was it to see the verdict handed down in the Saddam Hussein mockery…I mean, trial, all gift wrapped and ready for the Monday morning news blitz in the U.S.?
Great post from Sunday at Baghdad Burning about the Saddam Hussein verdict and how little it means to anyone outside the White House. The idea that the trial was ever fair or public or just is really comical. It’s been a show for the Western media and has been spun or blacked-out completely in Iraq. Granted, Saddam Hussein was and is a bad guy and he should be punished, but the idea that any of this is some triumph of justice is comical.
One thing to keep in mind is that the horrendous crimes he has been sentenced for occurred one year before this video and we absolutely knew it at the time but for some reason we weren’t appalled back then. At least not appalled enough to stop doing business with him.
Hearing Bush herald the Hussein verdict yesterday as some triumph of justice and democracy reminded me of the scene in HBO’s terrific series Rome in which Caesar presides over the public execution of a beaten down and barely conscious old king of Gaul. The Caesar allegories weren’t just in my own head however, here’s a piece from Guardian that points to similarities between the Roman Emperor and our Emperor-in-Chief.
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