October 20, 2005
IT'S LIKE "THE PRODUCERS," ONLY THE TIMES IS SERIOUS:
Iraqis Watch the Trial on TV, With Emotions Running High (EDWARD WONG, 10/20/05, NY Times)
From the very start of the trial, from the moment Saddam Hussein refused to tell the judge his name, Hiba Raad said she knew that she was watching the same man who had ruled over Iraq for decades with muscular authority."He's a hero, he's a tough leader," Ms. Raad, 20, an education student at Mustansiriya Univerisity, said as she reclined in black pants and a T-shirt on a sofa in her living room. "If he came back, I'm sure he'd provide us with security."
In her home in the Sunni Arab neighborhood of Adhamiya, Ms. Raad had just finished watching the opening session of the trial on an Arab network with her parents and sister. They continued staring, transfixed. The grandmother, Samira alBayati, shuffled into the room.
"I felt sorry," she said. "I almost cried. Every country in the world has terrorism. All the presidents of this region torture their people. Why, of all the countries, do they come after us?"
Don't worry, honey, we're coming for all of them, no matter how beautifully they dance. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 20, 2005 8:14 AM
One thing that strikes me about the family's point of view and the points of view of many people in the Middle East is the very indifferent sense of justice they have. To them, justice means only "what's good for me and my clan." The idea that justice means what's fair for all parties doesn't seem to enter into their minds. Pretty sobering for the future of civil society there.
Posted by: L. Rogers at October 20, 2005 10:17 AMI wouldn't extrapolate anything from a handful of quotes, particularly those published by the MSM.
Posted by: curt at October 20, 2005 10:31 AMPerhaps they were a 'protected' family under Saddam. Too bad - they backed the weaker horse.
And there are still Russians who pine for Stalin.
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 20, 2005 10:57 AMjim hamlen:
And there are still New Yorkers, some of whom work at the NYT, who pine for Stalin as well.
Posted by: Luciferous at October 20, 2005 11:11 AM"...the same man who had ruled over Iraq for decades with muscular authority."
Well, that's one way of putting it, I suppose. I wonder how glowing Saddam's NYT obit will be...
Posted by: b at October 20, 2005 11:36 AMB,
Probably as creepily necrophilic as their Stalin obit in 1953.
(Just in case somebody who reads The Brothers Judd has never seen it.)
Posted by: Ed Driscoll at October 20, 2005 2:36 PM