Thursday, July 01, 2004
Saddam -- [yet another] Trial of the Century
So, picture this: You're Saddam's defense attorney [due to some heinous sin you have undoubtedly committed in a past life...] It's opening argument time. What do you say? . NOTEWORTHY ADDENDUM: Jon of We Swear deserves a good swearing at: he answered this question -- and did a damgood job of it! Clearly he must be watched...The Point of the Exercise Described
StrategyPage's Jim Dunnigan: Iraqi terrorists released a video showing them killing a captive American soldier by shooting him in the head. The terrorists have learned that the beheading routine is counterproductive and even offends many of their own supporters. The terrorists are probably also debating their suicide bombing campaign, which has killed over a hundred Iraqis in the past week. Perhaps the al Qaeda leadership is also pondering their long string of failures over the last decade or so. The fact of the matter is that al Qaeda, and their predecessor, the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt, have turned Arab populations against them whenever they practiced their terror tactics "at home." Moreover, when al Qaeda was in control of the government, as they were in Afghanistan, they quickly became hated by the average Afghan. Al Qaeda was most popular in Arab countries when it was not operating in any Arab countries, but instead concentrating on attacks on Western targets. But the war on terror has forced al Qaeda back to its homelands, and concentrated them in Iraq. There, al Qaeda is becoming as hated as it already is in the West. This hatred led to the Moslem Brotherhood's defeat, and expulsion from Egypt over a decade ago. The same thing is happening again in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Recent surveys have shown support for bin Laden and al Qaeda shrink dramatically in Saudi Arabia (from 96 percent in late 2001, to less than a quarter of that currently.) It's easy to admire terrorists from a distance, rather more difficult when they are terrorizing you. Iraq is rapidly becoming al Qaeda's graveyard.
Now, how many [besides War Profiteer Michael Moore] need further explanation? This was the point of the exercise, though whyinhell the Bush Administration cannot say this out loud now is still beyond me. Maybe they'll feel confident enough by convention time. ThanQ! one of the many incarnations of Glenn Reynolds
Alice in Wonderland -- as interpreted by Philip K. Dick
B. Preston at JunkYardBlog wrote an essay I highly recommend. Here's your taste-whetter:The worst thing one can be is gullible or believe something that turns out to be untrue, so it's easier to not believe anything any leader says than to buy a line and have it turn out false... ...They are embracing lies, and they know it, but they don't believe in truth anymore so it doesn't matter. ...It's death by cynicism.
No, really; Go See . . .
First Hezbollah, Now . . .
[War Profiteer] Michael Moore 's provocative anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" is likely to become the first imported documentary in China.
Birds of a feather . . . Known by the company one keeps . . . Lie with dogs and get up with fleas . . . ThanQ! Drudge
The New Hero of the Media
"This is all a theatre," Saddam said with a half-smile. "The real criminal is Bush."
Now, how did he manage to get to a F-911* premier?
CNN There was some concern that Saddam might use this as a political platform. That didn't really happen.
"The real criminal is Bush." -- Thank Allah he didn't go political . . .
Radio Free Europe CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, one of a group of Western journalists present in the courtroom, described the former absolute ruler as a "shadow of his former self" and in a weakened physical state after six months in prison.
Awww. What? No panties on his head? I'm sure that "weakened physical state" had nuttin' to do with being a paranoid on the run, moving every 2-3 hours for 10 months ending up living in a hole in the ground. [somebody cluebat this woman...] [and knock off the silly accent]
"Saddam Hussein was alternately downcast and combative. Occasionally, in a hoarse voice -- his voice is hoarse -- he jabbed his finger at the judge, he asked whose jurisdiction this was. He kept claiming to still be the president of Iraq," Amanpour said.
Isn't that sad? The poor man appears to be a little out of touch with reality . . . unlike before The creepy bits:
CNN And then toward the end, he was asked whether he could afford counsel, whether he had any legal counsel, at which point, he looked around and with a sort of half smile said, "But everybody says, the Americans say I have millions of dollars stashed in Geneva. Why shouldn't I be able to afford a lawyer?"
CNN He also referred to the accusation of gassing Kurds at Halabja. "I heard about that on the television reports, saying it happened during the rule of President Saddam Hussein," he told the judge.
In an interview with
CNN, Feisal al-Istrabadi, the principal drafter of the transitional administrative law, was asked about the availability of war crime evidence if Saddam didn't sign documents approving the actions he is suspected of spearheading.
Ya wanna run that one by me again? So, if, according to the laws of Iraq written by Saddam an invasion is illegal, he can't be prosecuted for, oh say, feeding people through a chipper/shredder? Yeah. okey-dokey.
But some other [Iraqi] people view Hussein as a victim of the United States. One resident, Ali, told our correspondent in Baghdad that his family wasn't mistreated during the former regime and that Hussein should be forgiven in the interest of national reconciliation. "Yes, we can forgive [Hussein]. The man did nothing to the Iraqis. We can give him a new start and forgive him. We don't have anything against him," Ali said
Spend a lotta time in Vienna, Ali? A whole lotta time? Tim Hughes and Ramsey Clark are the first members of what I hope will come to be called The Nightmare Team for this, the newest [*cue echo voice*] Trial Of The Century ry ry ry. *F-911 -- a filim by War Profiteer Michael Moore
Statistics
This page has been viewed 18188789 times
Total Entries: 5718
Total Comments: 4193
Total Trackbacks: 714
Most Recent Entry: 06/14/2011 06:44 am
Most Recent Comment on: 11/27/2011 05:18 pm
{/if}
